Sunday PM

We checked back into the lodge and then decided to go down to the Seaport Village area of San Diego. It was a quaint little place but touristy. Mainly little shops and restaurants. The shops did have some different stuff than we had seen so that was interesting. We ate at a Greek restaurant and then went over to the USS Midway where they had a memorial that I loved of the classic photo of the sailor kissing the nurse in NYC. We then headed back to the lodge and crashed. Back to work on Monday and we will probably go to La Jolla Monday night to an Italian restaurant that has been recommended to us. See you all on Wednesday!

Sunday. part 1

We found a great little hotel near San Simeon. It was "ocean view" by that it means you could see the ocean out the window :-) But, it was clean and it was half the price as the night before so we were happy. We went quite a ways up the coast on Saturday probably about 12 miles away from where the PCH was closed due to the fires. We turned around and drove back, the north to south drive is much prettier. We decided to stop in San Simeon and hoped that we could find a room for under $300. We did and were quite happy. We went to a little mini mart to get snacks for the room and while we were there this dog walks into the store and starts snooping around on the shelves. It was a golden lab puppy (not really young, probably about 9 or 10 months), I thought he was with this guy who had come in at the same time. All the sudden I look down and this dog is eating the Little Debbie snack cakes right off the shelf - plastic and all and nobody is doing anything. Apparently it wasn't the guy's dog it was just the neighborhood dog. I said something to the clerk and she says "Oh no" really calm-like, like "not that again!" it was really funny. They are really dog friendly around here everyone has their dogs with them. We got up pretty early on Sunday and headed back south. We drove through some beautiful mountains as we headed east to catch the I-5. We decided to take the interstate back since it is faster. This brought us right through Los Angeles. Traffic wasn't bad but it is such a big area that it took over an hour to get through. We got on the south side of LA and ate at an In and Out Burger. It was good, but not worth the hype I've always heard.

Elephant Seals

Elephant Seals and Ground squirrels

Our favorite thing that we did on Saturday which was the day that we drove more north up the coast was the elephant seals. As we were driving we came upon a lookout that had elephant seals. Apparently they go there every summer and we got lucky and happened to come through at a time when they were all up on the beach sunning themselves. They were so cool. When we first got there we saw these squirrel like things that were kind of cute, people were feeding them and I took a picture and we went on to where the seals were. Well, I had to go back to the car to get another CF card and those cute little squirrels all of a sudden looked and acted more like mice to me. They were scampering everywhere, one almost over my foot! It was awful. Of course Dad was laughing at me but it absolutely was NOT funny! I knew they wouldn't hurt me, they were just so random that I didn't know what they were going to do next! They live in the ground and the picture of the one shows his little hole that he lives in.

On our way

We headed out to Solvang pretty early after having breakfast at the hotel. We were told about a scenic route through the mountains. It was beautiful and we stopped at Lake Cachuma and took some pictures.

Solvang, CA

We got to Solvang and it was a little different than I thought. We were told it was a dutch town and I guess it was but it seemed like it was more "dutch" for the tourists than it was really "Dutch". If that makes sense. It had a windmill and some of the buildings looked "dutchy" but it was really a tourist place. But, we enjoyed walking around and checking out the shops. Didn't enjoy getting pushed around by Asian tourists but what can you do?

The stone cat is carved from jade - beautiful! We ate lunch at Tower Pizza - really good, we ate outside and it was set back away from the crowds.

Up the coast

We started up the coast and it was a bit gloomy, there is smoke and haze from the fires up in northern California. We stopped and went down to one of the many beaches along the route. I got my feet in the Pacific Ocean - Dad of course had his shoes on so he just stood beside it. The sand was pretty gross, it was dark and I later found out that I had stepped in tar and got it all over my new sandals. UGHHH! But the coast sure does look beautiful as we are driving!

Our new wedding bands.

Dad's is yellow gold with a white gold band in the center and mine is actually sterling silver. We had hoped to be able to get our new bands on this trip but weren't really concentrating on looking. We wanted something a little different but I really didn't think we would find anything in our price range. Right before we left Solvang we saw a cute little jewelry store called "Something Different". We went in and Dad saw his ring first and really liked it, it was the only one and the only size, the lady said a lot of men had tried it on but it was so small it didn't fit any of them and I told her that he had small fingers so he tried it on and it fit perfectly! Then I started looking around and saw mine but I figured it wouldn't fit me because I have the opposite problem, I have fat fingers and have always had to get my rings sized up well would you believe mine fit perfectly too?? It was a miracle! Truly! Those rings were just sitting there waiting for us! They were well within our price range too. We are both very happy!

And one for the car lovers!

San Diego, Day 4, part 2

We went to downtown Coronado for lunch and while we were there Dad took me by the Hotel del Coronado which is a famous hotel. It was quite impressive. We ate at a little hole in the wall restaurant that he had found earlier in his stay and they had some awesome hamburgers. We then headed out to find our way up the Pacific Coast Highway. It had some pretty areas but also a lot of traffic. I drove through the Los Angeles area and it was a bit slow going but we weren't on a schedule so we were okay. We were going to stay in Santa Barbara but we wound up heading back south to Carpenteria instead. We are headed out today to Solvanga and we were going to go to Big Sur but we just saw on the TV that they have closed the PCH for 12 miles up there due to fires, so new plan, you'll find out later what we wound up doing. Love you guys!

