San Diego: America’s Finest City
With Labor Day right around the corner, we planned to spend our three day weekend somewhere outside of Prescott. What state is relatively close and has a beach? CALIFORNIA! In addition to its warm and sunny weather, the city of San Diego is known for its various attractions, beautiful beaches and amazing food. And unlike Prescott, there is an ever-present youthful population!
For the next week or so, Annie and I tried to figure out how we could make the most of our stay without maxing out our credit cards or draining both of our bank accounts. With regard to our housing accommodations, we decided to stay at the Hostel on 3rd since it was significantly cheaper (and cleaner) than a lot of the hotels in the area. Its centralized location made it easy for us to bounce from one place to the next without us having to retrace our steps. By the time Annie got out of work on Friday, we had everything all set and ready to go.
The drive from Prescott to San Diego was 373 miles of poorly lit backroads and moderately low speed limits, which made for a long 6 hours and 49 minutes. However, we somehow managed to make it in before midnight. Our GPS brought us through downtown San Diego where the streets were crawling with people who were going to and from the bars (as if it wasn’t hard enough to drive there already). It quickly became apparently that parking does NOT exist (and if it does, its $$$$) so I circled the block for 15+ minutes, while Annie checked in at the hostel. Checking-in took much longer than it should have since the man behind the counter (James) LOVED my sister. I should have taken that as a sign from God that this trip would have its own way of messing with us. (You will see what I mean later on......)
We parked the car in an overnight garage up the street and headed up to our room to get settled. Upon entry, we immediately noticed the unique art display that was hanging by the door.
How comforting? Anyway... When we got to our room, we found out that we would be sharing with four other girls; one of which was already sleeping. Annie and I both wanted to go out for a bit since we spent a decent amount of time in the car and were nowhere close to being tired. As quietly as we could (with the lights off), we started to get changed.....until I slipped....and made a lot of noise.....and woke the girl up (she definitely hated me). After that debacle, we left the room to go outside and walk around for a bit. This was short-lived since we had plans to wake up early and go hiking. All in all, our first night in San Diego was a success.
We woke up bright and early on Saturday morning so that we could hike up Mt. Woodson and still have enough time to do some of the other things we had planned for that day. My lovely co-pilot decided it would be a good idea to navigate us to the trail by using the Potato Chip Rock geotag from a random stranger’s Instagram account. Before we knew it, we arrived at a cul de sac in the middle of a residential neighborhood 30 minutes away from where we needed to be. After hysterically laughing due to frustration, we recalculated our route and pulled up to the Potato Chip Rock hiking trail. Looking back, this little mishap was a clear indication of how the rest of our day would go; foreshadowing if you will.
“High heat advisory. Be sure to bring enough water. Please bring at least 2 liters of water for every person and every dog.” These signs were posted all over the place as we were looking for a place to park- the park information booth, rest areas, and all along the base of the trail. Despite the frequent warning signs, Annie and I proceeded up the trail with our 1.5 liter water bottle that we planned to share. The hike was 8.2 miles roundtrip and was estimated to take anywhere from 4 to 8 hours to complete. Our start time was somewhere around 10am, a little later than we had originally anticipated, but we were determined to make it out of there by 2:30pm at the latest.
The first mile or so was a loop around Lake Poway, which wasn’t all that bad considering there was a nice breeze for the time being. Once we made our way to the other side of the lake, it was all uphill from there; a straight ascent up with no shade or flat ground. It took us a little over two hours to get to the top since we stopped on more than one occasion to regain our breath and drink some water. By the time we made it to the top of the mountain, we had about two sips of water left and we were still a mile or so out from Potato Chip Rock. The last mile was the worst since it was an unmarked dirt trail that seemed to be never-ending with a lot of loose rocks and uprooted trees, but once we got past that point we reached the top at a little after noon.
At the top, there was a long line of people waiting to get their picture taken on top of Potato Chip Rock. Annie and I got in line but we were not in any rush to move since we managed to find a spot that was out of the direct sunlight. Not only did we need to regain our strength to climb the rock, but we still had to make our way down the mountain. The way the rock sits makes it feel like you are hanging over the ledge of a cliff, which you basically are. From the top, you are literally able to get breathtaking panoramic views of the city and admire the beautiful scenery. Do not forget to bring your camera!
