San Diego

So thankful it's been raining every day since we got back from San Diego rather than the 100 degree weather we had before we left. Coming home to the desert heat from perfect southern California weather would have been hard. We had a great time! Anywhere we went was no more than a 10-20 minute drive - quite a difference from last year when we'd spend an hour in LA traffic. We went to the zoo as soon as we got our rental car Friday. The San Diego Zoo is by far the best zoo I've been to, not to mention the largest and the prettiest. It was worth the high ticket price.


This puma was stalking and hissing at this lady in a wheel chair. Before this, he had charged the cage towards her. It was awesome!

What I loved about San Diego was being surrounded by water. Our hotel was on Shelter Island which is mostly a marina to house some uber fancy boats. It was a great location. Across the water we could see Coronado Island and a naval base. Our first night there, we decided to split up and have date nights. Addison and Austen walked to a nearby restaurant, while Alan and I ate outside at the hotel.

Shelter Island

Saturday morning we toured the USS Midway, an aircraft carrier used in WWII, the Vietnam War, and Operation Desert Storm. It was cool to go below deck to see the bunk areas, officer quarters, etc.

Afterwards we took the ferry to Coronado Island, where we ate at Peohe's (despite our attire of shorts and flip-flops!), pedaled a four-person cycling thing called a "surrey" searching for the Hotel de Coronado, shopped a little, and ate ice cream from Coldstone Creamery. We ferried back, went back to the hotel for a bit, and then went out for the evening to the Gas Lamp District. Gas Lamp reminded me of areas like the West End in Dallas or 6th Street in Austin, but a little more sophisticated. (Or "classy," like Ron Burgundy would say.) Let's just say the bums and tattoo parlors were not as obvious. I'm stealing these pictures from Addison:

Greystone restaurant

Sunday we took the short drive to Children's Beach at La Jolla (thanks to a tip from Doug) to see the seals and sea lions. It's hard to describe how pretty this beach is:




After stopping back at the hotel to change into our beachy gear, we headed to Mission Beach. California beaches are so pretty, but there was an awful lot of seaweed everywhere which attracted all these weird flies. Not as clean and spacious as Santa Monica Beach last year, but still very nice. Alan and Austen both tried surfing in the freezing Pacific, but I couldn't seem to get in past my ankles. We left our towels and stuff on the beach for a while and the four of us walked to lunch. When we got back, one of our bags had been tossed around a bit by seagulls who were trying really hard to get to our honey roasted almonds:

After a full day at the beach, we went back to the hotel for a while before dinner. We borrowed bikes from the hotel and rode down to the end of the island for dinner. We ate at this restaurant called Bali Hai, which served all Hawaiian or Polynesian food. You were going to eat something different no matter what you ordered. Austen had a REALLY strong Mai Tai, and I think you can tell from his eyes in this picture that he was feeling good!

Bali Hai restaurant

Monday morning we had some time before our flight, so we drove back to the area around the Midway and had breakfast at Buster's Beach House. It was also alongside a marina, and inside this cute little shopping area. We bought some souvenirs afterwards and then headed for the airport. I was concerned that four days wouldn't be long enough, but we really were able to do and see quite a bit in that short time. I think I could live by the water. It's so peaceful and so NOT the desert.

And last but not least, we had a great time with Addison and Austen. They are so cute.