Mr.Mom - Day 3 (Part 2)

So mommy is home now and all is set aright. But this past Saturday before mommy returned, Annabelle and I went to Sea World.

I didn't take a camera but I did have my cell phone with me.

It was a great opportunity since Annie gets in free and with the wife out of town we only had to pay for one ticket (mine) and for a half-dozen different reasons, my ticket was discounted.

We got to the park at about 8:45am and as I was standing in line at the ticket booth, the loud speaker came to life, welcoming all the guests and requesting that we all pause for the National Anthem. Then the music kicked in. "Nice" I thought to myself, only, "Where is the flag?" A lady in line in front of me with a US Marines sweatshirt turned towards me with her hand on her heart and stared over my left shoulder. The flag was behind me.

As we all turned and stood there paying our respects, it seemed sort of like a throw back. It reminded me of a time when TV only had 3 channels and they all signed off at the end of the day with the national anthem - a video of old glory waving and then color bars until 6am.

I was also reminded of Mrs Cunningham's (who I had my first crush on) 2nd grade class where the pledge was always followed by the entire class singing 2-3 patriotic songs.

Once the last strains of the national anthem faded, the ticket counters resumed business. When I got to the ticket counter, I saw a sign that said all active military members get in free. Seriously. Really. Cool.

Once in the park, first stop was the Shamu tank.

We took our seats in Shamu stadium for the show and one of the wet-suited whale trainers came out and proudly reminded the 3000 or so guests that Sea World salutes our members of the military and she asked all current or former members of the military to please stand along with their families. The place went wild with applause.

The cameras panned the crowd and images of men and women old and young flashed on the jumbo trons. One well built man in his thirties stood tall, cradling an infant daughter, as his wife stood next to him, her arms wrapped around him with tears of pride and gratitude streaming down her face. It seemed a small payment for all that this military family had sacrificed.

(BTW - I just stumbled upon this story - It's worth a look)

And the Shamu show was great too. Annie slept on my shoulder through most of it.

Annabelle is now old enough that she really clues in to the animals - especially the aquariums which are typically bright tanks of colorful fish in darkened buildings.

One of the great things about taking Annie solo to the park was I got to go and see and do everything I wanted without having to worry about this person being hungry or that person wanting to find a bathroom or the other person who wants to see this but not that. It was the first time I have ever been to Sea World and felt like I got to see the whole place.

In fact, I gave in to my OCD tendency and did something I have never done at a theme park before because it is just plain crazy (but have always wanted to). I took out a pen and traced my route on the map so I knew exactly where I had been and what I had not seen.

You can barely see the black pen-line on the back of the map - I know, craaaazy.

As we rounded the park, we came upon the Clydesdale stables. That's right, Sea World keeps a stable full of Clydesdales al-la the ad campaign.

The stables were beautiful. Fully functional and immaculate. Annie and I took a picture with one of the horses but the photo turned out far too accurate in terms of my mid-section so we saved $18 by not buying the 5X6.

Next to the stables is the beer hall. The last time I was there, they were giving away free samples. This time around, the beer hall was close to empty and the marble counters were manned by old-timers - 3 men and 1 woman, seemingly all over 70.

"Last time I was here, they were giving the beer away for free . . . " I inquired hopefully.

"Not since February" said one barkeep, "We couldn't make enough money!" Said another. They all laughed at the well-worn quip.

"Yeah, but you had customer loyalty!" I replied.

"Yeah, that was the problem!" another old-timer replied.

I bought a beer just because of the exchange and settled at a table outside.

Just outside the beer hall is a display of flags - all flags from military units in the Armed Forces.

Also just outside the beer hall was a Sea World guide giving directions to people who needed it. He was in a wheelchair.

Budweiser is not my beer. But as I sat there in the sun, and thought about the national anthem that morning, the fact that military people get in free, the honorifics bestowed at the start of the Shamu show, and the paraplegic docent, my eyes fell upon the AHB logo on my plastic cup of hops and barely and it gave me pause.
Sea World wasn't making any political statements. But everywhere you went they simply stated, "This is The United States of America, and we are proud." It made me proud to be there in a way.

It was a beautiful and wonderful day start to finish. Mostly because Annabelle slept draped over my shoulder during the Pet's Rule and Shamu shows - the most time I have ever gotten to hold her continuously. Secondly because the park is great. But the finisher was the Americana of it all. It wasn't a Disneyland main-street-theme-park-sort-of-patina-of-Americana (nothing against Disneyland). It was real-life Americana, unapologetically proud.

UPDATE: I just heard on the radio that Sea World has been sold to the same folks who own Lego Land up the coast from here. Let's hope they keep some of the same policies of welcoming our men and women in uniform.