San Diego

Hi friends! An update on our road trip!

Sunday

We got back to San Diego on Sunday after Tijuana and have spent the last 3 nights there. We had booked an airbnb to stay at but that didn't work out. Our first bad airbnb experience! It had been advertised as "glamping", but the pictures did not look like reality as it essentially turned out to be a bed with some mismatched curtains around it set up in someone's back yard. We had been told (warned actually is a better word) to just go through the gate ourselves and not bother them when we got there and not to worry about the dog. Well, the dog and a 3yr girl were sitting right in front of the gate when we arrived. The dog was a Rottweiler and did what I would expect any dog to do- he went crazy growling and barking any time we got within 3ft of the gate and little girl. He was going to protect that little girl and there was no way we were getting through. So we backed off and tried every way we could think to contact the host (message, call, knock on the door, yell out since who was watching the kid?). After about 15 minutes the host came out wrapped in a towel and was instantly annoyed with us that we hadn't followed directions and let ourselves in. She absolutely refused to believe that the dog behaved that way. Her attitude is what really irked me the most. We sat there for about 5 minutes and saw we were already being swarmed with mosquitos and would have no protection from them in the night either and that was enough to convince us to forfeit the money and leave. I did briefly consider just putting up our own tent there and consider it just an expensive campsite, but there wasn't any flat space to set up a tent. Obviously we're not above camping or "glamping" but it just didn't feel like a friendly place to stay. 

So anyway, we ended up booking a hotel and stayed near Little Italy for the last three nights. That first night we stopped at Balboa park and walked around there for a bit. It was really pretty but it's huge so we only saw a little bit of it. Then we decided to check out Little Italy for dinner (of course!). We had been recommended a place called Filippi's so we decided to try that. It had a line out the door when we got there and it was interesting because the line winded through the little store before you could get to there restuarant. We split a pizza and it was delicious. (Spoiler alert- we liked it so much we went back the next night as well).

Balboa Park:

Monday

After our big weekend we lounged a bit on Monday morning. After our late start we decided to check out Coronado Island. We explored the enormous Hotel del Coronado before settling on the beach there. We got some sun and played in the water. There were some waves that we had fun in, until a big one came and swept away my sunglasses. The water was pretty murky too so there was no chance of getting them back. But it was still a fun day. 

After getting cleaned up we headed back to Filippi's in Little Italy and this time we split some pasta- lasagna and ravioli. Yum! It was really good but we were a little disappointed that our food came out not very wam. Our waitress was really busy so we assumed it had been sitting there for awhile. 

Tuesday

We started the day by walking over to Seaport Village for some lunch and to find some sunglasses. There was also the huge aircraft carrier docked there in the harbor which Matt thought was pretty cool. Then we also walked through the WWII memorial.

Tuesday was another beach day but this time we went to Mission Beach which was also really fun. It was quite a bit more crowded, which can be good or bad depending on your perspective. The water was a little clearer and the waves were a little bigger and therefore even more fun to play in. This time I was smart enough to leave my new sunglasses on the towel. 

We decided to do dinner outside of Little Italy and instead we checked out the famous Gas Lamp area. It's the big bar district, so after a cheap dinner we went to a bar called Whiskey Girl and got some drinks. We were so early that it was still happy hour so that was really nice!

Wednesday

Today we packed up and headed out of San Diego back towards LA. We stopped first at Cabrillo National Monument which had some really great views of San Diego skyline and the beach. Then we also drove through La Jolla which looked really cool and had a ton of people hanging out, but after driving around in vain in search of a parking spot for awhile we eventually gave up and left without getting out. A lot of people were out in the cove snorkeling which looked really fun, but I didn't bring my snorkeling equipment. 

Then we made it to LA; it was a much quicker drive north from SD to LA then when we did it the other way so that was nice. We're staying the next two nights here with a friend before we head to Vegas for the weekend!