It seemed like summer would pass us by before we could get the chance to go away together as a family. (Except James, he had regular work and didn't want to hang out with us anyway...) I had worked so many shifts, and now that my co-workers were finished their holidays, I could finally have mine now. :) (Although we all know that I consider my vacation to start the week after the kids go back to school!) But first it was to time to acknowledge Charles' special day on the 19th. (I was working...)
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Charles is pretty low-key about birthdays, with all the years of friends being away in
August. No matter, we still celebrate with him 18 wonderful years and many more to come. |
After working my last evening shift, we managed to eventually get our act together to leave the next afternoon for Lynnwood, WA. It would have been impossible to leave the very same day, plus we had to hit the outlet mall for our back-to-school shoe shopping. Our eventual destination was getting closer: San Diego!
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| Nora makes herself at home at our hotel. |
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| Big brothers teach Nora all kinds of things... |
After spending some time the next morning shopping at Alderwood Mall, specifically browsing the
American Girl store for the first time, we were ready to go to Sea-Tac. (The guys refused to go in the doll store for some reason...) And no, we didn't wake up that morning planning to wear purple!
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| Yes, we had 10 carry-on bags... trying to avoid the $20/suitcase fee. |
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| Nora obliged us with a nap, which made the 3:30 pm flight that much better! :) |
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| Thomas obviously doesn't get out in the sun much! |
After getting the kids settled into our room at the
Doubletree Suites, it was time to purchase groceries for breakfast and pick up Charles from his flight from Vancouver. With his luggage delayed, it made for a very late evening but at least we were all together again, and ready to start "relaxing"... sure!
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Our vacation routine of eating breakfast on our own. Sadly, our hotel didn't
offer free breakfasts so it was a lot of cereal, fruit and muffins daily! |
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View of the pool that we only made it to 30 minutes before
closing every night. Our days were just so packed... |
With Charles only being with us for four full days, this was our one unplanned day to explore the area. It was really a time to orient ourselves to the city, as well as packing in some historical aspects. (I like a well-rounded trip!) After some challenges finding the tourist information office, our car then loaded up with maps and sightseeing brochures, I did my best to start navigating. First stop,
Coronado, with the chance to take the downhill bridge across from downtown .
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| Tail end of the Coronado Bridge. |
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| This picture of the bridge off Wikipedia does it more justice... |
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| View of Coronado from the bridge. |
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| View of downtown from Coronado. It's great that everything is so close... |
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We were advised to check out this landmark hotel from 1886,
where many famous people and presidents have stayed. |
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Before getting sun burnt...
the pendant left a white spot! |
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The gold bow on the turret celebrates
the 125th anniversary. |
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| Awaiting a wedding later in the day~ |
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| Our next stay in San Diego, without kids?! |
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| The beautiful beach, and we left our towels etc. in the van! |
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| Hotel for a day... impressive! |
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| Like any beach, we can't resist walking into the water... |
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| The perfect shirt for a beach outing! |
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| Ironically, this son is not interested in surfing~ |
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| Getting soaked will be inevitable. |
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| Someone is having trouble keeping his wet pants up... |
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| ...but he's not the only one! |
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| Happy 22nd Anniversary Scott! |
We headed south of Coronado towards the border, eating a picnic lunch in
Imperial beach, although we couldn't access the beach so opted for a parking lot near a bird sanctuary! Because I had planned the general details of the trip but not the specifics due to lack of time, this was the first of many times that things didn't always work out ideally but... oh well?! Next time, we'll know so much more but overall I just like to roll with it. Looping back, we rounded the bottom of San Diego Bay heading northwards to the city. We then cut westward to
Point Loma to explore the famous
Cabrillo National Monument .
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Great views across San Diego Bay of the city...
this viewpoint helped us get oriented to the area, too. |
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| Many ships out enjoying the weekend. |
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| The squirrel is daring, used to getting food. Nora can't see him to her left... |
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| And he runs down again... |
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| Lewis tries to help...the squirrel really knows how to evade the camera! |
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Note to self... avoid facing the sun for photos! Behind us is
Coronada again, the west half which is a military base. |
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| This light is humongous! |
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| Such a solitary life it would have been... |
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| So we excitedly climbed up the lighthouse stairs to find the top blocked off! |
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| A cool artistic shot by Scott~ |
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| The trees are hardy, twisted in interesting shapes. |
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| Our easy-going traveler... |
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| Nora, much easier-going than usual! |
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| As viewed out the window, but I'm pretty sure that tree is naturally bent that way... |
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Overlooking the city across the bay, it really seems a peaceful
spot to remember the sacrifices of so many. |
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| Just sobering to see so many headstones~ |
And to finish off a great day, we shared our anniversary dinner at
P.F. Chang's with the kids. Too much dessert, but oh so good! :) Tomorrow, it's Seaworld!
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| Great Wall of Chocolate |
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| Banana Spring Rolls~ |
2 comments:
Such beautiful pictures Scott took of a lovely part of the world. Looks like a good vacation despite the detail challenges. :)
Thanks, Ann. We were both taking pictures so get different perspectives on the same places and people. Takes doubly-long to put together, but is fun.
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