We'd been planning forever to take a big California road trip and spend longer than a weekend in So Cal. It didn't quite work out as planned (see above) as Steve had gone to LA ahead of us and Grace and I flew down to meet him. He was gone four days without us and Grace was beside herself with excitement about seeing Daddy. We took two buses, a walk and BART to get to the airport and her behavior was perfect. She ended up levitating as walked through the airport and she sang "I'm going to see Daddy." (There was an awkward moment on BART when she pointed to a guy with a giant red mohawk and loudly asked "What's on his head?!").
Anyway, we met up with Steve in OC and headed straight to the beach in Corona del Mar, a place Steve and I used to go often in college. Then we took the familiar drive down the PCH toward San Diego. Steve has been there for work since we left, but I'd only been back once since leaving 5 years ago - for the fabulous wedding of Megan and Lars. We started the trip with a visit to UCSD, showing the future Triton around. Lots of new buildings, self serve fro yo (in fact, this seems to be a So Cal phenomenon as we ended up trying many such places), and we visited by old boss for a lovely but all too brief chat. He immediately gave guerrilla dolls from chiapas to play with while we talked and then none of us could decide how to explain the guns they were holding when she asked. After our quick visit to campus (most of which was spent discussing if we want Steve to get a job there or not one day - jury remains out), we met up with Grandpa and headed to Las Olas. Um, yum. My goal for the San Diego portion of our trip was to each as much Mexican food as possible, which turned into a fish taco marathon until Steve cut me off after eating them daily for a week.
We spent the next several days visiting our old haunts. Lots of time at various beaches, time at the hotel pool, hiking, walking and tide pooling. I had kind of forgotten how beautiful San Diego is. I mean, I remember that the bright blue ocean is an amazing backdrop and the coastline is pretty, but I guess I had forgotten it's like to just have that view always there - sparkling water, crashing waves, sandy beaches, sandstone cliffs, boats and dolphins. Plus, it's WARM. In the 9 years we lived there, I actually found the relentless sunshine oppressive, but man after 2 years in SF and 3 in Boston, I'll take all the 70 degree weather I can get.
Also, I discovered how nice it is to vacation some place familiar. We didn't feel compelled to see any sites or do anything other than have fun and relax because we've pretty much seen/done everything we want to there. And we knew where to eat so we didn't have to stress about whether we going to the right restaurant. We did go one new place - a great little beach and park in Solana Beach. They've recently added a playground at the beach where Steve learned to swim during the year he lived there as a kid. A lovely little spot with fab views and a fun playground and walking distance to Pizza Port. We also had such nice visit with Grandpa - Grace just loved playing in the sand with him. We attended mass at the church where we were married (almost) 9! years ago. At one point, an Asian man was singing in Swahili while the African American priest bopped his head in time to the music while preparing the gifts. That moment pretty much sums up the diversity I love about California and that church in particular.
Corona del Mar
La Jolla
Checking out the seals
Solana Beach
Hiking at Torrey Pines (one of our favorite places)
Looking at cacti
On the trail down to the beach
Walking and watching the dolphins (Grace kept claiming she could see them, but I'm not so sure).
Tidepooling at La Jolla Shores (the tide was coming in and we got wet!)
Love it with Scripps Pier in the background
Back to Downtown La Jolla for a picnic and more tidepooling
So fun to be back in San Diego! I hope we make it there one more time before we head east next summer.
All the pix from the So Cal swing portion of our trip are here.
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