Day 15 - Last Day & Heading Back to WA

Last day in San Diego. This road trip was a long one but a fun one at that. We had several rough days due to Riley getting sick but there was also new memories created in between.
We took pictures with my dad and said our goodbyes. Hopefully he'll get to visit in the future.

Our flight wasn't until the evening so we had time to go do a bit of sightseeing. We stopped by Seaport Village and enjoyed the view, taking this all in one last time.

He never stops from being silly. Sure runs in his blood.

Growing up I used to find this type of tree quite interesting. I don't know what they're called but the bark can be torn off like cardboard and it feels soft and cushiony. I remember doing that as a little girl. This type of tree has stuck in my memory since then. Just thought I'd share something random from my childhood.

One last selfie here right before leaving.

Then we drove to Ocean Beach in search for a pastry shop Jacob had looked up on Yelp claiming they have very delicious donuts. We got there after noon so most of their pastries were gone but I did see this one yummy glazed donut with crumble on it. It tasted as good as it looked. It was very yummy!

It was another muggy day in San Diego and we were so ready to head back to cloudy skies back home. We dropped off the rental and took the shuttle to the airport. The San Diego airport is a small one, good thing.

Here, Jacob was informing Riley on how he should behave once on the plane. It was a serious talk.

I really don't like flying and I dislike take-off even more. Good thing the flight from San Diego to Seattle is only about a 2.5 hour flight but it still feels long to me, lol.

Riley ended up falling asleep.

Couldn't tell ya if this is Mt. Hood or Mt. St. Helens. The dang pilot didn't say anything as we came upon it. Ugh! LOL! I hate not knowing.

The plane arrived at SeaTac at 8:20 pm. After getting off the plane {which takes forever!} and our luggage we were finally home around 11:00 pm. Thankful that everything went well. Felt so good to be back in my own home. Hugged everyone. I missed them all. And was looking forward to sleeping in my bed, at last!

The very best part of our road trip for me was the first three days. The Oregon coast is so beautiful ... dreary and cold even with visible patches of blue sky ... just perfect for someone like me. I really hope we get to revisit it many more times. Another favorite was the 17-mile drive through Pebble Beach, gorgeous ... AND Santa Cruz, that was fun!!

Unfortunately, we never did get to see not one whale during our road trip. Maybe we'll spot one around the Puget sometime. You never know.

Our Last Summer Escape

8.31.12

Day 1 -Friday
Because the kids had a four day weekend and in celebration of our 16 year anniversary we decided to take a road trip to San Diego for the long Labor Day weekend.
Jacob took Friday off.

We were on the road by 5:45am.

 

The kids were anxiously awaiting for this day. Kept counting down and saying how much they miss their grandma and her delicious cooking. They love visiting their grandparents, the beach, and San Diego.

Riley had a fatty diaper so after changing him I thought he would go back to sleep in the car but he didn't. He kept pointing at the moon and would say "oon" loud until we all acknowledged him. It was also the same thing whenever he saw a car which was about every three seconds ... cah cah until after several minutes later I had to tell him to be quiet and shortly after that he fell asleep. He woke up minutes before reaching Yuma.

 

 

Oh how I wish there was a Chick-fil-A in Yuma but since there isn't I have to settle with my default place for coffee, McDonald's.

 

This time we went in Jacob's car to save on gas. I am so used to my Avalanche and big spaces that being in a sedan made me feel a little claustrophobic. We were definitely a bit limited on our packing and beach stuff. All was good though ... this didn't interfere with our plans so I was fine.

 

About to reach San Diego county.

The cloud cover was awesome. I just wished it would have rained.

 

The last time we were at Hodad's Jacob had ordered a blue cheese burger. He said the blue cheese was overwhelming so he really didn't get to totally enjoy his burger while the entire time I kept saying how good my hamburger was SO since Jacob felt cheated he wanted to give Hodad's another try and that's the first place we went to. This time he ordered a bacon cheeseburger and yes, he thought it was very tasty. We still prefer Five Guys though. Jacob had to walk two businesses down the street to get Riley food we knew he would eat. He came back with a tamale, beans, and rice combo. I tasted the tamale and to my surprise I thought it was good because I am even more picky when it comes to authentic mexican food. Lots of places claim theirs is authentic when in all reality it's nothing but American Mexican food which is NOT good ... to me and definitely not authentic. This happens a lot in TX {I am not a fan of texmex food ... we avoided it as much as possible}. I'm speaking from experience.

 

 

After we ate we walked it off.

 

OB {ocean beach} Pier.

I like walking on piers but Jacob gets nervous because of the kids. He thinks they're gonna fall into the ocean. It doesn't bother me. As long as Riley is holding my hand or Jacob's hand and the kids know to be cautious I have no worries ... well other than hoping there's not an earthquake while we're on the pier and see a tsunami that is.

