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.

London 2017

We flew out of Phoenix on the British Airways flight that goes direct from Phoenix to London. This was my third time taking this flight and it doesn't seem much longer than a flight from Phoenix to the east coast. It leaves Phoenix around 7:30pm, they give you dinner (and wine) once you are to cruising altitude and then I sleep all night until the lights come on for breakfast about an hour or so before landing. Super easy flight and you walk off the plane at Heathrow. When we arrived in London on Sunday afternoon we took the tube from the airport to our Airbnb which was in Vauxhall. We just dropped our stuff and left as we had tickets for a tour of Buckingham Palace. We were not allowed to take pictures inside Buckingham Palace, but I did walk through the room where pictures like this are taken:

After our tour, we walked to the front of Buckingham Palace where we were able to take pictures.

Victoria station - this was the first station in London where Kyle and I came into from the airport in 2005, and also where we caught the tube back to the Airbnb Sunday night.

Mind the gap (read in a British accent)

Monday we did a tour of Westminster Abbey...

...and took communion at the daily ceremony inside the Abbey.

Police officers in front of the Parliament building - one of them seemed really happy to take a picture with me, the other wasn't too sure.

Big Ben - I just read today that on August 21st Big Ben will be going out of service for 4 years so we made it just in time to hear the bells toll. We did a tour of the Parliament building on Monday afternoon which was very interesting. Again, no pictures were allowed inside.

This was our main subway station by our Airbnb.

The view from dinner Monday night at OXO Tower Restaurant.

Tuesday Dave rented a car and we drove about two hours to the countryside for a tour of the Land Rover facility.

It was neat to see all the robots working to make the cars. All Land Rovers, Range Rovers, etc. are made and shipped to anywhere in the world from here.

On our way home we stopped at Oxford - we had dinner here at The Crown Inn, which dates back to 1365. When it was an inn, Shakespeare is known to have stayed here.

Christ's Church in Oxford.

An artsy pic in Westminster on my Wednesday morning run.

The backyard of our Airbnb - the patio was great.

Wednesday we went to the TKTS booth to get tickets for a show - we wanted Les Miserables but they didn't have 5 seats together so we saw Matilda instead.

Trafalgar Square

Bonding with the lions.

The end of the changing of the guard at Buckingham Palace.

Kensington Palace in Hyde Park.

Kensington is where William and Kate live as well as Prince Harry.

The view from lunch on Wednesday at Coq d'Argent - this was in the financial district of London.

After lunch on Wednesday we walked to the Tower Bridge.

And walked across the bridge.

The play on Wednesday night.

Our Airbnb in Vauxhall.

One of my favorite coffee shops in London - it is a chain and actually in the U.S., but their coconut lattes were amazing.

Thursday - getting ready to take the train under the English Channel and onto Paris for part 2 of the vacation.

This was my second time to London and I would go back for a third. I think London would be a fun place to live someday!