You know, of all the places we were planning to visit on our trip, San Diego was one we were particularly looking forward to. Everyone seems to rave about the place – a sort of clean and friendly cousin of Los Angeles.
And they’re all wrong – this place is a dump! No no, just kidding. San Diego is really nice.
After hardly having two nights in the same bed for almost a week, we were looking forward to just staying put for a few days as much as anything. Our hotel here was the Old Town Inn, perhaps our favourite so far on our journey – a nice room with a pool and free breakfast (with waffles!). The temperature here has been a very comfortable 25° or so.
Happy Birthday Heidi
On Sunday it was Heidi’s 9th birthday, and we celebrated by visiting Sea World. And when I say visiting, I mean completely taking in everything it has to offer: we were there from 9:30am until closing time at 11pm – 13 1/2 hours of theme park fun! There are a few rides at the park, but the majority of the attractions are shows.
Whale tricks
I was expecting more of a cross between entertainment and education (edutainment?), but no – they were all 100% animal tricks. It’s great, although after the 15th time seeing the giant whale splash the unfortunate people in the first 10 rows, you kind of get the idea. Nevertheless we had a fantastic day and it was a suitable celebration of Heidi’s birthday.
Mission Beach
On Monday we went to the beach, to complement our dip in the Atlantic ocean at Miami. I can tell you that the Atlantic is certainly warmer than the Pacific; not sure if that’s the case year-round or just at the moment. On Tuesday we went to the San Diego Zoo, which was also top notch: pandas, koalas, and elephants were the highlights.
Pandamonium
Yesterday we went to see the San Diego Padres play the New York Mets, the Mets being the predator to the Padre’s prey, winning as they did 7-3. I was just pleased we were able to enjoy the game in bright sunshine after our rainout in Chicago.
San Diego Zoo
So yes, I can thoroughly recommend San Diego. Nice atmosphere, they have lots of top quality things to do, and there’s also the ocean and beaches. For us, we’re now on the final leg of our trip – from this point on we head steadily north towards Canada. Goodbye pleasant warm weather, hello temperate rain forest.
Hey! It’s been plenty warm and sunny while you’ve been away. Of course that will probably be over by the time you get home, but… I’ll just trail off now.