Wordless Wednesday – Happy Dolphin

Can you tell it's feeding time for this dolphin? (Mirage, Las Vegas)

Skydiving in Las Vegas

I went to Vegas for About.com’s Guide Event (which was wonderful), but one of the highlights of the trip was skydiving with a friend at Skydive Las Vegas. They have the catchy motto “Why gamble with your money when you can gamble with your life?”

Neither Jeff nor I had ever gone skydiving, but we figured if you’re going to do it, do it right, so we went with the 3-mile-high jump. It was like flying rather than falling. Everyone at Skydive Las Vegas was awesome. I’ll definitely do it again.

Jeff and me suited up and ready to go.

Not like we swaggered out to the plane or anything.

The Plane

Spot the plane - 3 miles high! I'll give you a hint: It is not attached to that contrail. It looks much scarier from the ground than it did from the air.

Someone in the sky, impossible to tell who.

Approaching the landing zone.

Me sliding in for a landing.

Aza’s Favorite Myrtle Beach Margaritas

More accurately, it’s my list of favorite Grand Strand margaritas since most of them aren’t technically within the Myrtle Beach city limits. There are ten zillion restaurants and bars in the area so I haven’t sampled every margarita in town. Here’s my list of favorite places to find margaritas, not listed in any particular order, basically sort of south to north.

• La Playa (Pawley’s Island) – I love their tangerine margarita.
• Chili’s – Pretty much any of their better margaritas including the Presidente.
• Sid and Roy’s American Kitchen (Market Commons)
• P.F. Chang’s (Market Commons) – Agave margarita.
• El Burro Loco – Several are tasty. I’m partial to the Green Iguana.
• Islamorda Fish Company (Myrtle Beach Mall next to Bass Pro Shops) – I don’t recall the name of their margarita, but it used Patron.

So… where else is good? I have a mental list of places that serve good martinis too, but let’s talk margaritas.

Recorder Played with Helium

I snagged a helium balloon from the Red Robin today at lunch and got my son to play a recorder note for me with air and then with helium. I should have had him play Twinkle, Twinkle or some other tune, but even just the one note was pretty fun. This is basically the same thing as talking with helium. If you used sulfur hexafluoride instead of helium, the note would be lower.

Murky Aquarium Beginning

Murky Aquarium

[caption id="attachment_179" align="alignnone" width="300" caption="Aquarium Filtration System"][/caption]
It doesn’t take any effort at all to get a scary, murky aquarium if you choose to mix the salt in the tank and use sand as part of the substrate. It’s nearly clear just a couple of hours later, but I wanted to get a picture of its beginning. The sump is louder than I was led to expect, so I might need to switch that out. Otherwise, so far so good.

New Aquarium

Wave Aquarium

That sphynx cat I showed you the other day hangs out at Animal Supply House in North Myrtle Beach, which is where I got my cool new aquarium. This one will be stocked locally so I’ll chronicle my adventures getting it set up and catching Carolina creatures for it. No, my dining room table is not its final destination. I couldn’t get both the aquarium and the stand in the SUV at one time.

Sphynx Cat

Sphynx Cat

Guess which Myrtle Beach store is home to this pretty kitty? It’s very friendly and likes to play with boxes. I had never pet a sphynx cat before… very soft and warm.

Wordless Wednesday – Bloody Hand Halloween Punch

Bloody Hand Halloween Punch

Or you can make it without the blood if that is too macabre for you. Fun for Halloween either way – try it!