Leaving Monterey the day after Thanksgiving we had a long drive ahead of us. Julie’s parents were meeting us today in San Diego and without any long delays the drive was still in the 8-9 hour range. We said goodbye to Melissa and Harper, hopped in Bubbles and we were off. We drove south along the 101 until Pasa Robles before veering east until we connected with I-5. From there we continued south through the great California Central Valley and Los Angeles. To avoid traffic we drove around LA going through Pasadena and Pomona before finally joining with I-15 and into San Diego.
We had booked an Airbnb weeks earlier in the town of Imperial Beach located south of San Diego, just north of the Mexican border. As we hadn’t hit too much traffic while going through LA we arrived in Imperial Beach not too long after Julie’s parents (Dave & Laura) had. It was great to see family members again as the last time that we had we were all the way north in Seattle. The Airbnb turned out to be great too, 1 block away from the beach and the Imperial Beach Pier. The owner had even set up parking for Bubbles in a small pay lot directly across the street. This was great as the Airbnb did come with a garage but not one that could accommodate the 10’ clearance that Bubbles needs. That night we caught up and went across the street to the Coronado Brewery for dinner and a beer before calling it a night.
The first day was spent exploring the heart of our new little town, Imperial Beach. Imperial Beach is quite literally the end of the line as it is the last town that you pass through before crossing the border over into Mexico. It was pretty neat to be here as now we had driven from the Atlantic Ocean to the Pacific Ocean and from the Canada/USA border to the USA/Mexico border. We had now been to 3 of the 4 corners of the country. Imperial Beach isn’t that big but perfect size for a relaxing day of exploration. It just happened to be small business Saturday on our first day and as such there was a small festival of local business’s that had set up tents in a park next to the pier. We walked around the tents and the pier before venturing up the main drag of the town. Imperial Beach is a popular surfing community and as such there were surfboards all over the place. Surfing competitions had taken place in the town for many years and on every block was a surf statue for the winner of the year. The statue was of the winners’ surfboard which told its year, model, material and who won it. It was pretty neat to see how years ago the surfboards started out huge (some up to 10’) and today roughly half that size. As this was a relaxing day we then walked back to the Airbnb condo before walking to a local seafood restaurant for the night.
Day two in San Diego was a special day. We were meeting again with Jon, a new friend that we had met while in Bandon, Oregon. He was there as a birthday present and had told us that when we reached San Diego to give him a call. Once we reached San Diego we called Jon and he invited us over to meet his wife Josee and have breakfast with them. We drove the short distance from Imperial Beach to Jon and Josee’s house in Coronado. Coronado turned out to be a beautiful little island community. It was great meeting Josee, catching up with Jon and having a great family style breakfast. While there we learned that Josee was a tour guide at the famous Hotel Del Coronado so naturally we decided that we must join her tour in a few days. After breakfast we thanked them for their hospitality and headed across the bay to San Diego.
The rest of the day was spent exploring San Diego’s Gaslamp district. The Gaslamp district is one of San Diego’s oldest neighborhoods dating back to the 1860’s. The neighborhood is best known today as San Diego’s entertainment district. We explored the neighborhood for the rest of the day stopping into Patrick’s pub for a pint and at a restaurant called Florent for lunch before heading back to Imperial Beach. We cooked dinner in the condo that night making turkey burgers and sweet potato fries. We were even joined that night by my cousin Evan’s girlfriend Teresa. We loved being able to see so many people in a location that for us was pretty random.
The next two days were filled with going to two of San Diego’s biggest attractions, the San Diego Zoo and the USS Midway Aircraft Carrier. I’m sure most of you have heard about the San Diego Zoo and how great it is. Being there however is a totally different experience than just reading about it or seeing it on TV. The zoo is massive, just massive. Lucky for us it was a bit drizzly the morning that we went which kept some of the crowds away (the clouds and rain cleared about halfway through the day). We explored the zoo the entire day going exhibit to exhibit; fascinated by the amount of space each animal was given. The zoo had everything from flamingos to elephants, giraffes to koalas. We of course also saw their famous panda bears! From the zoo we drove over to the Liberty Station neighborhood going to one of San Diego’s famous breweries, Stone Brewing. It was a great day.
The next day we woke up and drove to San Diego’s waterfront to explore their other massive attraction, the USS Midway Aircraft Carrier. Just like the zoo from the previous day was massive, the aircraft carrier is absolutely massive. In order to see everything on the boat you would need to purchase a week pass just to be able to go floor by floor and see it all. It was just crazy how big the ship is. We toured a few of the floors, seeing a short movie about the ship’s life and getting to sit in the pilots clubhouse rooms. The best part about the ship though was the flight deck. It was filled with planes and helicopters that had served on the ship. You were even able to sit in a few of them. All in all it was a great experience. The rest of the day was spent exploring the Little Italy neighborhood. Here we stopped at another one of San Diego’s famous breweries, Ballast Point. We then took ourselves on a food tour having wine, appetizers and dinner at all different places in the neighborhood. It was a lot of fun!
The next day we ventured back to Coronado and took a tour of the Hotel Del Coronado with Josee. We had a great time on this tour. The hotel, we learned, was one of the last surviving examples of the wooden Victorian beach resort style. It is also the 2nd largest wooden structure in the United States. Even though the hotel was build in the late 1800’s it is still as impressive today as the day that it was completed. The day of our tour there was a Hewlett-Packard company convention going on and as such it was packed. We toured the inside and the grounds in awe of this old wood structure. After the tour we said goodbye to Josee but stuck around as we had booked a lunch at the hotel as well (it was delicious!).
From the hotel we drove out to Point Loma and the Cabrillo National Monument. This monument commemorates Juan Rodriguez Cabrillo, the 1st European to set foot on the west coast of the USA. This spot also has amazing views of the entire San Diego area as its 400+ feet high on a point. It was pretty awesome! Later that evening we ventured back into San Diego and took a history and food tour in the Gaslight district called Brothels, Booze & Bites. In it we stopped at four restaurants, sampling at each place and in between learning about San Diego’s interesting (and sometimes taboo) history in buildings that we were standing right in front of. It had been a great day as we had seen 3 amazing and very different parts of the city.
The last day in San Diego was spent in the nearby town of La Jolla. This town was pretty neat as it is located directly along high cliffs towering over the Pacific Ocean. We wandered the streets of the town hopping in and out of the many stores for most of the day. We also walked along the cliff walk, a path that hugs the cliff in places just feet from the edge. This was pretty crazy as there were tons of seabirds nesting among the rock wall and would take flight in a group at a moments notice. After the cliff walk and a lunch at the Crab Catcher (amazing seafood!) we made our way back to Imperial Beach to relax, pack and get set for our journeys the next day.
It was great to see and experience a new city with Julie’s parents and we were grateful that they came all the way to San Diego to see us. We had a great time with them and would be seeing them soon as the holiday season was almost here. Yay!
Next up…. The Entertainment Capitol of the World…….Los Angeles.
