San Diego Day One

I’m in love with Southern California! This trip was my first time traveling to the west coast, and Huck’s first trip since he was a child. I figured he’d love San Diego. Warm weather and more breweries than any other city in the US, what’s not to love!

We planned this trip the same way we planned our trip to NYC. We made a list of places we wanted to go, picked a number 1-whatever, closed our eyes, and pointed to a number on the keypad… San Diego. Huck added San Diego to the list. He grew up riding four wheelers and always wanted to go to Glamis to ride at the sand dunes. {I’ll share more about that in my day two post}.

Huck’s friend and his girlfriend, Jon and Betsy, join us on our trip. Jon wanted to ride in California and explore San Diego. They left all the planning up to me… No pressure!

Our day started EARLY with a 6AM flight. I like to arrive early and leave late when traveling. It allows extra time in whatever city we’re staying in. The three hour time changed helped, too! We were able to see the sun start to peak over the horizon as the plane turned west.

The Salton Sea where we rode side by sides. 

We arrived in San Diego around 10:30AM, picked up our rental car, and headed to the condo. Luckily, all of us had the same flight from Houston to San Diego, so we didn’t have to make special arrangements.

For our lodging, I booked a 2 bedroom 2 bathroom condo through VRBO. It was in the Gaslamp District and walking distance to countless bars, restaurants, and breweries. There was even a brewery one block from our condo. We all agreed, the condo made us feel like locals, and it was much more comfortable than a hotel. Damien, the condo owner, was awesome! Very responsive and helpful. If you’re looking for a place to stay, I can not recommend this place enough. {Click the VRBO link for the listing}

Once we were settled in, we went in search of food! You can’t go to San Diego without eating Mexican food. Another reason Huck was in heaven. We walked down the block to Lolita’s. It hit the spot.

Once our bellies were full, we headed back to the condo so Huck and I could do a few work things {It follows us everywhere!}. About an hour later, we hit the streets. The plans for the day included the USS Midway and taking the ferry to Coronado.

This was my first time on a military ship. It was HUGE, and I have a new respect for anyone that serves in the military and is stationed at sea. I can’t imagine what life is like being on a boat with thousands of people for months at a time.

These looked like mirrors but they’re actually hallways. 

We walked around the ship for over 3 hours, and still didn’t see everything. At different locations, throughout the ship, there was volunteers that could tell you more about the ship, what it was like, or how something worked. They all served in the military and some where actually on the Midday. They were so passionate about the ship and eager to explain everything and share stories. I could have easy stayed talking to some of them all day.

Unfortunately, the Midway started to close and we had to leave. From there, we walked to the ferry that we missed by a whole minute. It only leaves every hour, so we passed the time with a beer at Anthony’s Fish Grotto.

While enjoying our beers, we watched the sunset over the Pacific. In one day, we saw the sun rise on the east coast and set on the west. It was pretty epic!

From there, we hopped on the ferry.

Once we arrived in Coronado we headed straight for Coronado Brewing Co. Jon and Betsy are not beer enthusiast like us. They never once complain about our beer obsession or us dragging them to every brewery we passed even though I felt kind of bad. Luckily, all the breweries we went to as a group were brewpubs, and Jon even found a new style of beer he enjoyed.

We sat at the bar and ordered a couple flights of beers, while waiting for a table. The bar is also located right beside the kitchen, and we drooled over all the dishes going by.  For dinner, we shared the Seafood Cioppino which was really good.

I’ve actually cooked with Coronado’s beer a few times {Coffee Stout and Sriracha Roast Beef} and have plans for an Orange Wit in the near future. Their beers are good, and it was definitely worth the trip over to check them out.

Once we finished our dinner, we started back to the ferry. The view of San Diego was beautiful. Kind of like the view of NYC from New Jersey. I wish I knew how to work my camera to capture the lights at night. Instead you’re stuck with camera phone pics.

Once we were back in San Diego, we grabbed an Uber and headed back to the condo. We were in bed fairly early to prepare for a 2.5 hour drive and a day of riding four wheelers in the desert.