Travel Log: California Road Trip Edition - San Diego

As it turns out, I'm having too much fun being home from my vacation to take the time to post about how much fun I had on my vacation. I know, I know, try not to be jealous. In any case, John and I went on vacation! We were lucky to have excellent child care (both the grandmothers dropped their own obligations for a week to come take up ours), so we didn't have to worry one second about things back home. The general plan was this: Fly into LAX, drive down to San Diego, drive back up to LA, drive to Cayucos/San Simeon area/near the Hearst Castle (with a quick stop at Santa Barbara along the way), drive to Monterey/Carmel-by-the-Sea, drive to Napa, drive to Palo Alto, return rental car for a couple final nights in San Francisco, then fly back out of SFO. It was ambitious but, for me, perfectly paced. Lots to see, lots to do, and most importantly, lots to eat.

Without further ado . . . San Diego!

Thursday

- Fly into LAX (10:30 arrival)
- Pick up rental car; note to self that zipcar Mazdas have a lot more "zoom zoom" than this Chevy
- First stop: former El Toro Military Corps Air Station/Heritage Fields/Orange County Great Park - Yes, yes, these are the exciting types of things you do when you're married to a real estate financier - visit development sites! Of note:

Former barracks - hopefully these were slightly better landscaped back in the day

Free carousel

Free balloon rides for all those lucky enough to come on a day that's not windy (i.e. not us)

What to do when you have a PR problem in the community? Try to drum up some patriotic spirit by painting WWII landmark dates on the pavement. Hey, it's worth a try.

-Drive into San Diego
-Check into US Grant hotel in Gaslamp quarter
-John: finish a work project/Emma: eat leftover Easter candy
-Movie: Limitless. Two thumbs down.
-Late dinner at La Puerta

Friday


-John: sleep in, Emma: morning run in Balboa Park
-Breakfast at Cody's in La Jolla; "awesome french toast" lives up to its name
-Surfing (first time for both of us) at La Jolla Shores with Dave Wagner

-Late lunch (4:30ish) at Blue Water Seafood Market & Grill; we highly recommend the halibut and red snapper tacos
-Coronado (+ the Hotel Del) - huge beautiful beach; we will be returning here
-Dinner at George's at the Cove. Learn from our mistake and do NOT follow up surfing by eating a heavy lunch of tacos and cheese bread at 4:30 before dinner at 8:30. The food was delicious, so we decided to soldier on and just eat ourselves sick.

Saturday


-John: sleep in/work, Emma - morning run in Balboa Park
-Check out of hotel
-Stop at a Best Buy in La Jolla to acquire a camera since some genius forgot to pack ours (hanging head).
-Quick photo op at the Children's Pool

Children: 1

Seals: 0

-Breakfast at Swami's Cafe in Encinitas. I think the acai bowl wouldn't be too difficult to recreate at home. Yum.

Next up: LA