We stayed in a great Marriott which was well located to be our base for exploring the San Diego area. Lucky me that someone thought this out in advance of our trip!! :) We spent some relaxing time at Torrey Pines beach which was a 5 minute drive from our hotel. This beach stretched for miles and there are supposed to be some good trails around, but we didn't have time this time around. The water was cool, but refreshing. After our beach time we drove down the coast to explore the area. We drove through La Jolla on our way to Point Loma and then downtown San Diego. We stopped for lunch in Point Loma at a seafood restaurant....now usually a seafood restaurant will have one or two token non-seafood dishes for those who don't eat seafood, like me, but end up at their restaurant. This place had one option, a chicken Caesar salad and I really didn't feel like eating that and besides I couldn't wait to get away from the "lovely" overpowering smell. There was no planned option B but we happened upon a Mexican restaurant called Miguel's Cocina, which turned out to be a fantastic lunch with a great view of downtown San Diego from their outdoor eating area.
We visited the Cabrillo National Monument at southern most part of Point Loma. The monument commemorates the first time an European expedition set foot on the west coast of the US. There was a $5 entry fee into the park but it did allow for repeat visits, not that we planned to come back. The park gives you wonderful views of the coast and you can see US Airforce fighter jets take off from their base nearby. This turned out to be a neat little stop.
We visited downtown San Diego during the day and also returned on a Friday evening for dinner and explored the Gas Lamp district on foot. This area comes alive on a Friday night with people out and about everywhere. Every restaurant lining the main road had outdoor seating which was pretty full. We ended up eating dinner at an Italian restaurant called Chianti. Now when a restaurant is named after an incredible wine region you just expect the food to be just as incredible and this place did not disappoint. We got a table on the patio out front and this provided for some good people watching opportunities too, like when a Ferrari pulled up and was told by the police he couldn't park where he wanted and he took 10 minutes to make his way across the street to park all the while revving his engine. Twice now on this trip have we dined on some really incredible Italian food. Highly recommend this restaurant when in San Diego. We also walked through a Marriott hotel in the area which is in a former bank building. The cool thing about this hotel is that they preserved many of the original parts of the building including the bank vault which is now a meeting room and still has the old safety deposit boxes attached on the walls. It also has the old telephone rooms with working phone and work areas. It was really neat to see.
We visited SeaWorld because its admission was included in our City Pass. I had never been, and so was curious to visit but also have mixed feelings about the whole concept. The park is very well laid out and designed and kept very clean. One thing I found annoying was that they don't have very many water fountains in the park. We wanted to refill our water bottles instead of buying water so having water fountains for this purpose would make sense especially when they are trying to teach about planet conservation. Seems logical to me that you wouldn't force people to buy multiple drinks on a hot day only to discard the container. Anyway, I digress. I enjoyed the exhibits, was a little saddened to see the killer whales and dolphins doing their shows in the size of pools they had. While the shows themselves were entertaining and it gives an opportunity to see these animals "up close" it breaks my heart to see these majestic animals out of their natural environment and put on display day in and day out. I don't regret going, I'm glad we did, I just had mixed feelings about it. They do put on good entertaining shows, but I also think about the welfare of the animals and what SeaWorld's intention is when the current animals pass on.
Our last day was spent at Del Mar beach. This is another beach that stretches for miles and is very popular. It took us about 45 minutes to find an appropriate free parking spot; parking near the beach and park was outrageously expensive. It was worth driving around looking for a free spot though. The water was great for playing in the waves. There were plenty of people trying to surf and body surf. There were also some stand-up paddle boarders beyond the break of the surf. We saw a couple weddings in the park. What a picturesque place for a wedding. We relaxed and took in the vitamin D before heading to a restaurant on the boardwalk for a light snack before dinner. A family friend of Z's lives in San Diego and he invited us over, so we enjoyed a lovely home cooked meal at his place that evening. It was a lovely way to end this vacation.
Torrey Pines beach
- Posted using BlogPress from my iPad
No comments:
Post a Comment