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.

Flagstaff Getaway to Escape 100 Degree Heat

As a result of COVID and the quarantine, we have not really traveled at all this year. I did a trip to NYC and to Disneyland at the beginning of the year, but nothing since then. Dave had not taken any days off work, so we decided just to get away for a couple of nights to Flagstaff and enjoy some 80-degree temps. We left on Thursday morning and came back this morning (Saturday).

I found a cute little bed and breakfast online called The England House. It was a quaint little place and the owners were very nice and friendly. We stayed in a room called The Pantry, and it was exactly as its name implies, the original pantry of the house. When I booked the room a week ago it was the only one available, but if we stay here again I would choose a different room. The Pantry was just super small and really only had enough room for the bed and a little space to walk around the bed.

It was near downtown so we walked to dinner both nights.

This was our breakfast table both mornings. It was in an enclosed patio, but the doors were open so it almost felt like you were outside.

When we arrived on Thursday we were walking around downtown and found Lux - we were surprised to see a location in Flagstaff.

Thursday night we ate dinner at Bandera Tacos. The food was excellent but we ordered way too much - prices were very reasonable. Most of downtown Flagstaff was closed due to Coronavirus.

On Friday morning we drove up to Arizona Nordic Village to do some hiking. I had read some reviews online that the cross country trails were good hiking trails in the summer. We hiked Babbitt Trail and it ended up being 4.6 miles. Not much elevation gain but it was nice to be in the trees and hike in high 70s/low 80s temps.

There were so many beautiful wildflowers.

At the end of the hike we saw these cows - they all had horns so they were bulls. When I first stopped to take a picture one started running and I thought he was charging at me, but he ran the opposite direction. I told Dave if the bull started charging us he needed to be my rodeo clown :)

After our hike we decided to drive to the Meteor Crater. A huge iron-nickel meteorite, estimated to have been about 150 feet across and weighing several thousand tons, struck the northern Arizona rocky plain with an explosive force greater than 20 million tons of TNT. The massive meteor is estimated to have been traveling at about 26,000 mph, or 7.2 miles per second, through the Earth's atmosphere. At that speed, the meteor could have passed over New York City 8 minutes after being sighted in Paris, and then impacted in Arizona about 5 minutes later! This picture below is the largest fragment that has been found of that meteorite.

In seconds, the result of the impact was the excavation of a giant bowl-shaped cavity (550 feet deep and 4,000 feet across). 

The Crater is large enough for 20 football games to be played simultaneously on its floor, while more than 2 million people watch from the sloping sides. Fun fact: I am an AZ native and did not know about this crater until yesterday. Guess I should brush up on some Arizona history.

NASA has provided extensive science training at Meteor Crater for the Apollo astronauts.

Once we got back into Flagstaff we stopped at Local Juicery for a smoothie. We have been to the Sedona location numerous times, but I had read an article earlier this year that a Flagstaff location had opened.

Dinner Friday night was at Brix. This is the current look for going to a restaurant in Arizona.

A great getaway but I will be happy when life gets back to normal.

Soldier Pass Trail

Since we were not in Indianapolis today, we decided to take a day trip up to Sedona and hike the Solider Pass Trail to the cave. 

We first came to the Devil's Kitchen Sinkhole. The most recent part of this fell in 1989, but I overheard a tour guide and he was pointing out what portion they expect to fall next.

The picture doesn't do the depth justice. You would be dead if you fell into this sinkhole.

We then came to the Seven Sacred Pools. These were not too impressive - maybe they would be better after a rainstorm.

The pictures online make it look like a stream was running right through where I am standing and filling each pool.

The views were gorgeous and it was a beautiful day.

This is the view from inside the cave. Pictures with people in them were difficult due to lighting.

This hole in the rock below shows the opening where I am sitting above from the outside of the cave.

Inside the cave.

Lighting was much better with no people.

All in all, was a decent hike. My phone told me it was 3.4 miles total. It is not a difficult trail, with the exception of about 1/4 of the mile from the top then it gets a bit strenuous. If I did this hike again, I would not go on a holiday weekend and I would go before sunrise to avoid people and hopefully get a little better lighting for pictures in the cave. But was still great to be outside with Dave enjoying God's beautiful creation.

After our hike we stopped at the Local Juicery, which is my favorite place for an after-hike snack. Today I had the Match Mylkshake (almond milk, matcha, banana, almond butter, coconut flakes, vegan protein, spinach and dates).