Vacation in San Diego

Hola! Surprise, surprise...it hasn't been a whole 4 months since the last post. Although, it is almost summer time. We hope everyone back east reading this is doing well. As always, we miss everyone, and despite Albuquerque being a little more green now that it's getting warmer, it still doesn't compare to North Carolina. However, please expect us to rub in the fact that our 95 degrees actually feels like 95 degrees when the humidity level is at 10%!!

Cari and I recently experienced a new adventure that I wanted to blog about (if for nothing else, so we don't forget some great memories). We had the opportunity to go on vacation (for longer than a couple days), together, alone, for the first time since our honeymoon almost 2 years ago. Don't get me wrong, we've greatly enjoyed spending time with our families while on vacation (traveling home, going to the beach, etc). However, spending a whole week away from "normal" life with just each other was much needed and very much enjoyed. After originally contemplating spending a week in Mexico at an all-inclusive resort, we changed our minds near the beginning of the year to spend vacation in San Diego. We've both been wanting to visit and thought we could take advantage of our close proximity and all the various things San Diego has to offer. Please read on if you want to hear details about our trip (warning: it's long)!!

Arrival Day: Pretty chill. We left early afternoon and caught a non-stop flight to CA. It was delayed slightly, but we eventually arrived in BEAUTIFUL, sunny San Diego. The flight in was incredible, and we knew before we even landed that we loved it. Our nice little Prius rental car was waiting for us when we arrived. Well, according to the front desk it was waiting for us. When we walked out to get it, it wasn't in the spot they told us. Not 10 seconds later, an older couple pulled up after realizing they had the wrong car!! Too funny. Anyways, we were staying on Coronado Island at the Loews Coronado Resort. It only took about 20 minutes to get to our resort, but the drive on the bridge over San Diego Bay was, again, beautiful. Coronado Island looked like a tropical paradise. We checked into our room with no troubles (luckily, we caught a deal online and were able to book a suite, so we had a little more living space which was nice) and grabbed dinner at the resort's casual-dining cafe. The food was excellent; I tried the famous California fish tacos and Cari had a great linguine primavera dish.

Day 1: DISNEYLAND!! That's right, Disneyland. It's located in Anaheim and was not even a two hour drive. We got up early and drove up. After paying for parking and admission tickets (and realizing that Disneyland must make a LOT of money), we took a shuttle to the park and spent the entire day there. It was eventually exhausting, but well worth it. Cari and I were reminded of our childhood by riding rides that we experienced when we were younger (Space Mountain, Mr. Toad's Wild Ride, Jungle Cruise, Splash Mountain, etc.). We ate amusement park food for lunch (burgers and sandwiches at "Hungry Bear Restaurant") and chowed down on House of Blues in Downtown Disney for dinner (excellent pizza and jambalaya). We were definitely beat at the end of the day, but we enjoyed feeling like little kids again! :)

Day 2: This was our designated chill/do-nothing day. We did exactly that. We ordered room service for breakfast after sleeping late and then spent the remainder of the day by the pool. The resort had 3 heated pools, one of which was designated for adults only. Surrounding the pools were tons of lounge chairs with 3-4 inches of padding on them. Amazing. That's exactly where we parked it for the afternoon and allowed the servers from the nearby "Cantina" to bring us margaritas and chips/salsa. In the evening, we ventured downtown to Joe's Crab Shack. Yes, I know it's a chain restaurant. However, we had one of our favorite meals during our honeymoon at Joe's in Naples, FL...so we thought it only fitting to eat here. It was just what we remembered...incredible. We indulged in king crab legs, corn, french fries, b...soda ;). When we got back, Cari proceeded to watch approximately 4 hours of "Say Yes to the Dress" on TLC while I inevitably passed out early. Spending all day sleeping in the sun really takes it out of you!

