Summer 2013: San Diego

Josh and I decided last year that we would go back to the beach for our anniversary.  A few weeks before we were supposed to go, Josh found out that he had to go to San Diego for business that same week. We could not cancel our beach trip, since we had already paid a deposit, but we were able to move it to the next week. So we were able to go on a two week coast to coast business/anniversary trip!

We flew out of Greensboro on June 2nd (our anniversary).  We landed and got a cab to take us to the hotel. It was the first cab ride for the both of us, so we were excited. We walked around downtown then went up to our room and took a nap until it was time for the Padres game that night! Our hotel was connected to the stadium which was so cool and the game was so fun! We ate hot dogs and nachos, sang Take Me Out to the Ballgame, and (even though they lost) are now official Padres fans. ;)

We stayed in the Omni Hotel in the downtown Gas Lamp District of San Diego. We didn't rent a car, but we were in a convenient location to walk around to see the bay and have options for shops and restaurants.

Josh was there for work so during the day he ran a booth to advertise Josh Bryant Design, which he started to make websites for the members of the company he works for, which was holding the conference in San Diego. (On the left he is standing with banners that he designed for the conference.) Most nights we were free to go out and explore, but on the second night there was a welcome reception held on a roof of the hotel. It was very cold but we still had fun!

We really wanted to try Del Taco while we were on the West Coast. We decided it would be safer to walk there during the day, since it was about a mile away.  So one day we went out for lunch in between sessions. The chicken soft tacos were SO good, but we thought it was really weird that they came with fries! We both decided Del Taco is definitely better than Taco Bell.

The night before our last night we walked across the bridge to the Bay and ate at Joe's Crab Shack that was sitting out on the water. It was a fun night to walk around and see the bay and city at night.

On our last full day, the conference ended early so we were able to go to see the Pacific Ocean! I had been praying for sunny weather for that day all week, but the day started out very cloudy. We went to eat lunch at Subway before walking over to the ferry that would take us across the bay. When we got back to the hotel, Josh's boss invited us to the closing luncheon that had just started. We realized that it would be rude not to go, especially when his other boss called to make sure we knew we were invited. We knew we could take a later ferry so we went to the roof and ate the fanciest lunch we have ever had, even though we were full of Subway. We still had a good time and the clouds started to disappear while we ate! :) We also got to say goodbye to some of the people we had gotten to know through the week so we're glad we were able to go.

After the luncheon we walked to the bay to go on the ferry. It was so beautiful out on the bay. The ride over was our favorite part of the day. We grabbed a map on the boat and realized we were going to have to walk a long way to get to the ocean. We were miserable since we did not wear good walking shoes, but finally the cool weather came in handy.

We walked almost two miles and then made it to the beach! :) It was very different from what we're used to on the East Coast. The water was FREEZING so not many people were in the water. There were no shells that we could find and there were signs that said not to disturb any shells or rocks. It was definitely not where we would like to take a beach vacation, but it was very fun to go see the Pacific Ocean since neither one of us had ever been.

After we walked on the beach for about 15 minutes we started the two mile walk back to the ferry. By the time we got back across the bay we were very tired. We took a picture in front of the hotel and then went to take a nap!

The next morning we rode a cab back to the airport and started the long day of traveling back home. My parents picked us up from the airport in Greensboro around midnight and thank goodness our luggage had made it because we needed it to take our trip to the beach the next day! Whew, it was a fun and productive business trip for Josh. We definitely missed being in the South, (I mean who knew it stays in the 60's in California in June?? And why would you ever want to live somewhere without sweet tea???) but I loved our trip to the West Coast. :)