Motz Notes: SoCal

Saturday, March 8th: We left in the morning for San Diego, stopped at In-n-Out and Starbucks on the way, and arrived at our hotel in the late afternoon. We ate authentic Neapolitan pizza and tiramisu with glasses of Riesling at Buona Forcetta for dinner, an amazing Italian restaurant with outdoor seating. There was a bit of a wait for a table, so we had glasses of Moscato in the restaurant across the street. After dinner, we drove through the Gas Lamp Quarter. That night, our sleep was interrupted by partying kids yelling and banging on doors. No fun. Yes, we're officially old.

Sunday, March 9th: We grabbed Starbucks and had a difficult time trying to get out to La Jolla. Just about every street we tried to take was closed off due to a big race being run downtown. We made it to La Jolla in the late morning and just walked the streets and part of the coastline. It's beautiful there. We spent some time watching the seals on the beach and in the shallow water.

We had a mediocre lunch before heading to Coronado Island. We got a little sunburned walking around Hotel del Coronado, which is a really cool piece of architecture.

We had a little bit of time, so we drove over to see the USS Midway.

Then, we made it out to Mission Bay Park to take a sunset cruise, which I found discounted tickets for on Groupon. It was fun, but not quite as awesome as we had hoped, making us glad we had not paid full price for it.

For dinner, we ate burgers and fries at Hodad's. We had to wait in a long line to be seated in the tiny restaurant but it was a really good meal with a fun atmosphere.

Monday, March 10th: We spent all day at the San Diego Zoo and had the best time. We saw just about everything. We skipped the Reptile House though. I refused to go in there.

above: Mom, these "flingos" are for you : )

above: This bird was watching me intently while I ate my pastry from Starbucks. Freaked me out a little.

These birds were just running free. Also freaked me out a little.

below & following: Nathan really enjoyed hanging out in the special aviary that housed hummingbirds.

above: We rested on a bench in the afternoon. I fell asleep and Nathan watched/took pictures of hummingbirds on this tree.

We then went back over to the big cat area to catch a glimpse of the tiger. We waited around forever with a group of people.

We rested in our hotel room for a little bit before having dinner at an Irish pub in the Gas Lamp Quarter. It was a nice walk there and on the way back, we stopped at the Ghiradelli shop and Nathan got a milkshake.

Tuesday, March 11th: We had a late morning and then drove down to eat lunch at Lolita's, which was recommended to us by friends who were stationed with us in Heidelberg. Thanks, Bill & Jen!

We walked around Seaport Village after that and then up to the USS Midway again. Later that afternoon, we drove to Corona to stay with Candace (Nathan's cousin), Andrew & the kids. We went to dinner and then watched Dallas Buyers Club and Blackfish. We had so much fun, we didn't think to take even one picture with them.

Wednesday, March 12th: We had breakfast with Candace & Asher after Andrew left for work and Madison went to school. Then we made the drive to Palm Springs, stopping at In-n-Out on the way. We checked into our hotel, I got a massage at Massage Envy and signed up for a membership. Before eating dinner, we hung out in front of The Coyote Inn to watch the swarm of hummingbirds on the feeders.

Thursday, March 13th: Nathan got up early and went to spend some time at Tahquitz Canyon. He came back and got me, we ate lunch at Panera, walked through a botanical garden, and then headed back to the canyon to hike the trail, which turned out to be rather short. We walked around a little downtown, then hung out at the pool for a bit in the late afternoon. We stopped at The Coyote Inn again before eating dinner.