So our trip to San Diego was great fun – it was the first time we’ve ever gone on vacation to a place instead of to see people. Even our trip to Michigan over the summer was a working vacation – but it was to see people. Not that there’s anything wrong with that, but let’s face it: touring flying in to Metro Airport is significantly less interesting than Sea World or the beach. ;)
Brendan was in the dark until he saw the sign for the state line. Beyond being in California, though, he didn’t know where we were headed or who we were meeting up with – so finding our friends The Webbers at the townhome was a delight. :) When we travel and see people, we invariably don’t have much to worry about in the way of accommodations. We’re incredibly blessed to have friends offer to host us while we’re in town. :) But this visiting a place-thing made finding accommodations interesting. The Webbers took care of procuring the townhome we stayed in, but prior to knowing how all of this would work out, I spent time scouring Orbitz, hotel sites, and trying to figure out the best bang for our buck. It’s confusing, to say the least.
I saw one hotel and booked a reservation (that I cancelled later) – Orbitz listed it at about $65/night plus taxes. When I called the hotel directly, I got the rack-rate of $54 per night – $60+change after taxes. That’s a pretty interesting difference – and one I don’t take lightly, especially when considering a multi-night trip. Moral of the story: call hotels directly after you get the information from the online source. You may save money by making a phone call.
Sea World was a blast – Brendan declared it “one of the best days of my life!” as we piled in to the van to drive home. :) He got soaking wet with the whales’ splashing, rode his first roller coaster, was mesmerized by the sea lions, and generally couldn’t find anything he didn’t enjoy immensely. We didn’t have time for the Cirque de la Mer show, and we missed the dolphin-show, but being relatively close to the park means that we’ll likely go back in the future.
The day at Sea World was definitely for Brendan and the next day at the beach was definitely for us. Although by my photos, you’d never know it – Brendan had more fun than all of us combined. :) It was his (and Mark’s) first time at the Pacific ocean and once he was brave enough to go in the surf, we had a hard time pulling him away. :)
For us, it was a much-needed day just to chill and relax – and see our dear friends Paul & Sarah. They drove down from Ontario, CA to spend the afternoon with us at the beach and we were so blessed by our time 
together. We love them beyond words and it’s always so good just to hang with people who really get you and with whom you don’t have to pretend or hide parts of yourself.
The tidal pools were AMAZING – the sea life that was there absolutely blew my mind. Beautiful sea urchins, starfish, anemones, crabs… I just couldn’t get over the colours and varieties we saw.
We drove home mid-afternoon the following day – after meeting up with my cousin and her family who had just moved to San Diego. We planned to catch up before we left, but didn’t have their address until the night before we saw them. When we plugged it in to the GPS, we found that the townhome we stayed in was about .6 miles from their home! What an amazing thing, to be in the enormous city of San Diego and end up being less than a mile from your only family there. :) It was a treat to meet her kids and husband and we look forward to more get-togethers, now that they are only a few hours away.
If I ever thought driving I-8 in the day was dull (and it is – except for the THREE border-patrol stops we had to make), driving the same patch of road at night is torturously boring. So I think when we are there next, we’ll leave earlier in the day and avoid the desert at night. I was petrified of hitting a coyote on the road, but thankfully, none came near us while we were travelling.
And now we’re back home – in the thick of stuff. I’ve been working in the food storage & put up another 57 lbs of beans (peruano beans), I have canning to do next week (salsa and applesauce), and I’m in the process of reorganizing the pantry. Such is my glamorous life. :) Look for more posts in upcoming days – because I’m back in the saddle of real life all over again. :)
And oh, if you want to peruse the pictures I took, they’re on my Flickr account here. :)
 |
something fall off of one of my spinning plates? I’d like to think it’s not arrogance – I don’t want to be seen as arrogant and I try very hard not to act that way. And yet, I seem to have different rules for me and how much I can accomplish than I do for friends who also struggle with the Monster of Do. The words fairly trip off my fingers and it feels good to get the words out of my head and feel productive again. Maybe it’s a discipline thing – or maybe there’s a season for everything and this past summer just wasn’t my season for doing absolutely everything on my schedule. I don’t know.