San Diego, Day 4

Today is Friday and we are starting our weekend. We both worked this morning and then check out was noon so I got everything together and waited outside for Dad to get off work (only about 20 minute wait) and while I was waiting I saw this jack rabbit - I think. I have never seen such big ears on such a little head (even Lexie's ears aren't this disproportianate (sp???). He was so cute and with my big lens I was able to get a pretty good shot before he ran off.

San Diego, Day 3

I have been without internet for the last two days. It went out at the lodge on Thursday night and we never got it back so I am going to quickly update cause Brad is waiting to start our day's adventure. On Thursday we both worked and then after he got off work we drove out to one of the San Diego suburbs to visit with his mini-boss's inlaws. Steve's (the mini boss) family is here waiting to head to Japan and they are staying with Marion's family. They have two daughters, Marin, 4, and Norah, 2. They are cuties. We first ate at a mexican restaurant - wonderful!! and then went back to house and visited. Alot of the houses here are literally built into cliffs. There's is one of them from the front it looks like a regular house and when you go out back it looks out over the mountains, gorgeous. It was really hazy when we were there so the pictures didn't turn out too well.

San Diego, Day 2

Well, we had a good day. Dad worked at the ship and I worked in the room. We met for lunch and then after work we hung out at the room until time for the ballgame. Getting around San Diego has been pretty easy so far. The stadium seemed small to me, smaller than Wrigley Field but I do have a problem with perception so I don't know if it is or not. It wasn't a very good game, the Padres lost 9-3 to the Minnesota Twins. But we had some good ballpark hot dogs, and peanuts so we were happy :-) I didn't take my camera, I didn't want to have to hold it the whole time, so no pics, maybe I'll take some today.

Old Town Mexican Cafe

Old Town San Diego

The little Sharpei puppy in the one picture was in one of the shops. He was snoozing and didn't even stir the whole time we were standing over him - oooohing and aaahing, he was a cutie!

Miranda's Courtyard

San Diego, Day 1

Wow! What a day we had! By 6:00 in the evening as we were leaving Old Town San Diego I told your dad I couldn't believe it had only been that morning that we had left Granny at the airport in Norfolk. I was bone tired. But we have had a good start to our time here in San Diego. Our flights were all on time, YAY! We have only had one glitch in our plans so far, the car rental didn't have a convertible for us even though we had reserved one - not happy about that one but we are hoping to get one for our weekend trip up the Pacific Coast Highway. We will keep bugging them until they find one for us. I can't help but think of Seinfeld when we don't get the car we reserved. What is the point of a RESERVATION?? Anyway, they put us in a 300M which added salt to the wound cause I think they are the ugliest cars on the road. They said it was a luxury car but there isn't even climate control! Ah well, at least it has automatic windows. :-) ANYWAY, our next stop was the lodge and they had a room but it was on the "noisy" side of the lodge so they said if we wanted to come back at 3 they would have a nicer room on the other side of the lodge. Okay, that sounded pretty good, it wasn't a very pretty place for a lodge it looked like it was in the middle of a shipyard, but the grounds of the lodge were nicely kept and looked pretty and we had heard that the rooms were nice. So, we decide to go over to Coronado to kill time until 3. Coronado is the island that the naval station is on. Dad showed me where the ship is docked and also showed me VRC30. So, since the Navy Lodge Coronado was over near VRC30 and we had been told to check with them because sometimes they have cancellations and you can get in we decided to stop and ask. Sure enough they had availabilility for Tues - Thurs. This is the lodge that is on the beach so we decided to take it and "wing it" for the rest of the time. We have plans to be gone Fri and Saturday nights anyway cause we are taking the trip up the PCH. Plus they said that they have lots of cancellations and to check back with them every day and they can probably get us in. Okay, so we got settled into our room and then headed down to Old Town San Diego. What a cool place! Our first stop was at a little shop called Miranda's Courtyard. WOW! I loved it, all the bright colors and pottery. It is lucky we don't live here cause I would be loading up on that pottery! It was the neatest little shop. After walking around a little bit we found the Mexican restaurant that Dad has been wanting to take me to for 10 years. It was really cool, they had little Mexican ladies making the tortillas by hand, everything was super good. We then walked around a little more until I told Dad I was done and needed to go back to the lodge. That was our first day. Our second day we plan on working (me in the room and Dad on the ship) and then after work we are going to a place called Balboa Park where there are museums and stuff like that. We are going to get a week pass and probably just check out the stuff there every day after work. This weekend we plan on our trip and then Sunday a trip to the San Diego Zoo - can't wait for that! Love you guys!

My birthday dinner

My birthday was Wednesday (18th) but since Savanna had dance, Matt had class and Ryan had work we decided to have my dinner this evening. Ryan gets off work early on Sundays so it was a good time.

Mom made my angel food cake and Brad made the chili and put together the enchiladas while Mom made the chalupas. It is my favorite meal, Rucker enchiladas/chalupas and angel food cake. It was every bit as good as I thought it would be. Check out my stylish clothes! Taking off those 46 candles was hard work, Savanna was anxious for that cake!