Brett and I were both totally new to traveling. Neither of us had planned a trip before... we had only been on group trips... so we learned a thing or two! We weren't as prepared as we thought that we were, but next time, we will be ready!
But I don't want to talk about the kinks. I want to talk about the greatness!
First I have to say a huge thank you to Jenina for letting us borrow luggage and for getting us safely to and from the airport! (I will have that luggage back to you ASAP! All of the bags are empty except for my carry on... I keep forgetting to get my jewelry holder from my mom's house, so I have no where to put it! But I will take it out of the bag tomorrow for sure!)
We flew on Sunday around noon. There was a time change, so I don't remember what time we got to CA, but we went straight to Enterprise where we rented a Mustang convertible with a GPS who was the MVP of our trip! We called her Genie because she magically got us everywhere that we wanted to go. It was the best $40 we spent!
Then we headed to the hotel! We stayed at the Hyatt Regency on Mission Bay. THANK YOU Jennifer for the recommendation! The hotel was awesome! We had a marina view and a small balcony with enough room to sit in the comfy chairs and sip some orange crush. The king size bed was SO comfortable and everything in the room was so nice! The staff was also SO nice! When they learned we were there on our honeymoon, they sent us a complimentary bottle of champagne. We didn't love it, but we toasted and sipped and enjoyed the courtesy =-)
Sunday night we went to a little pizza place that was featured on Diners, Drive-Ins and Dives on the Food Network. We love that show! And Guy loved the pizza. We were so close, how could we not try it? It was called Luigi's and it was a really neat place. It wasn't mind blowing pizza, but it got the job done! We each ate a slice there and then we ordered a pizza to take back to our room.
Because Brett is a AAA employee we were given vouchers for free breakfast at the hotel's restaurant, The Red Marlin (I think that's right...). It saved us a ton of money and WHOA MOMMA! It was a SERIOUSLY good breakfast! A great start to our day, each day!
After breakfast on Monday, we drove to a beach. It was beautiful =-) I walked barefoot in the sand and we collected sea shells while we watched people surf. We only found 7 or 8 shells, but they are beautiful! It was a little chilly on Monday. The weather in San Diego is perfect every afternoon, probably 360 days a year. Apparently, there was a bit of rain on Sunday before we got there, and it was quite an event! No one owns umbrellas. Ha. But the mornings and evenings are chilly. It is so close to the water, so the breeze blows chilly! But during the day... perfection!
There was a little restaurant next to our hotel called "The Best Fish and Chips in San Diego". That was the actual name printed on the sign. How could we not try it? We were hungry after walking on the beach so we went to grab what we thought would be tasty fish and chips. Well, that restaurant must have stolen the sign from another place. Either that, or another place stole the seasoning from this restaurant. There was nothing tasty about those fish and chips! Well, the ketchup was decent. We had a good laugh about it...
I think after lunch we napped a little. We napped a little most days. Probably every day. Wedding recovery is a multi-day process! (And when I say nap, I mean "nap" as well as nap. I know you were wondering.)
Then for dinner we went to what was probably our tastiest meal of the trip. Our travel agent was from San Diego and she told us that we had to get a burger from Hodad's. THANK GOODNESS she mentioned it. It was the BEST burger I have EVER had! It was a tiny little hole in the wall that, come to find out, was also featured on Diners, Drive-Ins and Dives. In fact, Benny, our waiter, told us that after Guy visited, they were invited to some thing (details are fuzzy now) because it was Guy's favorite place that he had ever stopped at. Holy cow! It was a great meal!
After dinner we headed to Horton Plaza. It's an open air mall that is by far the neatest mall I have ever been to! I got the BEST Ben & Jerry's ice cream ever invented and we picked up a couple of things.
Tuesday morning started with another tasty breakfast and then we went to the Zoo!!! It was SO much fun! It is an amazing zoo! We saw flamingos (I thought they were pink! They are orange.), we saw elephants (my favorite!), we saw giraffes, we saw panda's, we saw a jaguar eating lunch (that was intimidating!), we saw tons of monkeys... we saw a lot. And it was great! We bought a few souvenirs and tried fish tacos. They were tasty! We got a little sun burned... oops. I had sun block, just not with me. That's helpful.
We HAD to nap after the zoo! It was tiring!
Tuesday night was FUN! We went to eat at Hard Rock and everyone there made a huge deal about us being on our honeymoon. Our waitress was obviously a cheerleader... she announced our situation to the restaurant and they all cheered for us. We saw some great memorabilia and bought a few super cool souvenirs! It is a great memory.
Wednesday was our last full day, so we took it a little more easy. We had plans to go to lunch with my grandfather. He lives in San Diego and, unfortunately, couldn't make it to the wedding. He had a stroke in October and though he is mostly recovered, his days of traveling are behind him. But he picked us up from the hotel at noon and drove us to a great seafood restaurant in Coronado. We sat outside and watched the ships go by. I was a little nervous. I hadn't seen him in many years. But we were all really comfortable. He showed us some really neat things on our way to and from lunch and it was a great few hours.
After lunch we napped and did some packing. We went back to Horton Plaza for dinner on Wednesday because it was cheap and easy. It really is a great mall!
Thursday we slept in a little, went to breakfast and then checked out. Because of the time changes we arrived back in Dallas around 7:00 I think.
I had SO much fun! I don't regret a single choice that we made all week. Every meal, every drive, every event was special.
I love my husband =-) And I love being able to say that!!!
Here are a few pictures:
Flying to
San Diego
The
Red
Marlin
At the
beach
Hodad's!
Brett
driving
the
convertible
Back to
Dallas
No comments:
Post a Comment