San Diego Vacation

I have been MIA for a little while because I was enjoying the perfect, and I mean PERFECT, weather in San Diego, California. My dad, brother, and I decided that this year we would take a vacation out west; I have never been west of the great state of Texas, so I needed to expand my horizons. In Texas, everyone was always competing with California about which was the best state, and being a Texan I naturally despised the Golden State. That feeling was based on others opinions and never on my own. However, after visiting, I absolutely loved San Diego! Other than some of the strange people and events going on, it was a perfect vacation. I can't speak for how I would feel about the rest of the state, but San Diego was amazing. But Texas will always be the best state in my eyes, and I don't think anything could change that, except maybe Hawaii. Our 5 day trip was packed full of things to do, and my feet were killing me by the end.

We got there on Friday night and just went to explore downtown. We ate at a great Mexican food restaurant, and explored. We were super tired from the plane ride and didn't want to stay out very late.

On Saturday, we woke up, fairly early for California time, but not so much for North Carolina time, and went to the world famous San Diego Zoo. I am an animal lover, so this was awesome. My favorite animals were the gorillas. I will have a more detailed blog on this tomorrow.

Sunday was when I got most of my shopping done. There is a great mall in San Diego called Fashion Valley. It had a ton of higher end stores as well as normal priced stores that an 18 year old college student  can afford. However, that didn't stop me from wandering into Bloomingdales and purchasing a new bag. There were a bunch of stores there that I had never heard of, and after shopping at them, I really wish that we had them here. I went to two malls while in San Diego, and they were both sort of outdoor malls which was awesome and I loved to be able to enjoy the beautiful weather while shopping.

Monday was probably the busiest day of the whole trip for sightseeing, but we got to see the most we possibly could by taking an Old Town Trolley tour. If you ever go to San Diego, I highly recommend taking this tour if you want to see a lot in one day. They have eleven stops, and you can get off at all of them or only a few of them. There is no time limit, and a new trolley arrives to pick people up every half hour. It was perfect. We got picked up right in front of our hotel at 9:30 and were off for the day. We got off at the Gaslamp Quarter first, but it was early so not a lot was open yet. We ended up going into a few shops and getting back on the trolley a half hour later. The next stop we got off at was Coronado's Orange Avenue. We spent a long time here looking at the Hotel Del Coronado (beautiful old hotel I want to stay in it so bad), the shops on orange avenue, the beach, and we had lunch there at Leroy's Kitchen and Lounge. Our next stop was Old Town San Diego State Historic Park; this was my favorite stop. There were tons of old houses and museums, and the Mexican culture was prominent and amazing here. There was a street with about six Mexican restaurants on it. There were also a lot of old shops here that were cool to look at. I had a lot of fun at this stop. Our last stop was seaport village, and if you like to shop this is the place to go. They have about forty shops and restaurants here. I bought some jewelry, Christmas ornaments, gifts, and cupcakes here. Seaport village overlooks the harbor and it is beautiful. We boarded a trolley at Seaport Village that took us back to our hotel. That night we went to our second mall and out to eat at The Top of the Market seafood restaurant. I am going to write a whole blog devoted to the food I ate on this trip.

View from the trolley on top of the Coronado bridge

Hotel Del Coronado

Coronado beach with Point Loma in the back

Coronado Beach

I have a thing for cows

The view of the harbor at Seaport Village

On Tuesday, we spent the day at Coronado beach. The water was way to cold for our likings so we just sun bathed for a few hours. I didn't mind not being able to get into the water because I never got hot or sweaty. 

The beach was absolutely perfect. The sand was white and shimmered. It was the widest beach I have ever seen which I guess helps it from getting too crowded. Literally my only worry in the world was if the tide was going to reach my towel (ZBB reference!).  There is a Naval base on Coronado, so all of the planes and helicopters flying over us got a tad annoying, but other than that and the water temperature I have zero complaints. After the beach, we went back to the hotel and then headed to Hodad's for dinner. You wouldn't believe the burgers at this place! 

I was super sad on Wednesday when we had to pack up and head back home to boring North Carolina. But knowing that I only have about three weeks until college makes it go by a little quicker. This was an awesome vacation, and I am so thankful for the chance to get to travel to places like San Diego!