The week following Justin's graduation, we had planned our family vacation to San Diego. It worked out perfectly, Justin's last day at Pinnacle was on June 6th (he was able to leave early) and we headed on our trip that evening. (We unfortunately got bad news from Toyota when we took our Highlander in for a check-up, a major part was malfunctioning and the car wouldn't be fit for a road trip. However, Toyota said the part was still under warranty, yes!, and they would cover the cost of a rental car while our car was being repaired, yes yes!. So although we didn't want to pay extra for a rental car it was such a blessing. We had a bigger SUV, we didn't have to put miles on our Highlander, and we didn't have to worry about cleaning our Highlander out when we got home).
So aside from that setback, we were all packed and ready to hit the road. Of course, road trips with an infant don't go as quickly as you think they would. And to be honest, I am not the best at road trips either, my small bladder makes for frequent stops. Poor Justin! He is used to his nonstop drives to Chicago. Anyway, we were making a stop in Vegas to break up the length of the road trip. We got into Vegas around 11pm Wednesday night. We stayed at our favorite place-the JW Marriott, its west of the strip, in a quiet part of town, and is such a nice resort. The weather was beautiful and we spent Thurs and Fri soaking up the sun at the pool and enjoying our evenings around town. We took Caleb (in his stroller) to the Vegas Strip Thursday night. There was so much happening that Caleb was enamored the entire time. We didn't realize how many escalators and stairs you have to navigate around when you take a stroller but it was better than carrying him the whole time! We did our usual stops, the Bellagio Conservatory and fountains and we added a couple new stops this time: the flamingos at The Flamingo Hotel and a sundae at Serendipity 3. There were so many nice people commenting on how cute and good Caleb was. We haven't taken Caleb out of Utah much, where a baby is a common occurrence, it is cute to see how non-Utahans gush over babies. Our time in Vegas went by too fast but we hit the road Saturday afternoon and made our way to San Diego.
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| The amazing Bellagio Conservatory. They change out many of these flowers daily. There was a ladybug made of red carnations (at least 300 of them the sign said) and they were changed daily! |
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| Caleb was so enthralled by everything, he had to sit up in his carseat for most of the Vegas strip visit |
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| Caleb was mesmerized by the fountains |
We arrived in San Diego Saturday around 9:30pm. We got up and attended a local ward's Sacrament meeting, went home and napped then went to the Mormon Battalion and the San Diego Temple. The Mormon Battalion in Old Town is amazing. The Church has done an awesome job with the message given and the interactive movie they show. Plus Justin's great (not sure how many generations it is honestly..) grandfather helped with the Mormon Battalion and later settled Spring City but his gun is kept in the glass case at the Battalion. How cool is that?! The Temple was gorgeous, albeit, I am still partial to the Logan Temple :-)
Other activities from the week... driving up the PCH, shopping right at the US/Mexico border, visiting Point Loma tide pools, walking around Old Town, a quick visit to the Coronado beach (we stayed on Coronado and loved our location!), and trying to swim at our pool. The unexpected thing about San Diego was how chilly it was! Not only was it chilly but since we were on the coast it was cloudy most every day. Sunday was really only our sunny day. We wanted to swim in our pool and spend time at the beach but it was just too cold unfortunately. (Made us wonder why we didn't stay in Vegas the whole time!) But we still enjoyed our family time and sightseeing.
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| What's that there in the sky Caleb? |
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| The Mormon Battalion |
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| Caleb getting in his nightly read before bed |
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| This dessert was as delicious as it looks. From a popular place called Extraordinary Desserts. I wish we could have tried everything they had! This was a "Fruited Chocolate Tart"...the fruit was so good with the chocolate! |
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| Point Loma tide pools |
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| Old Town was so bright and vibrant... or maybe it was because we hadn't seen the sun much! I loved the Spanish style buildings and atmosphere |
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| Old Town had a shop that specialized in root beer and beef jerky. Justin was in heaven with their 'smooth' root beers |
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| Our sundae from Ghiradelli. Don't worry...although Caleb would have taken that big of a bite for sure, we didn't get it all to him...at once at least. |
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| Coronado beach |
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| View from our balcony |
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It was a wonderful trip!! Caleb was a sweetheart the whole time. We were worried about the car rides and him sleeping in our room in his pack n play. He couldn't sleep at first in the car but got used to it towards the end of the trip and he slept even better on our trip then he does when we are at home. I am guessing we wore him out pretty good! But I was so happy to come home at the end of the trip!