 

It seems like all the beaches from San Diego up to Los Angeles are experiencing a lot of seaweed. It's so weird to see so much of it at one time. We noticed this when we visiting in July. I have no idea what could be causing this. The water looked brown because there was so much of it floating around.

 

 

 

Riley was fascinated with all the seagulls and pelicans.

 

 

Hello there.

This one had a crooked leg. It hobbled when it walked. Poor thing.

 

 

My hair is very straight but when I'm at the beach the ends become a little wavy. My daughter has wavy hair and her hair got frizzy, she wasn't happy about it.

 

This pelican wasn't shy at all.

 

 

Jacob liked this pier because the right side was boarded up which he felt save having Riley walk on that side.

All Riley cared about were the birds. He kept eyeing that white seagull and began to speed walk.

 

... but it flew away as he got closer.

 

Unposed. I love it!

 

 

Nathan kept trying to get this pelicans attention. I had to tell him to stop annoying it because I didn't want him to get attacked.

 

As I got closer it didn't move. Just kept looking at me so I took its picture. I was a little nervous. I thought it would fly down and chase me. I've been chased {ok, more like followed} by a goose and the darn thing bit me on the leg. It hurt like hell.

 

So after taking these last two shots I walked briskly away. Not taking any chances.

 

Then I came across another handicap seagull but this one didn't have a foot. Aww, I felt so bad for it.

But it's fine. Looks healthy so obviously the handicap isn't limiting this one on living a good life.

 

Riley walked the entire pier. It was a lot of walking then we walked more to get back to the car. He fell asleep once we were on the freeway.

 

Once we got to my moms place he indulged on some grapes that Tia Claudia had peeled and cut in fours. He ate them all. Little guy was hungry from all that walking.

 

I brought his favorite movies with us because I knew we would have downtime and I didn't want him to get rambunctious.

 

My sister, Sydna, and Nathan ... just mingling having a good time, always being silly.

 

The last thing I want to do is go to malls when we're on vacation but Nathan got locked out of his iPod {totally forgot his password, golly ... who does that?}so we went to the Apple store so they could reset it. While we waited Riley played on one of their iPads. He was having fun doing whatever it was he was doing.

 

After we left the mall we went back to my moms and relaxed. The weather has changed in San Diego over the last several years. The times we've visited in the summer it has been humid. It didn't use to be humid and I would remember if it was because I hate humidity.

 

We had a fun first day. I enjoyed smelling the salty sea air. It's so much a part of me and I miss it so much. The kids love the beach and they couldn't wait to get in the water. Their faces lit up when they saw their grandparents and same with my mom and dad.

 

It was nice seeing my parents. I miss them a lot and now that they're getting older I can't help but worry about my mom. I can only pray that my siblings always offer their help and support and not wait until she asks for it. Things are not peachy on my side of my family and if I may I would like to keep the details private because it's not my story to tell.

 

Stay tuned ... day 2 coming up soon.

 

 

Comfortingly Familiar

So much for blogging from our trip, ha! I did have some downtime here and there but my internet was very spotty so after trying a few times I just gave up on blogging and well ... ventured outside to enjoy the overcast skies.


7.3.12

Day 1

Well ... we spent our Independence day week/weekend in San Diego. Honestly this trip back home was not planned but we always end up having a lot of fun and of course always nice to visit my parents and friends and with a full agenda. We initially had plans to visit a different area {which I'm very excited about} but we changed our plans at the last minute and will visit at a later time.

I ended up going with my default start time which was to go with the flow. We didn't leave the house before 5:00 am like we had planned. I went to bed so late the night before that I found it sooo difficult to get out of bed the following morning. After hitting the snooze button twice I forced myself to get out of bed and while I showered I had Jacob wake up Sydna and Nathan. We waited until the last minute to get the little guy out of his crib for a diaper change and to put him in his carseat. We left the house at 5:43 am.
It was already 80 degrees when we left ... insane but thankfully we were on our way out of AZ before it hit 100 degrees.

We love to begin our road trips with some country music. Always good to hear George Strait early in the morning ... makes for a pleasant drive. We're country folk at heart.

I'm a pencil and paper kinda girl.

I love to write in pencil. If you would ask my husband if he likes to write in pencil he'll tell you that writing in pencil makes him gag. He's such a dork. I even brought my little manual sharpener with me.

A friend of mine once told me that I have such great memory ... that because I remember everything about our outings and how everything I talk about is always in such detail. I told her that I always write down the fun and important things that we do during our outings that way I don't forget key points. I am the type of person that pays attention to detail though. I'm very observant.

I loved that it was cloudy and it even sprinkled a couple of times.