Once we were done taking pictures, we overheard a few people say that it was so much faster to take the service road down instead of going back the way we came. Did we take the safe route and retrace our steps, or did we take the supposed shortcut? I’ll tell you. Annie and I made our way toward the service road around 1pm and ran down the mountain in less than 45 minutes. We tried the whole ‘slow and steady wins the race’ thing but the steep decline resulted in too much momentum, which made it hard to walk.
RECORD TIMING - We reached the bottom of the mountain at 1:45pm! Laughing all the way to the end of the trail, we started to plan what we wanted to do next- should we go to the beach and relax, grab some coffee, go shopping, or all of the above? Little did we know, we were in for a big surprise. We followed the exit signs that brought us to another service road; it looked similar to the one that led us into the park, but it wasn’t. To our surprise, we were standing in the parking lot that was on the other side of the mountain. HOW DID THIS HAPPEN? We headed towards the highway and started to walk in the direction of our car, but soon figured out (thanks to Google Maps) that we were 7 miles away from where we needed to be. Annie refused to hitchhike, so what did we do? We did what any normal person would do and called a cab. BUT, it was Labor Day weekend....... and no one was answering their phones..... and if we got in contact with a dispatcher, we were told that all of the cabs were full. Fantastic.
As I dialed the number for the last taxi service on our list, I was told that it would be a 20 minute wait until a car would be available for pick-up. Who would have ever thought that time estimate would be so relieving? THANK GOD. We stopped walking and sat at a street corner waiting for our ride to come. 20 minutes later, our ride shows up.. except it is not a taxi, it’s a town car. What kind of sick joke is this? This is the kind of thing that would happen to us and it was all the more ridiculous since I was the one who called for rescue. (No, I did NOT request the town car so you can stop thinking I did..) Despite us both being short for cash, Annie and I got into the car. Our driver, the angel that he was, brought us to our car and charged us significantly less than he should have. All things considered, the alternative route down the mountain and the ride to our car ended up taking the full amount of time that it would have taken us to go down the original trail that we hiked up. So all in all, everything seemed to balance itself out. Right? After all, we did meet our goal of finishing at 2:30pm on the dot.
Water was the next thing on our agenda along with blasting the air conditioner at its max potential, but before we could do anything else on our itinerary, we needed food. We headed to Old Town San Diego to check out El Agave and its infamous Mexican cuisine. Lunch hours just ended and the dinner menu was a little on the pricey side, so Annie and I decided to order an appetizer sampler. The food wasn’t too shabby but it photographed a lot better than it actually tasted.
Our time in Old Town was short-lived since it was after hours on a holiday weekend, which left us with not much to do other than to walk around. Since the hike had us drained in more ways than one, the rest of our day was dedicated to resting and relaxation at the beach.
On our way to La Jolla Cove, we passed a beautiful white church on the side of the highway and figured we would make a pitstop to check it out. We got out of the car to walk around and take a few pictures when we were greeted by an elderly man in a suit who identified himself as the Pastor of the San Diego California Temple. He told us everything there was to know about the architecture, history, and congregation after he questioned interrogated us to find out why we were there- “Do you belong to this church? Do you know about this temple? Are you familiar with our system of beliefs? Do you normally stop to take pictures of places that you don’t know anything about?” After we explained that we were just visiting, he insisted upon taking our picture and introducing us to his wife.
Anyway, long story short, we ran to the car when he turned his back after saying our goodbyes. Needless to say, we did not meet his wife (still unclear as to why he was so incessant about that).
Finally, we made it to La Jolla and let me tell you, they do not call it San Diego’s “Jewel by the Sea” for nothing. The neighborhood was absolutely beautiful and the sights were even more so. Annie and I could not get over how perfect everything was- the laid-back atmosphere, the warm yet breezy weather, and the all around good vibes. Even though parking was an absolute nightmare, we could not have been more content.
Aside from the views, the best part had to have been when Annie spotted the sea lions down by the water. Naturally, she pulled a typical Annie move and ran down to take an up close and personal selfie next to one of them before they swam back out into the ocean, but before she could... nature happened.
Out of nowhere, a huge wave crashed right on top of her and the timing could not have been more perfect. I am pretty sure that the bystanders got as good as a laugh as I did.. I’m still laughing about it as I write this post. Some things will never get old and some things you have to be there in order to appreciate, but hopefully the picture helps you get the gist of it. With only a few minutes left of daylight, Annie and I set off to Sunset Cliffs to watch the sun go down. As you could imagine, there is nothing quite like a California sunset.
