HAPPY 30TH BIRTHDAY TO ME! (SAN DIEGO TRIP)
Well folks I have officially entered a new decade of life! Hello #thirtyflirtyandthriving!!!
I didn't want to stick around cold, dreary Spokane this year so I decided on a place that was warm with sun, sand, beach and still the USA. And that place was San Diego!!
Fun fact: this was the first birthday of mine in 3 years that my husband was home for!!!!
^^gotta love the military for that one^^
Here's a blast from the past, I worked at UCSD in La Jolla for two summers during college as a counselor at a weight loss camp for kiddos. I loved every minute of it there and really did not want to leave SD when the time came to go back to school. So I used this trip as an opportunity to go back to my old stomping grounds and share my love of that place with Brenton. Living in a place for 5 months gives you some bearings on whats too touristy and what isn't. I have never been to the zoo nor do I plan to. I've been to Sea World way too many times with the kids at camp to ever want to go to another sea lion show... I'm more of an off the beaten path kind of traveler.
With that said, I planned out exactly what I wanted to do on this birthday trip and it was absolutely perfect.
We walked the path on the beach in Pacific Beach.
Hiked down to Black's Beach and watched hang gliders.
Watched the sunset while eating In-and-Out Burgers at Sunset Cliffs.
Went to local beach town bookstores.
Ate all the tacos in sight.
Saw the seals lounging at the Children's Pool in La Jolla.
And laid on the beach reading for an entire day with only a break to get what else but tacos.
Perfection!
I asked Brenton as we were leaving what he thought of San Diego and he said he couldn't find anything bad about it! YES! The seed is planted for after retirement. :)
Here's the recap of my 30th Birthday celebration to San Diego with my man, eating amazing food and soaking up the sun in the only way I know how... through photos (iPhone & camera)!!
And keep scrolling to get the most important info...
all the food deets!
**All iPhone photos edited with the VSCO app for those who are curious
And here are the photos I took on my camera!!!
cali looks good on you babe!!
Okay now the moment you have all been waiting for!
The food...
I actually spent 4 hours last week planning our where we would eat for each meal every day. I think I could research restaurants and planning restaurants for other people's vacations for my career! All the restaurants we ate at were phenomenal and I would recommend them all to anyone who asks. As you can see by the photos my meals of choice we either tacos or fish! Also an ocean view was a must for most meals. This ocean loving girl must be able to smell the salt, hear the water lapping on the shore while chowing down on perfectly seasoned halibut to make her heart the happiest.
San Diego Food Tour
Backyard Kitchen (Pacific Beach)
- In-and-out Burger at Sunset Cliffs, Point Loma to watch the sunset
- Brockton Villa (La Jolla) - OpenTable reservations recommended
- I ate here before with my friend Leslie when I worked as UCSD. It has the best views on La Jolla Cove and the Coast Toast is AMAZING!!!!! Highly recommend this place for your next brunch in San Diego.
- Coasterra (San Diego) - OpenTable reservations recommended
- This is where my birthday dinner was at. Price wise it was the most expensive restaurant on our list but I think for a special celebration its worth the food. The view from here was an incredible unobstructed view of the city at sunset/night!
- Cafe 1134 (Coronado)
- Think cute little local cafe that gives off a European feel to it. We got iced coffees a few mornings and walked downtown Coronado.
- City Tacos (North Park)
- Top 5 if not the best authentic taco joint in SD!! This taco aficionado would have to agree!
- Brigantine Seafood Restaurant (Coronado) - OpenTable reservations recommended
- Actually a pretty good price point for being across the street from the Hotel Del Coronado... $$ though.
- Fig Tree Cafe (Liberty Station) - OpenTable reservations recommended
- We had originally planned on going to the Breakfast Republic after attending church at The Rock but the wait was wayyyy too long. So we stumbled upon the Fig Tree Cafe. Price point was perfect as we were tired of spending more than $30 on a meal. I will say that its directly underneath the path of the planes taking off from the airport, so every 2-5 minutes there was a loud plane flying overhead.
Have you visited San Diego??? What are your favorite places to eat at so we can hit them up next time!!
Cheers to your next adventure!! Make it a yummy one... should we even bother with anything less??
THE HI LIFE | MY HAWAII TRIP HIGHLIGHTS
I love that with my blog I'll be meshing personal and business life together. You'll be able to keep up with our crazy lives and hopefully connect a little better with us.
Last week I went to visit one of my friends in Hawaii. Tiffany and her family lived down the street from us and our husbands were in the same squadron. They moved away about 18 months ago but left a void in my life. She was my go to girl for afternoon coffee/wine dates, which always depended upon the mood and topic of conversation, feed me when my husband was deployed on my birthday, ask me to photograph her newborn son even though I’ve never held something that new before. So now I traveled 1/2 way across an ocean to have those dates again and to love on her family in H A W A I I !!!!
So, I have never been to Hawaii, my husband has been here about 4 times just passing through for work and a few of those times got extended because the jet broke. Actually thats usually what happens every time a KC-135 ends up in Hawaii. They "break" and enjoy an extended stay. Well thats pretty much what happened this trip too. We were scheduled to leave Friday but didn't leave until Sunday! I was so glad to have the extra 2 days to spend with my friends and explore more of Oahu.
We did so much that I lost track of what day it was so I will be sharing with you scenes from around the island and our activities! Some of them were:
- Hike to Makapu'u Lighthouse
- Visit Pearl Harbor
- Attend a Luau
- Downtown Waikiki
- North Shore Tour
- Matsumoto's Shaved Ice
- Lanikai Beach
- Kaena Point
- He'eia State Park Beach
- Long runs in 80 degrees on base
I documented everything as best I could and you might notice a bit of a different editing style on these photos. I've been experimenting with some different editing on my personal photos. I'm still deciding if I'd want to go this route with client photos but so far I'm liking it!
I am already planning my next trip to Hawaii. I'm seriously so hopeful that we will one day be stationed there for a few years and we can call Hawaii our home! Hope you feel the warmth of the island through these photos! Mahalo & aloha my friends.