Riley slept through the first part of our trip and woke up shortly before we stopped in Yuma.

I even spotted this....

I thought it was pretty cool to see the circus traveling from town to town. Totally reminded me of Dumbo.

It was 90 degrees when we filled up in Yuma. Yuma is the halfway mark to San Diego and we all needed to stretch our legs and get our blood circulating again. There were lots of little bug corpses and blood spats on my windshield. Nasty.

It was also time for breakfast so we made a quick stop at McDonalds.

Riley had eaten about half of his egg and then he stopped. Lately he's been getting a bit lazy about feeding himself so big sister helped him out a bit and he actually ate about all of his egg.

Somewhat windy passing through the sanddunes in California.

This check point was the only one that was open {in service} during our trip. We usually go through 2 and 1 Agricultural check point. Not enough funding maybe?

On a clear day you would be able to see the ocean way back in the distance from the mountains but instead we see the marine layer.

We arrived in Poway at 12:45 pm ... not bad at all. Just in time for some lunch but first we made a quick stop at the hotel. We checked in plus Riley had spilled his water bottle on himself so he needed a change of clothes.

Happy to be out of his carseat and almost naked.

We left the hotel and made our way to Ocean Beach.

Anticipating being home brings a sense of comfort ... even driving on the busy streets and freeways. It doesn't matter how long we've been gone. Everything is still so familiar ... that never fades. 

Sea World.

Hopefully we'll visit next time. We had other fun plans awaiting us.

Sure beats graffiti.

Seagull -photo crasher. It flew by as I snapped this picture.

Jacob's mission on this trip was to stop and eat at Hodad's. He's a big Guy Fieri fan so when Hodad's appeared in one of his Diners, Drive-Ins, and Dives episodes he just knew he had to try one of their burgers.

My mom and sister Claudia met us there and were already waiting in line by the time we arrived. The line sometimes gets so long it wraps around the building but luckily it wasn't that long when we arrived. Lots of hugs and kisses were exchanged.

I sure missed my momma and sister.

At first Riley didn't know what to think about my mom and sister. Last time he saw them was in early January but it didn't take long for him to warm up to my sister. He was soon smiling and being his sweet self with her.

There were some funny and interesting license plates.

In case you're wondering what a Hodad is:

A Hodad is someone who pretends to know how to surf but doesn't.

They serve their milkshakes and malts to the brim with a large scoop of ice cream on one side. You gotta get to it quick or else it drips all over the place. Sydna and Nathan were trying to drink theirs fast so it wouldn't make a mess ... and let me tell ya, one is enough for two.

My gosh ... their onion rings are super but I mean super good dipped in ranch. Ok, by now you all know I love Five Guys right? Well the Hodad's burger is it's competition because this burger is SO freakin good. They do put a thick layer of onions. All you have to do is take out a few rings and bite. I noticed that the onion was soooo good. I really loved my burger. Jacob got blue cheese and grilled onions in his and he said it was alright. I told him how good mine was and he said he wished he had ordered a regular burger instead. See that's what happens when you want to go all gourmet on a burger.  He said that next time we visit he'll most definitely order a regular burger. He did love their onion rings and malt. I prefer a milkshake. Malts are not my thing.

Whenever the time comes for us to move to San Diego we're gonna have to alternate between Hodad's and Five Guys, forget you IN N OUT. It'll depend on how far we're willing to drive, lol.

After we ate we headed on over to the beach.

Riley was excited to see multiple seagulls flying around.

Getting his feet used to the cold water. The pacific ocean is always sooo cold.

After a few minutes we were walking comfortably along the shore.

Even the little guy enjoyed getting his feet wet. I'm so glad he's not afraid of the ocean.

Running towards Tia Claudia. He makes the cutest face when he speed walks/runs. He leans forward a bit, scrunches his face, shows his pearly whites and closes his eyes. One of these days he's gonna bump into something and get hurt.

After about an hour at the beach my mom and sister had to leave. I wanted to walk several blocks. I was taking in the awesome chilly weather, enjoying the overcast sky, listening to people in the distance laugh and seeing them have a good time while someone played R & B from a boombox. This scene never gets old ... although you will see a transient here and there and sadly they are part of society it's still a wonderful place. I don't easily trust but I don't easily scare either.

Sydna had tennis shoes on and she took them off when we walked on the beach. She chose not to put them back on when we left and she ended up getting a splinter on her foot. After waiting for her about ten minutes she finally got the splinter out.

We thought this was funny ... pedestrians and people on bikes walking up to a drive-thru ATM to get cash, lol. You sure don't see this here in Tucson or in Dallas.

A pretty white church.

After a long drive, lunch, walk on the beach and chilly weather this little guy was beat.