San Diego vacation
Last summer we never got a vacation because of Andy’s surgery. This year wasn’t looking much better with us moving and Andy having a new job. Andy found some really inexpensive plane tickets to San Diego ($86 round trip) so we bought tickets and decided that we would go there. Ben and Laura love San Diego and when we told them we were going they booked a room the same week. We overlapped just two days as they went early in the week and we came later into the weekend.
When we went to book hotels we were in for an unpleasant surprise. Everything was about $200 a night for hotel rooms. After considerable hunting we found a condo for $125 a night but is was 40 miles, about 1 hour drive through windy (very curvy) wildcat canyon.
We went to Denny’s and had breakfast/lunch...we’d been up since 2am California time! Ben and Laura joined us and we had a good time.
Then we headed to Sea World. It was very hot and quite crowded. We were able to walk through some exhibits and see a killer whale orca show that was pretty cool. Unfortunately the lines were so long...three hours for the shipwreck rapids...that after waiting over an hour we gave up. That trend continued and between the heat,crowds, and poor Holly’s belly we finally called it a day around 4 p.m. pretty tired and frustrated. Not really a good experience overall.
We had to go charge the car and holly wasn’t feeling well so we left her to rest and Katie, Andy and I went to Ramona to buy groceries and dinner and wait. We were there about an hour and a half and the car only charged 30 miles...just barely enough to get us back to San Diego. It turns out that charger would have taken 8 hours for a ful chargel. There is a super charger in San Diego that only takes 90 minutes so we planned to go there first thing Thursday morning.
We went swimming in the pool and hot tub and were there when Aj and Becca arrived Wednesday evening. It was close to 10pm. When they got there we were in the hot tub and someone was talking to us. I thought the kids were coming in to the pool and motioned for them to use the gate on the other side of the bathroom, however they still hadn’t found the unit. So they disappeared for what seemed like forever. I went looking for them and couldn’t find them anywhere. When they did get back they were a little cranky as they had all their luggage and had walked a long way looking for our unit (not the entrance to the pool!!!). Ooopsy!!
The found the unit and came back and hot tubbed with us. (Holly was still back with a bellyache)
Our phones showed we walked over 6 miles Wednesday!!
Thursday Holly still couldn’t leave the condo so we decided to split up. Aj and Becca stayed close in the morning and played at the clubhouse so if Holly needed something they could be right there.
Katie, Andy and I headed to Seaport Village to meet Ben and Laura and walk around. First we dropped the car at the charger then B&L drove us into town.
It was nice...little shops by the bay. Very pretty. We shared hot pretzels after walking around. Then it was time to retrieve the car and head back up to Holly. We stayed around the condo and swam. Holly was still not well so we decided to leave Katie and Holly with movies and the four of us went to Little Italy Felipe’s to meet Ben and Laura and have dinner.
Aj and Becca said they weren’t hungry and walked around Little Italy, but then ended up finding a claim jumper and eating anyway because he had a gift card in his wallet from a long time ago. Sweet!
So B&L and Andy and I enjoyed the best lasagna ever. We had a pretty long wait to get in but it was really yummy!!
A little before 7:30 we decided to try to get to the mission beach to watch the sunset. On Thursday, July 25 just before 8 pm we were traveling on the freeway when we suddenly heard a strange noise and then the car indicated we were losing air pressure. We immediately slowed and pulled off at the exit which was close by and pulled into the shell station located on Moore street.
We called the owner Heather who had us call Turo the rental co to figure out what to do. They were going to dispatch a tow truck however we cancelled it because they said they would charge Heather or us for the tow and called Pacific Autow Tow instead because Heather said she had a warranty that included towing.
The tow company indicated 90 minute wait at 9:30 p.m. At 10 p.m. we called and they indicated it would be the full 90 minutes. At 11:10 p.m. we called and they apologized and said it would be another 45 minutes.
At 11:45 pm Juan from Pacific Autow arrived and was given the keys and the car. We were able to leave by midnight.
