So the site is back up for now. If you did not already notice, we are back from our little vacation, here is a summary…

I left work on Tuesday and drove up to the airport. I caught up with Phil on the bus ride from long term parking to the terminal, and we quickly found Christina’s boyfriend Nick as well. The flights were rather uneventful. I did get some quality pictures of Salt Lake City from the plane. This was my first time in Utah, but I guess it doesn’t really count. Speaking of pictures, I took over 400 that I’m going to go through sometime soon, maybe tonight. We finally got to San Diego and took a cab over to the Hotel del Coronado which was quite large and beautiful. Kim’s national meeting was wrapping up, so we joined what was left of the group in the hotel bar to finish off the night…

Wednesday we woke up and headed to the beach early. We walked along the water and then had breakfast at a little cafe in town. Unfortunately we had to check out of the hotel del since even the discounted rate for the remainder of the trip was like $250 a night. We headed over to the Hilton on Harbor Island which I had won for all us on priceline. We arrived there early, way before check-in, so we checked the luggage and headed off to Sea World. We saved 20% on admission using our Southwest Rapid Rewards cards, which was a nice bonus. We rushed all around the park trying to take in all of the sights before they closed at 6PM. My favorite parts of the visit were the dolphin show, the penguin area and of course the Shamu Show. After rushing through one side of the park, we realized that we had lots of extra time, so we wandered over to the killer whale tanks just in time to watch some of the practice session. I got some of my best pictures during this, so it was definitely worth the visit. After seeing the Shamu Show, we left the park and headed back to the Hilton to get checked in. After quickly cleaning up we headed over to a local restaurant called The Boathouse. It was primarily a seafood restaurant, but they had some chicken dishes that we were quite good as well. After the long day, we headed back to the hotel to rest up for an even longer day…

Thursday we headed over to the Zoo as early as we could since it too closed at 6PM. Everyone went along for this trip: me, Kim, Phil, Doni, Christina and Nick. If you have not been to this zoo, it is huge. We took advantage of the guided double-decker bus tour so that we would not have to walk all the way out to the furthest parts of the zoo, and could still see most of everything. From there we walked back to parts that the tour missed or that we wanted to see once more. They are very proud of the Giant Pandas they have since there are only six or so in the U.S. We waited in line to see them, but once we got in the viewing area could hardly see the lone panda that was hidden in a tree. I guess the others were behind the scenes somewhere. I tried to get a picture, but I doubt any of them will come out. I really enjoyed the zoo though, and my brother would have loved it too. The elephant exhibit was quite good, and they had three or four of them out and about. I also got some great pictures of the two hippos that they had on display. At first they were far from the viewing area, but as we waited for a few minutes they began feeding them and then the water in their habitat came alive. Definitely the closest I have been to one of these huge animals. Anyway enough about the zoo. We planned ahead of time to stay the entire day in downtown, since going back to the hotel took so much time the day before. We then decided to go to a part of town called the gaslamp quarter. We started off at an Irish pub called Patrick’s II. The bartender was a little grumpy and we were getting a little hungry so we then headed over to Maloney’s. After some drinks and dinner it was off to another more exciting bar, this time the 5ifth Quarter was our choice. They had a cover band playing that entertained us for a little while. And then to round out the night, we found The Shout House a dueling piano bar. This was not quite as much fun as I’ve had before in a bar like this, but it was good enough. Kim, Doni and I even ended up on stage doing the O-H-I-O during ‘Hang On Sloopy.’ This was enough fun to end the night for sure…

Friday Kim and I headed to Tijuana Mexico. Kim and Doni also went to Mexico earlier in the week so Doni and Phil decided to skip it this time. It took absolutely no effort to get into Mexico, all we did was walk in. First thing we noticed was the Tijuana River which we walked over. Not much water in it, but it smelled horribly and was very dirty. That was just the beginning though. I read so much about going to Tijuana, but nothing can actually prepare you enough. I was shocked at the poverty of the entire area. It was pretty depressing at times. We did make a few buys however. I got a pair of Foakley’s for $15 and a couple bottles of tequila. Before we knew it we were ready to head back to the good old U.S.A. The line at customs was not too bad and we got in with no trouble at all. All you need is a driver’s license and then the simple answer of “U.S.” when asked your citizenship. They didn’t even check out what we bought, guess I should have bought more liquor. :) From there we met up with Doni and Phil at a place called The Fish Market and then headed back to the hotel to clean up again. We decided that we would head to Old Town for a nice Mexican dinner. We ended up at Casa de Bandini which was an excellent choice. They had large margaritas and amazing food! From there it was back to the hotel to enjoy one final night of vacation…

Saturday we had to wake up and get to the airport to catch our flight back home. It was sad to leave, but I think we made quite a contribution to San Diego and were financially ready to leave. :) The flights were once again rather uneventful. When we got back into town we met up with Mike at our favorite plaza restaurant, Tomfooleries, to reminisce on the trip…

Yesterday was full of the typical errands, but I’m glad we made the choice to fly back on Saturday and not on Sunday so we had a whole day to adjust. Mike and I did go over to Doni and Phil’s to check out some dogs that they were thinking of adopting. They did settle with a cute little pit bull, hopefully they get some pictures up soon. I learned quite a bit about the breed and found out that they often have a bad reputation. This little guy is so much fun so far…

Edit: Phil has updated his blog and included pictures of the new puppy!

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