Please forgive the subpar quality of this picture; it does not do the real deal any justice. Overall, our day was pretty eventful and it wasn’t even over yet.
We returned to the hostel after a long day with plans to shower and watch some Netflix in the lounge. Everything was going according to plan until we got back to our room and saw that someone was sleeping in Annie’s bed. Confused, Annie emailed her new friend/admirer James to figure out what to do. As we waited for a response, I decided to shower and managed to lock both myself and Annie out of our room in the process. Of course none of the girls in the room answered when we knocked on the door- they were either sleeping or really just hated us (me) that much. Whatever. After a few minutes, James let us in and showed Annie where she could sleep. Problem(s) solved. (I would have attached the emails to this post so you could have read the hysterical exchange yourself, but someone accidentally deleted them). Another day for the books. Goodnight, San Diego. Until tomorrow.
Even though we were still exhausted from yesterday’s hike, we woke up relatively early to make the most of our second and final day in San Diego. Annie has been buzzing about this cute little coffee spot, Better Buzz Coffee, in Encinitas so we headed out that way to grab a quick cup and some breakfast before starting our day.
After indulging in the most delicious açai bowl and avocado toast, we made our way to Balboa Park. There, we spent a few hours exploring the grounds of the Spanish Village Art Center and enjoying the scenery at the Botanical Building’s Lily Pond.
It was getting hot and we were getting hungry so it only seemed logical to treat ourselves to some ice cream. According to Pinterest bucket lists, google reviews and Instagram bloggers, Hammond’s Gourmet Ice Cream was the place to go if you were in the mood to chill out. The mini cones make it easy to sample the wide variety of flavors that are available and the flights make for easy handling.
Annie and I both ordered a flight of six, this way we could try almost all of the flavors that were being featured that day. When Annie ordered her flight, the man behind the counter must have thought that we were sharing because he neglected to ask me if I wanted anything. After trying to get his attention for nearly 10 minutes, the owner came out and started scooping some ice cream for herself. She had asked me if I was being served and told me she would be right with me, but I guess that would come after she finished taking photos of the ice cream that she just scooped? Just wait, It gets better.
In order to take these pictures, she had asked Annie to move a number of times so that she could get “the perfect shot for the website.” This all seemed a little weird but she ended up giving the flight to Annie once she was finished, so that was a plus. I finally got my ice cream and we headed outside to enjoy eat our snack.
Aside from the neglect and awkwardly photobombing the owner’s photoshoot, this sounded like a nice outing, right? Well, it was anything but enjoyable; it was an absolute NIGHTMARE (for me at least). By the time I bought my ice cream, the majority of Annie’s was basically melted (see above) and mine was catching up due to the high temperature outside. After taking this picture, I helped Annie put her ice cream back in its holder. In the process, I somehow managed to miss the holes and knocked over the flight, which hit into the other set of cones and both flights (12 mini cones) smashed on the ground. Let me tell you, that moment gave a whole new meaning to the phrase “I scream, you scream, we all scream for ice cream!”- because that is exactly what I did. Not only did I have to wait for what seemed like forever to get this ice cream, but it was super expensive and the only flavors that were left completely unaffected were the ones that were given to Annie by the owner. Doesn’t it figure? For Annie, this situation made for a good laugh so I guess we are even considering the fact that I laughed at her sea lion + wave troubles yesterday.
What was once originally 18 mini cones dramatically wasted away to 6, none of which were flavors of any real enjoyment. Hungry and annoyed, we made our way to the last destination on our itinerary where we would spend the rest of our trip laying along the Pacific Coast at Mission Beach.
Before we even left Prescott, Annie had been searching for the perfect place to get fish tacos. Come to find out, the best place to get them was not in a fancy restaurant downtown or from a hipster food truck. They were no where to be found except the Boardwalk.
These tacos were to die for and their spicy orange Sriracha sauce was killer, unlike anything you could ever imagine (in a good way, of course). We would highly recommend going if you are ever in the area, but unfortunately, I cannot remember the name of the place for the life of me. Oh well.
We spent the last few hours soaking up the sun and preparing to leave beautiful San Diego to head back to good ol’ Prescott. It was our first time to California, but it definitely will not be our last. Until next time!
