I Heart San Diego

Such beautiful scenery and all I can look at is that PINK TOWEL..

And I return from a fun filled yet overtly relaxing vacation.
One of the bad things about being on vacation is being able to sleep in every day if you so desire. Wait, did I just call having this option bad?
Yes!
Because if you get used to doing this it makes it that much harder to go back to the grind once the hours, minutes and seconds of your precious time off expire..
But I digress.
We had plans to go to Hawaii during this last week, but we didn't make it. I would say it was because of the hurricane but in all honesty it was not. Even flight loads would be a justifiable reason for not heading to the island of blue skies, overhead sun and a high of 86 during the last three days we were supposed to be there. But no, there were other priorities on the side of the other party supposed to be going with me that took precedence which I am still pretty sore about.
So we didn't go to Hawaii.
We almost didn't go anywhere until a last minute, 5 hour conversation took place and paved the way for at least something.
The key to a healthy relationship is compromise, right? Gah.

So, where can we go for only 2 or 3 days that would still be worth getting on a plane for?
There was a limited list of options. Really, just one.
San Diego.
Some highlights:

First off, being that the plane would be taking off at 6:40am we were supposed to be up and out the door by 4:30am, in order to have time to park the car in a free parking area and ride the shuttle over to the airport. Well... 5am came and I found myself still in bed, staring at my silent phone wondering what the heck happened.
Ok, stay calm.
And lets just see how quickly we can get ourselves out of here.
We made the flight but it ended up costing us $30 in parking fees in the end. Ouch.

First stop, Mexico!
Well, not *exactly* Mexico, but the shady part of San Diego really does closely resemble parts of the "nice" part of the city of Tijuana that I had the privilege of "touring" a few years back. Once we got ourselves turned around and properly situated we made our way over to the Ga-Slamp quarter for a delicious breakfast and a stroll around the city.

This is a view from the steps of the convention center. Sadly, climbing to the top of these steps (there were over 300 steps, I swear!) took my breath away (the view, it was the view..)

One of the main reasons we wanted to go to San Diego was to explore the beaches it has to offer. I was going to try and skip out on Ocean Beach and Mission Beach, just because those are typically pretty scuzzy, but somehow that was where we ended up for the first part of the day. What better way to make the next beach look pristine by looking at the not so great ones first, right?
Once we made it to Pacific Beach it did slightly work, but Del Mar most definitely stole the show.

What do you think? I know I wouldn't mind living in that house! And the water was pretty warm for California. But I am getting a little ahead of myself.. we didn't go to Del Mar until the next day.

The first night we stayed at a hotel on Harbor Island. Before dinner we decided to take the hotel up on their offer of complimentary bicycles and took a lovely ride around the bay. While the bikes were quite ugly, did not have brakes on the handle bars and felt quite unsafe all around we still had a great time.
While perusing Pacific Beach earlier in the day we both noticed a quaint little ale house with rooftop seating overlooking the ocean. After not finding anywhere interesting to eat on our bike ride we decided to get back in the car and drive the 9 miles back to Pacific Beach. We were told that there would be considerable wait time to eat on the roof, but since it was open seating we decided to take our chances. Funny thing was that just as I got a parking spot right up front, not only was there an open table but it was right on the edge with a pretty good street view. After dinner we took a moonlit stroll on the beach, a marvelous end to a remarkable day.

Remember what I said about vacations being about being able to sleep in as late as one desires? Well, not when traveling!
Early risers get to see more of the city, especially when only there for a couple of days.
After checking out of our hotel, finding a lovely little breakfast spot and sending a post card we were off for Del Mar!
Del Mar is by far my favorite part of San Diego. The fact that it is not actually part of San Diego is beside the point or maybe it is the point... all I know is that I love it.
After driving through the main stretch of the town we made our way to a somewhat secluded section of beach on the north side. The sky was blue, the water was clear, the sand was white and the air was warm. It was perfect!

This shot was on our way across the San Diego River, to the beach we spent most of the day on. Funny thing was that we had to wait for a stampede of children to cross the bridge first before we could even edge across. It seemed that we got there just in time (they were leaving).

After spending a good hour in the water and an equal amount of time lying on the sand we decided to walk to the top of the cliff that overlooked the city/beach.

This was what we saw.
From the beach we made a mad attempt to find one of my favorite sushi places of all time which is somewhere in Del Mar. Unfortunately I was unable to find it, which in one sense may be a good thing. Most of the time our memories of things tend to be fonder than they really were in reality and I hate to think that the place really is sub par..
Instead we went to a cute little bar for happy hour where I had the most delicious pineapple martini ever made. Oh yes. It was that good. Something about Del Mar I guess..
After cleaning up we headed over to explore Coronado Island. While not really an island, it still has its charm and I would highly recommend venturing over the bridge just to say you have.

The downtown skyline from Coronado Island. We spent the final evening of our trip on the other side of the bay where we strolled along the waterfront waiting for the sunset that never came.. The dessert at Tartine was good enough to make up for this fact however :)

All in all the trip was wonderful. Much needed. And definitely something that we will be doing again.
Soon, hopefully.