SDAI Museum of the Living Artist
Around since 1941, the San Diego Art Institute now has a museum to house exhibits of new artworks by local artists. The 10,000-square-foot municipal gallery rotates juried shows in and out every 4 to 6 weeks, ensuring a variety of mediums and styles. It's a good place to see what the local art community is up to. Plan to spend about half an hour here.

Birch Aquarium at Scripps
This beautiful facility is both an aquarium and a museum, operated as the interpretive arm of the world-famous Scripps Institution of Oceanography. To make the most of the experience, be sure to pick up a visitor guide from the information booth just inside the entrance, and take time to read the text on each of the exhibits. The aquarium affords close-up views of the Pacific Northwest, the California coast, Mexico's Sea of Cortez, and the tropical seas, all presented in more than 60 marine-life tanks. The giant kelp forest is particularly impressive. Exotic highlights include the fanciful white anemones and the ethereal moon jellies, which look like elegant parachutes. The sea horse propagation program here has met with excellent results -- nine different species of sea horse are on display in one of the aquarium's best exhibits. The outdoor demonstration tide pool not only shows visitors marine coastal life but also offers an amazing view of Scripps Pier, La Jolla Shores Beach, the village of La Jolla, and the ocean. Free tide-pool talks are offered on weekends, which is also when the aquarium is most crowded, and off-site adventures are conducted year-round (call for more details). The museum section has numerous interpretive exhibits on current and historic research at the Scripps Institution, which was established in 1903 and became part of the University of California system in 1912. You'll learn what fog is and why salt melts snow; the number of supermarket products with ingredients that come from the sea (including toothpaste and ice cream) might surprise you; and you can feel what an earthquake is like and experience a simulator ride, Morphis. The bookstore is well stocked with textbooks, science books, educational toys, gifts, and T-shirts.

SeaWorld San Diego
One of California's most heavily marketed attractions, SeaWorld is a big draw for a number of visitors coming to San Diego. The aquatic theme park celebrated its 40th year of operation in 2004. With each passing year the educational pretext increasingly takes a back seat to slick shows and rides, but the park -- owned by the Anheuser-Busch Corporation -- is perhaps still the country's premiere showplace for marine life, made politically correct with a nominally informative atmosphere. At its heart, SeaWorld is a shoreside family entertainment center where the performers are dolphins, otters, sea lions, orcas, and seals. The 20-minute shows run several times each throughout the day, with visitors rotating through the various open-air amphitheaters and aquarium features.Several successive 4-ton black-and-white killer whales have functioned as the park's mascot, and the Shamu Adventure is SeaWorld's most popular show. Performed in a 5,500-seat stadium, the stage is a 7-million-gallon pool lined with plexiglass walls that magnify the huge performers. But think twice before you sit in the seats down front -- a high point of the act is multiple drenchings in the first 12 or so rows of spectators. Most days, the venue fills before the two or three performances even start, so arrive early to get the seat you want. The slapstick Fools with Tools (sea lions and otters), the fast-paced Dolphin Discovery, and Pet's Rule are other performing animal routines, each in arenas seating more than 2,000. There are also shows focusing on humans: a "4-D" movie; R.L. Stine's Haunted Lighthouse, starring a roster of multisensory effects; and in summer, Cirque de la Mer, which features acrobatic acts.The collection of rides is led by Journey to Atlantis, a 2004 arrival which combines a roller coaster and log flume with Atlantis mythology and a simulated earthquake. Shipwreck Rapids is a splashy adventure on raftlike inner tubes through caverns, waterfalls, and wild rivers; and Wild Arctic is a motion simulator helicopter trip to the frozen north. The Skytower and Skyride each cost an additional $3 to ride.Guests disembarking Wild Arctic (or those using the ride bypass) find themselves in the midst of one of SeaWorld's real specialties: simulated marine environments. In this case it's an arctic research station, surrounded by beautiful beluga whales, walruses, and polar bears. Other animal environments worth seeing are Manatee Rescue, Shark Encounter, and the Penguin Encounter. Each of these attractions exits into a gift shop selling theme merchandise. The 2-acre hands-on area called Shamu's Happy Harbor is designed for kids, and features everything from a pretend pirate ship, with plenty of netted towers, to tube crawls, slides, and chances to get wet.The Dolphin Interaction Program creates an opportunity for people to meet bottlenose dolphins. Although the program stops short of allowing you to swim with the dolphins, it does offer the opportunity to wade waist-deep, and plenty of time to stroke the mammals and to try giving training commands. This 1-hour program includes some classroom time before you wriggle into a wet suit and climb into the water for 20 minutes with the dolphins. It costs $140 per person (not including park admission); participants must be age 6 or older. One step further is the Trainer for a Day program, which is a 7-hour work shift with an animal trainer. Food preparation, feeding, a training session with a dolphin, and lunch is included; the price is $395 per person. This program is limited to three participants daily, and the minimum age is 13. Advance reservations are required for both programs (tel. 877/436-5746).Although SeaWorld is best known as the home to pirouetting dolphins and fluke-flinging killer whales, the facility also plays a role in rescuing and rehabilitating beached animals found along the West Coast -- including an average of 200 seals, sea lions, marine birds, and dolphins annually, almost 65% of which are rehabilitated and returned to the wild.

Best Western Seven Seas
The Best Western Seven Seas is centrally located on Hotel Circle in beautiful Mission Valley, across from the Town & Country Convention Center. Guests are ideally situated to visit many of San Diego's major attractions, including Sea World, the San Diego Zoo, Old Town and several beach and marina areas. We are within a short walk of excellent shopping at the Fashion Valley Mall. The Best Western Seven Seas offers a comfortable and friendly resort atmosphere with an array of deluxe ...

Catamaran Resort & Spa
The Catamaran Resort Hotel offers casual elegance in a tropical paradise with acres of lush foliage and sun-drenched beaches. Mission Bay, the world's largest aquatic park, is at your doorstep and the enticing waves of the Pacific Ocean are just 100 yards away. The Catamaran's 312 rooms and suites are spacious and tastefully appointed with their own balcony or patio. Each has a king or two double beds, refrigerators, hair dryers, coffee makers, irons and ironing boards. The Atoll ...

Hyatt Regency Islandia
* 6 miles from downtown, Lindbergh Field Airport and Sea World'* Nearby Tijuana, Laguna Beach and Los ...