We've gone on (at least what I consider to be) a lot of trips this year. It started with the inauguration in January, followed by some Disney trips, followed by Vegas-to-Hawaii-to-San Francisco, followed by Ohio-- not once, but twice, and then this past week Calib, Peyton and I were headed out to San Diego. I'm super grateful (especially to my mom!) that we're able to do so much. But, honestly, I could go for never leaving my house again. Or at least not for awhile. I just want to be home.
Speaking of home, we left on November 7th, which just so happens to be our house anniversary. It was a year ago that we closed on the house. But, since we were leaving that afternoon we decided we would celebrate on November 22nd, the first night we actually spent in the new house. I did take a picture of everyone on the porch before we left on Tuesday though, just like the one I took the day we closed. Holy geez, this year went by fast!
Every year my mom has her AMATYC Conference. She was the National President in 2014 and 2015. You might remember Peyton and I went to see her and her ginormous room in Nashville on our way to see Peyton Manning, and then all of us made a weekend trip to see her in New Orleans. We helped her out by getting some food and drinks for her to hold receptions in her room along the way.
In 2016 she was the 'Past President', and her friend Jane became president. Jane asked if I would continue to come out and help her do the receptions in her rooms. Of course I obliged. So last year Calib, Peyton and I went to Denver. This year it was San Diego. (Next year Jane is done being president, but it's in Orlando- so I don't feel like I'm missing out too much).
Anyway, Hayden isn't too much into flying unless he has to, so he skipped out. Asa, as we've discussed, is always out of vacation hours this time of year. So the two of them had a 'Hayden and Dad Week' (More like four days, but still).
Anyway, we got a killer deal on flights out to San Diego, but we had to fly out of the Orlando Airport instead of Tampa. We'd also have to take a red-eye back. It was non-stop though, and we couldn't get that out of Tampa, so it was a real 'you win some, you lose some' scenario. But we decided for a third of the price, it was totally worth it.
We decided if we were flying out of Orlando, we'd swing by Disney Springs for a late lunch crawl to keep our tummies full until we got out to San Diego. (We also flew Frontier, so there were no snacks or drinks to be had mid-flight). We got some cold noodles from Morimoto Asia, some pizza at Blaze and of course some Poutine.
We got dessert at the Patisserie. They have a new 'Blueberry Lemonade' cake that is AMAZING. I wasn't so sure about it, by the looks of it, but it's sour and slightly sweet and light and fluffy with a delicious blueberry filling. We'll be getting that one again. (And as always the lemon curd cheesecake is also worth every penny of it's slightly hefty pricetag!)
We swung by the World of Disney to window shop. They have some new stuff including Monorail socks, which I SOOOOOO want for Christmas, and a knit goofy hat, which even in Florida is way more practical than those decorative ones.
Usually when we fly out of Tampa, we usually get to the airport an hour and a half ahead of time (if we're checking a bag, maybe an hour before if we aren't), and you always have plenty of time to spare. But, even though the only time I ever flew into Orlando was when we came back from our Alaska trip, I know Orlando is a bit busier, so we got there two hours ahead of time. It was a good thing, the place was PACKED. They even have a 'wait time' at security to let you know how long it should be. It wasn't really all that accurate though, it started out somewhere around 30 minutes, but it took us about an hour to get through.
Once we did get through it was super bazaar. They were just motioning people through, didn't have us take our shoes off or anything out of our bags (electronics, liquids-- it all stayed in). The bags were flying through the machine, and people were just pouring through the metal detectors. There was no way anything was actually getting screened. But then, all of this 'speeding' through security created this huge bottleneck at the tram to go out to the airside, and we were packed in like sardines, waiting on train after train, just to get packed into that like sardines. By the time we got out to our gate, everyone had already boarded. We made it though, but just barely. Apparently you need every bit of that two hours at the Orlando airport. It was bananas, and I was not a fan.
While we were dealing with the crowds at the airport, Asa and Hayden were dealing with the crowds at the Magic Kingdom. Since they dropped us, they were already out that way and decided to make an evening of it. They grabbed some fast passes, and had a cinnamon roll at Gaston's.
Heads up, Christmas decorations were already up at the Magic Kingdom (Asa was not happy about this though), and the Hall of Presidents STILL isn't open. It closes down to 'Welcome the new President', and nobody is quite sure what the hold-up is. I'd heard varying reports- everything from a dispute over who writes the bit that the president reads, to the White House not doing anything in a timely manner, to Disney wanting to tread lightly on this one given our current president's unpopularity. Who knows, but Trump or not, I miss my Hall of Presidents. I want it reopened!
Meanwhile, the rest of us were on our five and a half hour flight out to San Diego. As soon as we arrived, collected our luggage, and rented the car the boys had a very obvious west-coast request: they wanted to find the nearest In-N-Out burger. So there we were at 9 pm San Diego time, midnight for us, eating our double-doubles animal style.
