Saturday was the first (and only) full day with our whole vacation group together. After I got a quick run to the edge of Balboa Park in, we started off the morning with breakfast at the hotel and then moved camp north to Carlsbad. Dad and I dropped the ladies off at the Carlsbad Premium Outlets to do some baby (and personal) shopping while we went to the nearby Carlsbad Lagoon to try our luck at stand-up paddle boarding. Neither of us had tried SUP’ing before so picked a protected water area to give it a go. We spent a little over an hour cruising on our boards and watching the fish jump around us in the lagoon…it was a lot of fun, and a surprisingly good core and shoulder workout while being relaxing at the same time.
Dad and I got back to the car just about the same time Mom and Susan were wrapping up shopping, so reconvened and drove over the Hwy 101 to cruise southbound along the coast and find lunch. We stopped at a less than impressive looking taco shop that was well reviewed on Yelp. This place was no frills, but the tacos were delicious and cheap…a great combination.
Our bellies filled, we did a little more beach cruising before Susan started looking for an early afternoon nap. We had a couple errands to run in the mean time so took a timeout until early evening. When we did get going again, it was to head out to Point Loma and the Cabrillo National Monument. Unfortunately we didn’t do our homework and the monument itself was closed. However, we did get some downtown and bay views from the peninsula before heading back toward town.
A ghostly tree in the naval cemetery at Point Loma
Not quite ready for dinner, we detoured to Shelter Island to check out the harbor some more…
All five of us taking in the skyline
then proceeded to dinner in Liberty Station at the Stone World Bistro and Gardens. This restaurant and beer garden was a huge complex of indoor and outdoor dining and drinking places inside an even larger complex (Liberty Station) that used to be military barracks. The restaurant is run by the Stone Brewing Company and had excellent beer and ambience and good food, but we found the food to be a little overpriced on the whole. After dinner it was back to the hotel for the night to get ready to ship Susan back to Cincinnati on Sunday.
Sunday morning started with brunch in Hillcrest at Snooze, which was delicious. The secret was clearly out on this place since it was buzzing by 8:30 on Sunday. After breakfast, unfortunately, it was time to send Susan off to Cincinnati and back to the real world. Luckily her travel day went smoothly.
One member down, my parents and I went back to the hotel for some midday workouts (where I managed to get lost on the bike…marking the 3rd workout that I’ve lost myself on during this vacation). In the early afternoon we made our way to Del Mar to take in an day of horse racing where the “Turf meets the Surf”.
Horse racing – and other fun at the track
I hit my first bet and of course thought it was my lucky day before proceeding to lose on the rest of my tickets. The track was a different vibe than horse racing in Kentucky, certainly on a smaller scale and more laid back than Churchill, but was a good time. We ended the day by driving a few miles north to Encinidas for dinner at Union Kitchen and Tap which was a fun beachside pub.
The three of us will be hanging out for two more full days before heading back to Utah to finish the move back to Ohio.
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