Tuesday, October 4, 2022

The Golden State

I've posted a few pics on my Facebook page this week, but you know I need all the words too, so here we go. First things first-I spent the morning at the orthopedist and am happy to report my fractured elbow will not require surgery. Whoohoo! If you don't know what I'm talking about I mentioned it to Hodgepodgers in a quick post yesterday (linked here) and will likely mention it again when I get to the end of my trip recap. 


If you're new here you should know I can make blogging about a trip longer than the trip itself, but I'm still a little wonky with the typing so maybe my injury will inspire me to be less wordy. 

Maybe. 

See, here we are three paragraphs in and I haven't even gotten started on the actual travel. California. It seems a little bit crazy to make a road trip in California just now, given the price of gas there (7$!!) and really just the price of everything (how do people live here???), but we had friends hosting a wedding and we were not going to miss that. 

These are special friends. Friends who go all the way back and have known my girls since they were babies. We both started moving here-there-everywhere, always keeping in touch and seeing one another in person from time to time, until one day, in an absolutely wonderful display of God's amazing goodness, we ended up living in England at the very same time. 

Our babies who were born just a few weeks apart (her first, my second), and who moved three or four times in the middle years, ended up graduating from high school together while living in the same small village across the pond. This friendship has been such a gift and no matter the miles we always pick up right where we left off. 

When we received the invitation to their youngest daughter's wedding on the California coast we decided to make it a holiday. When in Rome and all that, right? 

Hubs and I have driven the northern California coast all the way from San Francisco to Tacoma Washington (recap link starts here), but I had never seen any of the southern coast. We added a few days to the front end of the wedding date so we could take our time meandering through some of the loveliest little seaside spots in America. 

We went total cliche and rented a convertible because why not? The weather was absolute perfection (is this why people live here???) and we rode with the top down most of the way, hence baseball caps and crazy haired pics. C'est la vie. 

This was our first flight since pre-Covid days and we had a connection both ways so opted not to check bags. We've heard too many nightmare stories of lost luggage and since we were hopping from one spot to the next we worried delayed bags might never reach us. The travel itself went so smoothly in both directions, something of a rarity these days and we were grateful. 

We arrived in San Diego on a Friday afternoon and by the time we rented the car, got out of the airport, and checked in to our hotel it was time for dinner. An early dinner as we were definitely still on East Coast time lol. We stayed at The Westin in the Gaslight District because we wanted to be in that part of town, but also because we had hotel points. Gotta make up for that 7$ gas somewhere now, don't we? 

We spent part of the day in San Diego before driving to our next locale and chose a couple of things to see that would give us a feel for the city. 


We started in Balboa Park and really enjoyed that. It was a gorgeous day (probably going to be saying that a lot) and we walked around soaking up all the beautiful scenery and sunshine. 

After seeing as much of Balboa Park as we could we headed next to the Embarcadero for a tour of The USS Midway museum. 

It is absolutely something to see and as you read the placards and hear the stories of so many brave, mostly young, servicemen you remember what you love about America. 


There was a quote beside one of the placards that really touched me. Rear Admiral Timothy Ziemer is cited as the speaker who said this, " What we share...is a pride for having sacrificed together for a cause greater than our individual pursuits. A pride for having our courage and honor affirmed and tested in one moment in history. Pride for having replaced comfort and security with the inconvenience of the unknown and not being broken by the experience." 

Our friends own a condo in San Clemente and we planned to spend the next two nights there. We stopped en route for an ocean view late lunch in La Jolla. Hubs likes this town a lot and wanted me to see it. Parking was a bit challenging on a sunny Saturday but we found a spot and had a wonderful relaxed meal at George's at the Cove. 

Rose all day. 

I mean I could have but there were places to go and people to see. 
Next stop...sea lions, surfers and San Clemente. 

And sunshine of course because it's the California coast. 

7 comments:

  1. Beautiful photos! Looks like it was a lovely trip. I'm so glad you won't need surgery on the fractured elbow. I hope it gets better soon!

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  2. Thanks for taking us along, Joyce! I doubt I will ever see California so seeing it through your eyes is the next best thing!! Looking forward to the next post!! xo

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  3. Hooray that you don't need surgery! Glad you enjoyed great weather on your trip. Our kids were just in San Diego for a conference. San Clemente was a favorite camping spot with my family when I was young. We were there camping once when the grunion were running. You are getting closer to our old stomping grounds. It's fun to see these areas through your lens.

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  4. I've never been to California, and most likely never will. I'm so glad your sharing with us and I get to see it through your eyes. Glad you don't have to have surgery either.

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  5. That is very sweet about the friendship you have had with them. Your pictures are perfect and so glad you got to see those things. That is a lovely quote you shared. We love La Jolla and try to go there every year. We actually lived in La Jolla for about a year. Yes, we can have some pretty nice weather!

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  6. You know how to do a trip up right; that convertible sounds just perfect for the weather!

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  7. I love San Diego! We go there one or two times a year. We love to eat at Old Town and the beach area. We went to the Del Coronado for our honeymoon and a few times since. Glad you had nice weather. We will be going back in December for a wedding in Balboa Park.

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