Now, deciding where to go was a little bit of a challenge. I have been to just over half of the states in the US whereas Jason has been to far fewer. Combine that with the fact that we both wanted to go somewhere warmer to get us away from the Midwest winter weather. The places I thought of were Southern California and New Orleans. Florida was another option, specifically the Florida Keys area. Jason had already been to California and Florida where I have been to New Orleans and Florida. I don't remember exactly HOW we ended up with Southern California, but that's where we decided to go.
Now, who was to watch Dan? Grandma of course! When I called my Mom to ask if she wanted to watch Dan for the week we were gone, she mentioned that she was already thinking of coming for a visit so she could see him (of course it's all about Dan - once grandbaby comes along, daughter becomes chopped liver ;) ). It worked out really well for her to come down, house and dog sit, and have undivided attention with Dan without having to kick us out of the house.
The travel down to Southern California was quite the adventure. We decided to fly in and out of LA as it gave us the best prices and flight times. The night before our flight Jason checked our flight times to make sure that everything was still on track. Thank goodness he did! It turned out that our flight was changed. Instead of a layover in Chicago, we now had a layover in Denver - and our flight left an hour earlier than our original flight! So my Mom's boyfriend drove us down to the airport so we didn't have to leave a vehicle there for the week, saving us money. We had no issues getting through security - although the woman TSA agent I told I was opting out of the body scan wasn't too happy that I told her right before I was to go through the body scanner. (Seriously - when was I supposed to tell her? when there were 10 people in front of me? while in the scanner itself?) Anyway, she was having a moment and we were not in a hurry so it didn't bother me I had to wait a whole minute for another female TSA agent to come give me the pat down.
I choose the pat down over the body scanner for two reasons. The first reason is that I'm pregnant. I don't need any extra radiation, no matter how small, hitting my body and baby than necessary. Second, the body scanners are just a big waste of money that make people think we are flying safer. That line of reasoning is a whole other post that I won't get into.
We ended up boarding the plane a little later than what was indicated on the flight board. Almost 2 hours later and 2 de-icings, we FINALLY lifted off for Colorado. Now, due to the delays in Milwaukee, we missed our connecting flight in Denver. Thankfully we were able to get on another flight just under an hour after we landed. There were no issues with our flight from Denver to LA. Now, after we got to LA we grabbed our bag and got our rental car. While we saved some on our rental, the service was SNAIL PACED! I think we waited almost an hour before we got our car. Thankfully the company knocked off one day of our rental cost as an apology. Off we went to our hotel just north of San Diego - a 2 hour drive! Along the way we stopped to grab supper at a local mall. I can't tell you which one it was, but it was really nice to sit outside after sundown and eat a meal. Definitely couldn't do that back at home that day, where they got around 1-2 inches of snow!
After almost 14 hours of travel time, we made it to our hotel.
Our first day we went to the San Diego Aquarium, took a stroll along the shoreline, and had a night time dinner cruise along the bay. The aquarium had some pretty nice set ups for their sea life. One of my favorites were these eels. They look like grumpy old men!
So while I've been on the West coast before, I have never stepped into the Pacific Ocean. This trip gave the opportunity to do just that! It was a bit chillier than the Atlantic, but I expected as much due to the fact that the Pacific is MUCH bigger and deeper than the Atlantic. This was one of my favorite parts of the day - just strolling along, listening to the waves, and checking out the locals. There was a piece of kelp that washed ashore. The "flower" part of it is about the size of my hand. The entire plant was at least 20 feet long!
After the beach, we took the long way back to the hotel. Along the way we ran across a park with some fun trees and a little cove where a bunch of seals were relaxing with their pups! There were a lot of people watching the seals and the other wildlife that occupied the rocks and ledges along the shoreline.
Once back, we relaxed in the hotel room while waiting for the dinner cruise. After we checked in for dinner, we had a little bit of time before boarding. Along the boardwalk there were several of these benches with hand-painted tiles. Some of them were really elaborate while others were clearly done by children. The colors and variety were a lot of fun to look at.
The cruise was really nice and the food was delicious. I had the salmon - how could I not when it was local! It was ALMOST as good as the salmon I had years ago when I went on a family vacation with my Mom's family on an Alaskan cruise. Our port was in Seattle so we had dinner at the top of the space needle - which is where I had the salmon that still makes my mouth water thinking about it years later!
Anyway, the cruise was really nice. There were only 8 or 9 other couples aboard so plenty of room. We got a table next to the window which was very nice for viewing the city. Jason took some very nice pictures of the city while we were out. The only bummer about the cruise is that champagne was offered as part of the meal. I can't tell you how badly I have been craving adult beverages this pregnancy! I will admit I did have a small sip of his champagne. Otherwise it was sparkling cider and water for me.
The second full day (day 3 of our trip) we spent at the San Diego Zoo. Holy cow is that a large zoo! We spent 7.5 hours there and got through about 80% of it. The part we didn't go to included the children's fun zone and the petting zoo. I don't think we lost out. The most exciting part about the zoo was seeing giant pandas for the first time! The neat thing about these pandas is that the male is able to naturally fertilize the female. This is the only naturally mating pair of pandas in the US! If you know anything about giant pandas, this is a big deal. I would say the second most exciting part about the zoo was me getting through the whole day without my feet hurting! Yay for yoga and strong feet!
Needless to say, we were both happy to get back to the hotel and put our feet up after spending all day at the zoo.
The next day we spent touring the U.S.S. Midway. we got through most of the ship before we had to run out and put more money in our meter. The one section we missed was the tower on the flight deck. If we had more time we would've gone back to take a tour, but between a late start and lunch, there just wasn't the time.
The park next to the ship had the statue of the nurse and sailor kissing at the end of WWII. Jason checked - she wasn't wearing anything under the dress ;)
Our last day in San Diego was spent at Balboa Park. We wandered the gardens and checked out the art museum. The architecture was amazing! I won't bore you with too many pictures of it, but I simply couldn't get enough of the intricate details. There were several fountains scattered throughout the park and all but one were not running while we were there due to the drought conditions that Southern California is experiencing.
After we were done at the park we made our way up to LA. We took the scenic route, which added about 3 hours onto the trip. We went through a bunch of small towns split up between a bunch of beaches with lots of people sun bathing and surfing. The hotel room was a welcome site.
Our one full day in LA was spent at the Hollywood walk of fame, a one hour massage that Jason treated us to, and the Hollywood sign. Seriously, the valley that the Hollywood sign is in is gorgeous! I wish we had more time to explore the park that it was a part of.
All in all it was a wonderful vacation. It allowed us to reconnect and enjoy our time as a couple without worrying about taking care of Dan. We did call home once a day just to see how things were going, but we waited until the end of the day so we could enjoy "our time" before seeing how Dan was. Now with baby #2 coming in just under 2 months, who knows when our next "parent's only" vacation will be. Only time can tell.
Until then, take care!
