The Great West Coast Road Trip: Day 13 - San Diego

Our last day of vacation, we decided to take a surf lesson!  We signed up with Pacific Surf School and got a private lesson.

It was a pretty mild day, and the ocean was probably freezing, but they gave us wet suits which actually kept us pretty warm, although I wish we got the full pants!

The first part of the lesson was on land.  They showed us how to pop up on the board.  It seemed like yoga, going into a warrior pose from cobra.  I got that part down.

But once in the water, that was a different story.  The waves kept pushing you back to shore, so you really had to use some energy to get out there.  There were so many waves, one right after the other!  John was used to playing in the waves of Ocean City ever since he was a kid, so he pretty much got the hang of it within a few tries.

Wipe out!

Getting it

Standing up

Successful!

I, on the other hand, really struggled to actually find my balance to stand up.  I just got drained from fighting the waves.

On one of my dismounts, I dug my foot into the hard sand underneath.  Since the water was cold, it numbed my feet, but as soon as I got out of the ocean, I noticed my toe hurt a lot with each step.  Over the course of the night, my toe started to blacken.  Oops!  Broke my toe.  I'm so accident prone.

Once we returned the boards, one of the surfer girls with the company told us where we could get a delicious taco nearby.  She said go to La Playa Taco Shop.  She wasn't lying!  If there's one thing you do when you come to San Diego, it's get mexican food.

Veggie burrito with chips and salsa

Fish Tacos…so yummy!

After two rounds of tacos, we rented some bikes (only $5!) and biked along the ocean path.

We stopped at one of the little stands along the path and got a King Kone (which was really huge, don't let the picture fool you…I have a big head so the ice cream looks smaller than it really was).

We saw a bunch of beach volley ball courts and all I could think of was this scene from Top Gun.






As the temperature started to drop, we headed back to the Gaslamp Quarter and walked (I hobbled) around to find a restaurant.  We ended up eating at this great italian restaurant, OperaCaffe.  The perfect ending to a perfect trip!

The Great West Coast Road Trip: Day 11 - San Diego

After eating yummy breakfast tacos at Palm Greens Cafe, we set out towards our final destination...San Diego!

On the way, we stopped at Wilson Creek Winery in Temecula for their famous almond champagne.  I just had to do a tasting of their almond, sangria, mimosa and peach champagnes!  Then we hung out on the grounds while I finished off a glass of frozen peach champagne (alcoholic slurpee!) and played played Bocce.

Temecula is very pretty and actually green!  Plants and trees everywhere, which was stunning since we've been seeing dusty hills for days.

Yes, I did buy some!  I'll pop it open on New Year's Eve.

An hour later, we were in San Diego.  Our hotel room wasn't ready, so we went over to tour the USS Midway, a retired aircraft carrier.

San Diego is where Top Gun happens in reality, and it was so cool to stand on the deck where fighter planes once took off.  In fact, the whole time we were walking around, this song was playing in my head:




It was such a large ship, and John and I were both awe-struck.  Too bad I'm too old to join the Navy.  It would have been cool to work on a ship like this.  I don't think we were cut out to be pilots, though.  We did the simulator and both felt a little motion sick!

We can pretend, though.  Here's John sitting in the cockpit of a F-8 Crusader.

I prefer the WWII fighter plane, the Corsair.

Up on the flight deck, we got to see many different planes and helicopters.  There were retired Navy pilots giving talks about the dangerous take-off and "controlled crash" landing procedures.

Missiles

I'm in the mood to watch Top Gun right now

John being the "shooter".

The F-14...where are Maverick and Goose?  Iceman?

 Cute little pilot jacket in the gift shop for kids:

In the park across from the ship, stands the imposing Unconditional Surrender statue (a replica of the famous Eisenstedt photograph of a soldier kissing a nurse on V-J Day).

Which inspired us.

Awww.  Time to check into the hotel!  We stayed at the Andaz in the Gaslamp Quarter.  We got hooked up with a suite, thanks to Chris!  (Thanks, Chris!)

 Yes, that is a see through, 2-person shower in the bedroom!

 Here's John demonstrating.

We had a bottle of champagne and some cheese plate waiting for us, compliments of Chris.

Cheers!

Is that a USS Midway hat John's wearing?  Why, yes it is!

Our view.  We could see the ocean and the baseball stadium.

 This was part of the mini-bar offerings!  Ha ha.