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Published: February 28th 2020
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On January 15, 2020 we met our friends Lisa and JB in San Diego. JB's brother lives here and they came out for the week so we coordinated our travels to be here too😊. My brother is retired from the Navy and was stationed here one time. We never made it out for a visit, so I was excited to see the area where he served. We also have always heard the weather is perfect here so we were looking forward to seeing it for ourselves.
Having tour guides to see a new area was really fun. We got a true taste for the locale.
JB and Lisa flew in on the 14th and thought we were already in SD so in the morning of the 15th they had JBs brother(Steve) drop them off at our campground on his way to work. However, Lisa was the one who was surprised because we were still in Pala scheduled to arrive in SD on the 15th. They took a long walk along a waterfront path along Mission Bay to Pacific Beach. Luckily we were not far away so we arrived by 1230 and picked them up. It was so awesome to
see some faces from home and catch up with them! We ended the day bringing them back to Steves after some yummy local homemade ice cream. JB was there for cancer treatment 2 yrs ago. Daily he walked to this ice cream shop for chocolate shakes. I was anxious to see it and try it for ourselves because he loves it so much....it did NOT disappoint😊. JB was here now for his follow up checks. We were so happy to be with him and Lisa when they got the news he remains cancer FREE!
We spent our first full day driving the coast of LaJolla, visiting the USS Midway, and having lunch Yelps #1 in the top 100 places to eat in the US for 2020. More about that later.....
The coast of LaJolla just north of SD was really pretty. So much of it reminded us of San Francisco. The homes and roads are along the cliffs overlooking the ocean. We walked on a local beach and I got some pictures of the homes on the hillside and along the beach. There were lots of people surfing and I got a decent picture of one of them
too. From there we drove a little further south to seal cove. Sea Lions and Seals rest on the rocks here. Boy O' Boy did they STINK! We stayed on the sidewalk but you can see many people went down on the rocks. We saw some of them playing in the water and I saw one jump right out and back in like you see a dolphin do!
For lunch we went looking for the Shawarma Guys Food Truck. Turns out it is not too far from Steve's neighborhood. So, the day before while we were having our ice cream, Lisa got a text from our friend, Lisa, who was home in Maine. She told us about this food truck. That evening when Mike and I got home and watched the evening news, sure enough the story about this food truck being voted #1 of the 100 best places to eat according to the Yelp app. Lisa must have seen it on the news but us being 3 hrs. difference saw the report later and put 2 and 2 together of what she was talking about. It is Mediterranean beef and chicken dishes. Limited menu but very delicious and
cooked fresh daily.
That afternoon we toured the USS Midway, a retired aircraft carrier now a museum. My brother was stationed on a few carriers during his Navy career so I loved being able to see the ins and outs of being on a ship like that. There were many antique airplanes, living quarters, engine room, and support service area displays and a tour of the bridge. While we were there the USS Nimitz, also an aircraft carrier was being guided into port across the bay at Coronado. We probably should've planned more time to see this museum as we "closed it down"! Our drive home took us through the downtown which was busy with the evening commute traffic but gave us a snapshot of the area.
The next day we explored Coronado and the Hotel del Coronado. It is an historic hotel built back in 1888. It is beautiful. It was once the "playground" for Hollywood celebrities as well as presidents and royalty, and some movies were filmed there as well. It is huge and the craftsmanship was amazing. They have added to it over the years but keeping with the same era. We went into one
of the function rooms called "the crown room". The ceiling was all tongue and groove. I read later that it is all peg and glue, no nails. The lighting fixtures were shaped like crowns. At the time it was built, they generated their own electricity (a new technology) for themselves and the whole community of Coronado. This was the first hotel in the world to have electric lighting. Apparently it is rumored that Thomas Edison was involved with the installation but that is just a myth. Another fun fact was they built 2 large cisterns to collect rainwater to have in case of fire but they were only ever used to HIDE alcohol during prohibition!
The lobby area was surrounded by very high end shops and the hotel rooms were built around a gorgeous courtyard. On the beach you could see gold flakes in the sand, so pretty. The water was cool but tolerable for walking in barefoot. I found an intact sand dollar....a first for me! We saw some impressive sand castles, naval ships in the distance, fighter jets flying over and a commercial jet getting ready to land at the airport nearby. Mike LOVES airplanes! I would
love to give him his dream to fly in a fighter jet but unless we win Powerball...that bucket list item will remain unfulfilled😞 We finished our day on Mission Beach not far from our campground. They had a small amusement park so JB, Lisa and Mike rode the old fashioned wooden roller coaster, and we walked on the beach some more....It was here we learned JBs test results so we celebrated with more ice cream😊
We spent the weekend days hanging out at Steve's house. He and his husband Jeremy were awesome hosts feeding us, letting us lounge in their resort style backyard and watching the NFL playoffs on the big screen TVs! We also went with them to visit a friend's home in LaJolla to see the sunset over the ocean. We were thinking it was literally on the ocean but it was a few streets back. I still got some good pics and we had fun playing a card game that we have never played before...Cards Against Humanity. It took us out of our comfort zone quite a bit for sure but we did have some good laughs.
We finished up our time in SD going
to the zoo. It is really well done and we saw a lot of animals as my pictures will show you. The highlights were seeing the cheetah with his dog companion, the polar bears rolling around and the tigers playing and roaring at each other. That exhibit was packed and I barely got a picture. I wish I could have gotten one with the 2 together when they were roaring, that sound was so COOL! I laughed the most though at the flamingo exhibit. When they move their legs, their knees bend toward their backs not the front like us. One of them was STOMPING his feet all around the water dish they were drinking out of....packing down the grass. It was hilarious!
WAIT! How could I forget our very last day??? We went to the Farmers Open Golf Tournament at Torrey Pines. We got to see Tiger (who acknowledged Mike when he wished him a good round. Notice in the picture they are looking at each other😊 ), Phil Mickelson and Jordan Spieth (my 2 favorites), Rickie Fowler, Jason Day. Steve had been to this course for the event a few times, even working in the medical tent
a few years ago when the US Open was played there, so he showed us around. I was in heaven being so close to these athletes I love to watch as often as I can! The course was over the cliffs and gorgeous. It was much like Pebble Beach.
We really enjoyed our time with JB and Lisa as well as seeing SD. The weather was sunny and cool most of the time. Typical for their winter time I am told. I hope you enjoy "seeing" it too through my pictures.
Take care and now we will be heading back east....Wintering in AZ.
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