San Diego for Dave's BD

We drove over to San Diego for a few days the week of Dave's birthday. We left on Wednesday night, August 19 and then came back on Saturday, August 22. Dave worked on Wednesday (and we both did a virtual AZ ethics CPE) so we didn't get on the road until about 5pm. We stopped in Yuma at In-N-Out for dinner and rolled into San Diego about 11pm.

Thursday morning we ate at a restaurant a couple of blocks from our called Cafe 21. It was ok - probably would not go back but our breakfast was pretty.

On Thursday afternoon I gave Dave a sailing lesson for his birthday. So we were out on a sailboat for 3 hours. We both enjoyed sailing and Dave wants to get his license so he can sail more often (I'm all for that!).

Captain Dave

This was John, our captain for the afternoon

We had a late lunch after sailing at Mitch's Seafood - a suggestion by captain John. This was our view from the patio of the restaurant.

We then stopped at Coronado Island and walked around for a while. I took a picture with my car - this was its first time back to California after I bought it over there in 2012. It was nice to drive with the top down.

Friday morning we had breakfast at Parakeet Cafe in La Jolla - this place was excellent (I thought so, Dave didn't give it a high vote) and I would definitely eat here again.

We walked around La Jolla Cove...

...and then went to Better Buzz for coffee/matcha. I wish this coffee shop was in Arizona.

Lunch Friday was at one of our favorite places, Puesto.

Then it was back to Coronado Island to hang out on the beach for a while and then late afternoon we went back to the hotel to relax (I took a nap) for a couple of hours before dinner. We stayed at the Kimpton and this was the view from our room. This Kimpton is the least favorite Kimpton we have stayed at, however, I don't know if we can give it a fair vote because there were no amenities due to COVID.

On Friday night I had reservations at Sea180 at Imperial Beach. It had a nice patio on the beach, but we were not at all impressed by the food. We decided we have found really good places in Phoenix/Scottsdale and now we are spoiled.

Saturday morning we slept in a little, grabbed breakfast and then made the drive back across the desert to the blazing heat.

Hotel Del Weekend 2019

For the weekend of December 13-15th we went back to the Hotel Del to celebrate our two-year engagement anniversary. We said that we probably wouldn't do this every year, but it is such a quick and easy flight over, and we are enjoying doing some of the same things over that we have done in years past.

This year we did not rent a car given it cost quite a bit to park it and we didn't really drive it much last year. Our flight was delayed by about an hour, so we had the Uber driver drop us off for lunch and then we walked to the Del. We went to Boney's Bayside Market for lunch (somewhere we will not go back to again) and ate on the bay with this view.

Once we got to the hotel our room was not quite ready, so we went out and sat on the beach for a while. It was kind of chilly so we definitely were not trying to get a tan.

The theme this year at the Del was Winter Wonderland so all the decorations were white.

Dinner Friday night was a Leroy's - I would recommend this restaurant.

After dinner we walked back to the hotel and got a gelato at Sundae's.

Saturday morning we got up early and walked the beach towards the dog beach. It is nice to get up and take pictures of all the decorations when no one is around.

The tree in the lobby - again, a white theme.

This is the ornament of the year for 2019 - I bought one to bring home.

By Sunday morning, Sandy the Snowman was destroyed and there was a sign that the Grinch had stolen our holiday cheer.

These sandpipers were all standing in a group - I had never seen so many lined up like this.

This is now a tradition - we love Tent City for Saturday morning breakfast.

I get a juice (either orange or green) and quiche every year.

We came home from breakfast and I took a nap and sat on the deck and read for a while. It was great just to relax in the hotel room.

Unfortunately the view this year was of construction. I am sure it will be really nice when it is done but this year were not the best views.

Around noon we walked across the island to take the ferry from Coronado to downtown San Diego.

We walked around Seaport Village, and then we had lunch...

...at Puesto. We ate at the La Jolla location last year, and this year we went to the downtown location. 

We walked around the Embarcadero for a bit before catching the ferry back to Coronado Island.

Since we did a late lunch on Saturday neither of us were that hungry for dinner. We had a fire pit reservation at 8pm, so s'mores became our dinner for the night.

I made my own marshmallows this year to roast - they are just made of water, gelatin, honey and vanilla. They worked out pretty well, but they don't hold together when roasting like a "regular" marshmallow. I also brought GF graham crackers.

It was a really windy and cold night so the fire felt great.

Sunday morning we tried a new restaurant called Little Frenchie.

It was a cute restaurant.

After breakfast we had some time before we had to get an Uber for the airport so we walked around the courtyard and then had lunch On the Rocks.

It was such a great weekend and I am thinking we will probably be back next December!