Day 3: After again sleeping in, Cari and I went back downtown to the historic "Gaslamp District." This area is full of dining and shopping...and we did exactly that. Cari shopped around for a while (while I followed like a good husband). I love her. We then went to the Hard Rock Cafe for burgers and nachos (we ate REALLY healthy while on vacation, can't you tell?). We also met an awesome blues guitarist on the street named Stoney B. I bought a CD from him, which he greatly appreciated. It would serve us well later... keep reading... From there, we went to the San Diego Zoo, which was huge and so much fun. I won't go into much detail about what we saw...other than to say that if you're in San Diego, the zoo is a MUST. We wanted to check out the Wild Animal Park, but didn't have the time. For dinner, we drove up to Pacific Beach and went to an oceanfront restaurant called "World Famous" as a result of a friend's recommendation. One of the best meals we had on the trip. Cari had bacon wrapped scallops (yuck) and I had an incredible, perfectly cooked steak/shrimp (yum).

Day 4: We were both a little cranky this day, due to our unruly neighbors with who we unfortunately shared a wall. They were up being noisy and drunk and singing terribly obscene songs until 4 or 5 in the morning. LUCKILY, we had a CD from a little-known blues guitarist to drown out the noise (that's right...STONEY B!). After trying the pull-out couch and calling the front desk to complain, we put on Stoney B and finally drifted off. Despite a partially sleepless night, we got up and drove to Pacific Beach to meet up with one of my fellow high-school graduates Ben Ringo. He is living in San Diego now and is roommates with a sailing instructor. His roommate is nice enough to teach Ben to sail and let him use the sailboat at any time (in return for Ben paying part of the slip rental). Fortunately for us, they needed to sail from Mission Bay around Point Loma to San Diego Bay to put the boat at the appropriate slip, and they invited us along! The weather wasn't great (overcast and chilly), but we went anyways. There wasn't much wind, so we had to use the small motor most of the way, but it was relaxing and a great non-touristy thing to do. The trip took us about 3 hours total (and no, I didn't get seasick!). After the trip, we went up to La Jolla and ate at Regent's Pizza (another Ringo recommendation). Went back to the resort and hung out for the evening.

Day 5: Our LAST day :( We woke up a little earlier in hopes that the weather would clear up by the afternoon so we could come back from our morning adventure to hang by the pool (didn't happen unfortunately). For our morning expedition, we drove up to La Jolla and rented a couple bicycles to ride down the coast. La Jolla is a beautiful place (and pretty pricey from what we understand) so we enjoyed the scenery as we found our way through the neighborhoods. We ended up on a walking path which took us to the side of the cliffs on the coast. There were incredible wild flowers and beautiful scenery of which we took many many pictures. We continued down the coast to Children's Pool which is a beach area in La Jolla Cove where seals like to gather. There weren't a ton, but there were definitely enough to see and take pictures of. After returning up the coast and checking in our bikes, we continued to drive north to Del Mar, which is the location of the San Diego State Fair. In addition to the fair, Del Mar boasts an AMAZING Thai restaurant (I'm sure it's not famous, but it should be). It was in a little strip center, but it was crowded which was a good sign. The food was fantastic. After stuffing ourselves, we drove back south to Mission Beach and walked on the boardwalk/beach there for a while. Finally, we went back to the resort to get cleaned up and went to eat dinner at the Fish Market (recommended by Ringo and my boss at work). The restaurant is located next to the USS Midway (decommissioned Navy ship turned into a museum) which we took pictures of. The Halibut and Mahi-Mahi we enjoyed were exceptionally fresh and tasty. We returned to the resort and spent the evening with a bottle of wine by a fire pit outside just talking (very romantic!).

Not much to say for the "leaving day." We got up, packed, checked out, and flew home with no problems. Albuquerque and the desert is nowhere near as beautiful as the west coast (where there's a BEACH!), but it is our home and we got to reunite with the other member of our family, BELLE! It was tough coming back from vacation, but we're looking forward to making our way back east later this summer to hang with my family and go to the beach with Cari's family. Anyways, again, we hope everyone is doing well, and I applaud you if you're still reading this. Please feel free to check out our numerous pictures on my Facebook if you haven't already. Also, a special congratulations to my one and only sister who is expecting a BABY!!! Woo hoo! Talk to everyone soon!!