San Diego, California

I have a small love affair with California and I'm fairly certain Mark would happily live there if ever given the chance. One of his life goals is to experience an earthquake {remember he's a geologist - not a nutcase who enjoys putting his life in danger} - this slightly odd goal may be part of the appeal. For me it's the sun and trees and perfect weather...the ocean and mountains and abundance of tacos on every corner...oh how lovely. I've been to California four times in the past decade and this particular trip was a simple but much needed four-day getaway to San Diego.



There was a show on recently about the most dangerous airports in the world. San Diego was #10... so naturally I was very excited and made sure to get a window seat so I could watch us all plummet to our doom...or land safely, which is what usually happens. The airport is in the middle of downtown and you feel like the wheels are inches from scraping the tops of buildings on the approach. It was thrilling!

I purposely added a one hour layover in LAX on our return flight. I've never flown through either San Diego or LA so it was a highlight to mark them off my list. I collect airports like trophies. Walking through a new terminal is like walking through Disney World. We all have our thrills. For whatever reason, this is one of mine.





Speaking of flying, why do people not clap at the end of a flight? Seriously, two pilots just lifted a giant hunk of metal into the air {an amazing feat if there ever was one}, safely navigating the sometimes turbulent skies, flying over oceans and mountains and endless cornfields...I've applauded for much less.

I've only been on one flight I can remember where everyone applauded once the wheels hit the tarmac. It was wild! A stormy flight from Philadelphia to Nashville. It was one of those flights that makes strangers into friends real quick. My seat was next to the flight attendant. I took my queues from her. As long as she didn't freak, I figured we were fine and lightning hitting the nose of the plane was just routine...







But enough about flying. We spent time on the ground as well. The beautiful green ground! Denver is very brown at the moment so I was drunk on the leafy, flowery green-ness of Southern California. We played the part of classic tourists for part of the trip, visiting Sea World and the famous San Diego Zoo, getting our fill of animals cute and cuddly.







I lined all the penguins up for a photo...








We also climbed trees. And I fell out {a moment not captured by photo} and then I hobbled around San Diego for a bit. It's almost impossible for me to bruise but I now have several - on my knees, my ribs, my ankle. Those roots were not kind. Seriously, it hurt. My tree climbing days may be coming to a close...





Mark and I have different travel styles. I like to visit a place as though I live there {or am considering a potential move}. I find cute houses, enjoy going to the grocery {or in San Diego's case, we took the #10 bus to Trader Joe's}, and try to find the neighborhood that best fits me.

Mark like to visit the main attractions, read every sign on every statue, and keeps me informed on the city's history and all facts associated with wherever we are. It's a different style but somehow we make it work and tend to do rather well {assuming I don't spend more than three hours in a museum within any ten day period}.

An example of my desire to "live like a local" was dragging Mark to In N Out Burger. Anthony Bourdain eats there as soon as he lands in LA and since they seem to only exist in California, I decided we should go eat lunch with the San Diego suburbanites.





One afternoon we boarded the Coaster {aka, the commuter train} and headed a bit north of San Diego to the town of Encinitas. We enjoyed the beach, the crazy warm weather, a fairly empty train, and some authentic Mexican food.











And that was our trip. Sunny and warm and green. We are now refreshed and ready for some snow to start falling Denver tomorrow.

And we did learn a valuable lesson this trip... never eat Mexican at a restaurant where a man is walking around making balloon animals, no matter how much the place is recommended by the tourist map given to you at the hotel. And never eat three chocolate chip cookies in one sitting at the zoo...on a hot day. Belly ache. And always make time for four-day weekends. They are good for the soul.