Today we went to one of the meccas of the non-wild animal world- SeaWorld! SeaWorld San Antonio is quite a bit smaller than SeaWorld Orlando (considering this is the 5th time I've been to SeaWorld, I know this), but it was a great park! We got there about half an hour before the park opened and made a bee-line for the Steel Eel roller coaster. Alas, my mother refused to ride, so I rode it alone; once in the very front car (AWESOME!) and once in the very back car (NOT awesome. I slammed my elbow on one of the drops and have a wicked bruise now...). It was such a fun coaster! We then meandered through the penguin and alcid (puffins and the like) building, where there were over 200 penguins in that exhibit alone! As someone who has cleaned a penguin beach, I would NOT want the responsibility of maintaining that exhibit no matter how adorable the birds are. You could even see about 10 of the 4 month old King penguins, who were these big balls of black fluff. I then rode the Great White Shark roller coaster- again, great!

It was then time for the first animal show of the day; One Ocean featuring Shamu and the other killer whales. It was FANTASTIC!!! At one point my mother was crying though. No, not because of the beautiful multi-thousand pound whales leaping out of the water, but because it reminded her of when I was really little and told her I wanted to work at a place like SeaWorld. Now that I am older and working with whales and giraffes and all sorts of animals, she couldn't believe I'd actually come full-circle. We then scurried over to the Cannery Row Capers show with sea lions, Asian small clawed otters, and walrus. It was definitely a highlight of the day; all of the animals were immaculately trained, the tricks and behaviors were fantastic, and the story itself was adorable!

We then saw the American alligators, sharks, and fish exhibits, fed some Pacific bottelnose dolphins, and saw Azul, the dolphin/beluga/synchronized swimming/water acrobatics stunt show. It was great seeing the belugas as one of them was actually the mother of a beluga I know at the Georgia Aquarium! They actually had to halt the show in the middle because the dolphins weren't cooperating (love is in the air...), but in all it was great. We ended the day by watching the sea lions, Asian small clawed otters, and habor seals try to keep cool in their exhibits. All in all a wonderful day at SeaWorld San Antonio!!