Turo car rental didn't have another car to rent us so we decided to go to the airport courtesy of Ben and Laura. When we went to the rental facility at the San Diego airport the first five or six places indicated they were out of cars. When we got to Payless car rental they wanted to charge almost $600 for a minivan and $284 for a economy car (roll down crank windows). They said the complex was closing in 20 minutes and it was the only car left. They said it included insurance (it was a special rate and would cost more to not have the insurance). Aj went to check another place however they didn’t have any economy cars either and it was over $500 for a bigger car.
Feeling desperate and trapped we paid the rental fee. They said they were charging us for a full day Thursday (even though it was 11pm) and a full day Sunday (even though we would return the car early Sunday morning). Feeling totally ripped off and taken advantage of but at least we have a car.
**on the bright side...we had a bathroom. We were able to drive the car off the freeway. Traffic was light. We didn’t have an accident. We were close to the airport so we were able to rent another car. Ben and Laura were close and able to give us a ride to the airport.
*sad side...Andy’s fun with his fast car was over. They don’t have spare tires in Tesla’s (how dumb is that?!) it was after hours so they could not fix the tire until morning. The rental car company ripped us off price wise...five companies said they were out of cars. Payless cars rented us the last one at more than we’d paid for the fancy car. And the fancy car co didn’t refund us as much as we paid for the extra. Sigh
So at this point I’m feeling a little frustrated with the whole vacation thing!! We didn’t get back from the flat until 1am.
Good riddance Thursday!!
Friday, thank goodness was a much better day!!
We all slept until 9:30 and thank goodness Holly finally felt better!!! and then we went to Belmont park and got shirts for everyone at a store called Wings and walked around the shops. We shared dole whips.
We got tacos and nachos from a street vendor and ate by the bay around 2 p.m. as we waited for our cruise time.
Then we headed to the flagship for our two hour cruise. It was really fun. It went north for an hour and then south for an hour. We were able to see some cool navy ships and sea lions and Coronado island. We decided to go to Coronado to the beach after the cruise.
What a pretty island. You have to take a 2.1 mile enormous bridge there and it is like Mayberry. Every home was well kept. People were everywhere riding bikes, skating and walking. We found a beach and took our tubes and blow up boats and played for several hours jumping waves and playing in the water together. It was so fun!!
We ordered pizza at a place called Ramona Lisa at 9:30 pm and then ate dinner around the pool and then got in the hot tub.
Saturday continued to be really fun.
We got up and Andy made a nice breakfast. Then we headed to Carlsbad outlets and got sneakers and a backpack for Katie. We walked around for quite awhile. Then we took the highway 101 drive to La Jolla beach. Right before we got there we unexpectedly saw the San Diego temple!! So we took a detour to the temple and walked around the grounds. It was beautiful but the freeway was noisy!!
The beach was really really crowded! We got the tubes and boats out again and played for hours. This beach had a lot more debris and rougher waves. There was a rip tide and the life guard came out three times to warn us to be careful.
At one point Andy and I were relaxing on the beach chairs and we saw the life guard get up off his stand and jump on his surf board and start paddling out -- right to our girls!!! He warned them again of the rip tide and before long they decided to come in.
After the beach Holly wanted to go to the 99 cent store so we went to Ramona and got her a cute hat.
We didn’t get back to the condo until 8 ish. Andy BBQ'd some sausages and we ate all our leftovers from the fridge too.
We went and checked out our condo's clubhouse. We wished we could stay longer and enjoy the condo more.
At the end of the evening I was cleaning up and took out the garbage. We had three bags full and some boxes. When we got there there was a raccoon in the garbage!!! Freaked me out!! Threw the first two bags on his head. Third missed completely and all the boxes ended up all over the place. I squealed and ran to Katie. I tried to go back and pick up the stuff but the raccoon didn’t leave and I couldn’t make myself go back over there!!!! I called maintenance and told them but the next morning when we left Holly said my trash mess was still all over the lawn!
So 6 am Sunday morning we’re on our way home!! Got into St. George about 3:20 p.m. Glad the trip ended better than it started!!!
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| Aj and Shelly- oh yeah! |
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| La Jolla Beach |
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| Life Guard jumped off his chair and went out to our girls. |
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| Life Guard warned the girls (for the third time) that there was a rip tide and to be very careful. They had multiple rescues earlier that same day. |
