Blogs from Hillcrest, San Diego, California, United States, North America

It is time to leave Los Angeles, if only for a few days. Karina and Joel have been wonderful hosts but they do need to go to work and I would like to see Orcas before the state of California forces Sea World to release them to the wild or put them down or something. So we are going to San Diego, its only 2 hours away and justifies having rented a car. We arise at a reasonable hour and while Abcde and I make it to the breakfast area first, Wife is seated before us. I think it was because I went and re-installed the carseat before Abs and I joined the line for omlets. Abcde nibbled random bits, I had a delicious omlet and Caroline ate anything she could find without eggs in it. ... read more

What a wonderful trip. For us two weeks was good. Getting tired of hotels and eating out! Last day in Christchurch weather was very nice sunny, and warm like San Diego. Hotels we stayed at were all pretty decent hilton and sofitel were very nice and made the trip luxurious when we needed it. wine excellent. food not too bad ,nothing spectacular. Mostly the cafés pretty good for food and people watching .mostly students from all over the world working as wait staff hiking on their off time. Expensive here though eating out very expensive. Hotels average prices as on states car rental and gas r high. Save a Lititle bit of NZ money for small food , drinks in airport, most vendors chArge fee if u use credit card for purchase. Farewell to our friends ... read more

Our San Diego Sunday began with brunch at Denny's (yum!) and then lead toward the sea. The Maritime Museum had been on our list of things to do and in our search for a suitable parking space, we came across the USS Midway Museum also. This aircraft carrier was made into a museum back in 2004 and offers visitors the rare chance to wander through its decks and see what life aboard such a ship would have been like. We managed to spend the better part of 4 hours aboard the Midway, and loved the self guided audio tour option. It really was a unique experience. The San Diego Maritime Museum is made up of several vessels, moored in port and setup for visitors to board. The 'Star of India' is the world's oldest active sailing ... read more

(The next few entries are from the California trip...I had to order a new card reader to go with the new memory card I bought....thus the delay with posting!) Friday night, we had a great dual birthday dinner for Walter and Cindy in Little Italy. On Saturday, after going to the street market in Little Italy, we all headed up the coast for some real California time..it was sunny (still cold though..) and people were surfing...and roller skating...and just being cool... Walter drove us from north of Solana Beach to within sight of Tijuana. We started the day off with a drive to Deer Park Monastery, where I had attended a retreat with Thich Nhat Hahn a few years ago. I wanted to show Bill the beautiful setting and participate a "Day of Mindfulness" if possible. ... read more

Hubby and I took a long weekend for a terrific get-away to San Diego. We stayed at the #1 B & B, the Hillcrest B & B and it was very nice. Great owner/hostess who was super at tips and ideas for our weekend plans. Guest rooms are small but the ambience was nice. We enjoyed an orchid show at the Botanic Gardens and did lots of nice beach trips since the weather was so great (Oct 1-4, 2010)...... read more