My mom has cousins that live out in San Diego, so they were visiting with her when we got to the hotel. We got to see them for a bit, and got a lesson on the city and the San Diego skyline, and then we were off to bed.
Mom has had some crazy-bananas-rooms for AMATYC, since she's all important and stuff. This year was the most modest of all of the one's she's had. There was no treadmill in the bathroom, floor to ceiling windows on the top floor, or huge TVs or dining room tables. But, it was a nice room. She had a sitting room, with a pull out couch where the boys slept, and an attached area for a king sized bed.
She had a nice bar area with a mini fridge, and then a normal connecting hotel room with another king sized bed for me. Plus, they weren't fancy bathrooms or anything, but she did have two!
And with all of that, she had three balconies with a view of the marina and the San Diego skyline.
We got up and had breakfast in the Club level and then decided to check out the rest of the hotel, there was a pool, a ping pong and air hockey table, and a marina with a walkway along the water.
Our first stop was out at Costco to get all the snacks and drinks for Jane's room for her receptions. It was only 10 o'clock our time, but the boys were already asking for lunch. We had the club level for breakfast and dinner, so all we really had to cover was lunch. Costco lunches are super cheap, so I didn't mind when they asked.
When we got back to the hotel, we took everything up to Jane's room. Her room was on the other side of the hotel, so she had a different view. She got the pool, the closer marina and the mountains off in the distance.
And her room was a bit bigger, we stocked everything up for her, and then headed back out to see some sites.
Our first stop was Old Town, known as the Birthplace of California. It was the first settlement in California, and today it's a state historical site. There's restaurants, museums, and shops all in this little area. It kind of reminds me of an old west Cracker Country.
We walked around and took in the history, did a little window shopping, and stopped by the General Store for the boys first taste of Sarsaparilla (Calib hated it, Peyton thought it was ok). We actually really enjoyed Old Town. We even went back a couple days later because the boys were talking about wanting to buy some souvenirs they had passed up on previously.
Ok, this picture reminds me so much of the one I took last year at the gift shop by Buffalo Bill's grave!
After Old Town we headed up to La Jolla, where we stopped along the way to get an ice cream sandwich at the Baked Bear. It's on a tiny little street right by the water.
These very instagram-able treats are all over Pinterest. You pick a top and a bottom (you can pick a cookie, a donut, a brownie or any combo you want), an ice cream, and then toppings.
We went with a red velvet cookie top, a brownie bottom, bear batter ice cream, rolled in mini chocolate chips.
It was every bit as delicious as it looked, and one was plenty for the three of us. I'm not sure how anyone finishes one on their own. The cookie and the brownie were so soft and warm but somehow still sufficient enough to hold the sandwich together.
After that, we kept heading up the coast past all kinds of cute little shops and restaurants and about a million round-a-bouts. In La Jolla there's supposedly always seals and sea lions basking on the beach at the Children's Pool. It was kind of cloudy, but I thought we'd give it a go anyway. I was shocked how easy parking was for us when we got there, because everything I had read was that it was near impossible to find. We just pulled into one of the many spots, and that probably should have been my hint that it wasn't a good seal-viewing day. We walked to the Children's Pool and didn't see a single one.
Out on the rocks on the other side of the jetty like walkway we did find two or three of them basking, and a few more in the water. Eventually I think we saw six of them together up on the rocks.
I mean, the whole area is pretty and everything, but I was really sad that's all there were. I saw the pictures on pinterest, there were tons upon tons of them all up on the beach. We didn't get to see any of that.
We did walk down to the beach to put our toes in the Pacific. This Floridian found the water way too cold for my liking.
I guess since there were no seals, it made for a good time to be out climbing on the rocks. We were pretty much the only one's out there. Calib didn't want to go with us, though, so Peyton and I were on our own as he waited at a bench at the top of the stairs. I tried to tell him it was totally safe, and they were meant to be climbed on (I mean, there were STAIRS down to the rocks!), but he wasn't buying it. That's fine, Peyton and I enjoyed ourselves. Pictures don't ever do the west coast justice with it's rugged coastline, but I try anyway.
Peyton also took some good pictures while he was out there.
We got back to the hotel with a little daylight to spare. I had to get everything out for the reception in Jane's room, so we all went up to the Club Level for dinner for dinner. They had a rotating soup and appetizer ever night plus the usual salad, meat and cheese plate, and dried fruit. It was enough for us, and we never actually had to buy dinner out.
We had picked up a California Roll along the way, so while I was up taking care of everything in Jane's room, the boys enjoyed their evening, and ate their sushi out on the balcony.
Next Up: Our day in L.A/Simi Valley/ Yorba Linda
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