Solo San Diego

I totally love where I live 10 months of the year. Post holidays can be a long string of gray cold sometimes snowy days, so a change of scenery can help a lot. So I found what I hoped was a cute AirBNB in the San Diego area and headed out for some warmer weather and sunshine. The first couple of weeks I will be here by myself, and then later in the month I have friends coming out to share the fun. I was very pleased to get to my place and find it exactly as pictured - which is always a relief. Since I’m not renting a car till my friends arrive location was key. I’m just about a 10 minute walk to the beach and tons of cute restaurants and coffee shops close by in addition to at least 4 grocery stores. So far my feet have held up nicely and I have walked lots of miles. I frequently make the mistake of forgetting to turn around because there is always something right around the corner that I would hate to miss. Then I realize I have to walk back too! But if you have a cell phone Uber or Lyft is just a click away. I haven’t had to resort to that….yet!

Since I’m here for a number of weeks I don’t feel compelled to squeeze everything that I want to do into a short amount of time. So I’m having a good mix of activities and relaxation. Definitely taking a long walk along the beach everyday, and I’ve already eaten my share of fish tacos. So just going to post some pics of things I have done so far and some of the food I’ve eaten.

I spent a good chunk of a day at Balboa Park. It’s where the quite famous San Diego Zoo is located, but there is a whole additional area full of museums and gardens. Built in 1915 for the Panama-California Expo the architecture is Spanish Colonial Revival. Originally meant to be taken down after the event, but people loved it so much they reinforced many of the buildings and it stands to this day.

I visited the zoo many years ago, and since I’m not really a zoo person decided to focus on the gardens and museums. There is also a beautiful theater there called the Old Globe that is modeled after the Old Globe in London. I purchased a ticket a few weeks ago for the performance of “The Notebooks of Leonardo Da Vinci” that is running now, so planned the day around that event. It was a beautiful day so I walked all over that area of the park and enjoyed the different gardens and some of the museums. The play was very interesting. All dialogue actually excerpts from the notebooks of a genius and artist. Different vignettes of topics Da Vinci wrote about. The set and actors were all incredible so I was glad I had made the effort to see it.

There is also a wonderful restaurant there called Prado. So pretty inside and the food was excellent. Fish tacos of course for me😂

Lots of beautiful gardens but this tree was amazing to me so just going to post one picture. The Japanese Garden was really cool too.

Another fun thing I did was take a kayaking guided tour of the La Jolla area. I love to kayak and also learn so this accomplished both goals. There were about 20 people in our group with two knowledgeable guides. We were on the water for about two hours so admittedly I was a bit sore the next day. My upper body is not used to paddling for that amount of time against the ocean waves, but the good news is that I didn’t capsize. I also didn’t bring my phone to take pics for fear of doing exactly that so you’ll just have to believe me that I did it. There are a number of different companies you can do this with and they were all similarly priced so I just picked this one. I did need to make a reservation and was glad I did because at least the time slot I picked was sold out. The water was pretty rough so we didn’t get to go into the cave. That was fine with me because crashing into a rocky cliff wasn’t on my bucket list and there was plenty to see outside the cave. This was the group that went out before us so just pretend I’m standing here with a life jacket and helmet on too.

Now for some fun food. I tend to like to eat out at lunch and just have something lighter for dinner which has worked out great here. So many cute places to try. More fish tacos. These are from the Pacific Beach Ale House. A cute place really close to the ocean with a nice rooftop deck. They were delicious. They came with a fantastic corn and black bean dish of wonderful.

Is it a trip to California without a few stops at IN-N-OUT? Not for me it’s not! One of the few places I enjoy a burger and fries. Ok and I did have a chocolate shake that day too. Treat yourself Tuesday! (Not sure it was Tuesday🤷🏼‍♀️)

Before the kayaking I headed to Scripps Beach and a place I had read about called Caroline’s Cafe. Overlooking the beach I had a fantastic tuna sandwich and salad. Eating and looking at the ocean never gets old.

A cute place in downtown La Jolla called The Cottage spoke to me so I had lunch there one day while browsing the cute stores in that area. Another beautiful day to eat outside.

Breakfast for lunch and a delicious scone to enjoy later.

If you know me at all then you know few things make me happier food wise than a good bakery or even better coffee shop/ bakery. The Wayfarer did not disappoint and I tried a ham and cheese croissant. Going back again soon to try the almond croissant.

In Hawaii I became obsessed with Açaí bowls so I’m on a quest here to see how the California ones stack up. First up the Ocean Cafe. Nothing fancy just the traditional açaí, granola, fruit and honey. This one was as good as the ones in Hawaii minus the sweet flower they put on it there.

On one or two of my walks I spent some time at the tide pools. Fascinating! Snails, anemones, tiny fish and who knows what else!

Lots of birds and animals we don’t routinely see in the Midwest. Like Pelicans!

Seals laying on the beach in La Jolla at the Children’s Pool. Actually was made for human children but the seals have taken over as a place to nurture their babies so humans can only observe from above now. That’s fair.

And Sea Lions! So many Sea Lions! Literally hundreds and they can make quite a racket. Seeing them get themselves out of the water and up on those rocks makes absolutely no sense. Their bodies are big and they have tiny flippers by contrast. They must be so strong and agile to accomplish it. Luckily the wind was blowing out to sea or might have been less pleasant to observe them.

So many beautiful beach and cove and wave pictures to choose from. I pick this one!

Someone with so much more patience and imagination made this cool sand labyrinth.

My best EVER sunset picture. No filter. Just in the right place at the right time. Feels exactly like my life right now. That’s week one. Hopefully I’ll do a few fun things this week too! Make it a great week for yourself💕 (Also today is Super Bowl Sunday. Eat some barbecue. GO CHIEFS❤️💛❤️)