Park house museums, art galleries, gardens, fountains, amphitheater, and carousels, but also the world famous San Diego Zoo.) So after a yummy breakfast, I had the Yucatan tostadas, Boo had a western omelet, and we both had REAL orange juice from re
al California oranges, not the crappy Florida oranges we have back at home, but real, smooth, sweet, tasting Cali oranges. (I never drink OJ back at home, but in SD, I love it.) Anyways, after breakfast, we walk down to Balboa Park and discover the walking trails, anywhere from 1 mile to 14 mile trails. We are walking to the Botanical Garden so we hop on the 1 mile trail and watch countless joggers and walkers stride by. We catch an outdoor yoga class in the middle of stretching, and further down we are treated to an outdoor Tai Chi class getting on their Chi. The trail meanders through gardens, picnic areas, and along the street. Y
ou can see other trails down in the canyon that offer a really good workout. We even saw the cutest pine tree shaped up to look like a palm tree. hahaha! About 1/2 mile into the trail, we see a group of people dressed in all white playing what looked like Bocce ball. We stopped to check it out and learned that it was actually called Lawn Bowling. They had their own little club house right there in the park. The head guy tells us we should think about joining the league. Lawn Bowling, who knew! hahaha! 
We continue on down the trail and start to hear loud cheering. As we get closer we see a sea of people walking from the other way, turning down the path we needed to turn down. There was an Alzheimer's Walk going on and we were about to crash it. It was actually pretty cool to happen upon it. Alzheimer's was something that hit us in a very personal way. Boo's mom had passed away from Alzheimer's at a very young age, but I was fortunate enough to meet her and admire her. So it was very touching to now be a part of the throngs of people walking to help fight this disease. Oh, and the cheering we heard, a local high school had their cheerlea
ders at every corner cheering on the walkers. Boo got a nice cheer as he walked under the Spanish style arches and into the park area. hahaha!
ders at every corner cheering on the walkers. Boo got a nice cheer as he walked under the Spanish style arches and into the park area. hahaha! We walked the last 1/4 mile with everyone and I was again reminded of what a dog friendly city San Diego was. Almost everyone had their dogs with them. As we looked to our right, we caught a glimpse of the dog park and stopped to watch a silly Beagle play chase with a Lab and a quirky black mutt running his little heart out with his tail going a mile a minute. You could tell he was in heaven. The dog park was huge too! Had plenty of trees and stretches and stretches of grass to run around on. I was also reminded that San Diego is one of a few coastal towns to have a Dog Beach. An entire strip of beach devoted just for dogs! Got to love THAT!
We continued on and crossed the bridge over the highway and caught a glimpse of the 18 station archery trail below. Seriously, a trail for archers to practice! It reminded Boo of a disc golf course, a target at each station to aim for. Pretty
cool. We entered the park that has the museums, outdoor amphitheater, and gardens. We headed into the Prado (a famous restaurant with an amazing view of downtown) to see the view but it was only 10:30am and it was still closed. We decided to get cultural, and check out the Timken Museum (which was free). It Had paintings from Russian, French, and Italian artists, dating from the 13th to the 18th Century. I found Boo standing at one painting and he says, "that looks familiar." I smile and say, "it should, you've been there on your honeymoon." It was a painting of San Marco Square in Venice, Italy. We finish up and decide to check out the Botanical Garden. This building is an amazing structure. Just looking at it from the outside is intriguing. We 
go in and do a lap around the gardens. We stop, rub, and compare the mint plants that have "touch me" signs all over them. Literally, signs that say it's OK to touch and rub them. It's a bunch of different hybrid scents of mint. We try to decipher the different scents and are surprised that we can actually detect the chocolate scent in the Chocolate Mint plant and lemon scent in the Lemon Mint plant. (I remember how my mom has a ton of mint growing in her gardens and how she is always trying to get rid of it. I wish my sorry garden would grow some mint. Hell I wish anything could grow in my little sorry garden. So far, I've got a hardy climbing rose and about 20 varieties of weeds.) We stroll over to the pepper section. It's a plethora of different red peppers. Who know red peppers came in such different varieties! We wrap up our garden tour and are treated to a local musician playing his saxophone. We decide to leave Balboa park for the day b/c we have a swap meet to get to. We hop on the #30 bus and head to our hotel room so I can put on some comfy clothes and walking shoes. I was in sandals with heels. Though I walked pretty far in them, it was time to break out the sneakers and get in some REAL walking :)
cool. We entered the park that has the museums, outdoor amphitheater, and gardens. We headed into the Prado (a famous restaurant with an amazing view of downtown) to see the view but it was only 10:30am and it was still closed. We decided to get cultural, and check out the Timken Museum (which was free). It Had paintings from Russian, French, and Italian artists, dating from the 13th to the 18th Century. I found Boo standing at one painting and he says, "that looks familiar." I smile and say, "it should, you've been there on your honeymoon." It was a painting of San Marco Square in Venice, Italy. We finish up and decide to check out the Botanical Garden. This building is an amazing structure. Just looking at it from the outside is intriguing. We 
go in and do a lap around the gardens. We stop, rub, and compare the mint plants that have "touch me" signs all over them. Literally, signs that say it's OK to touch and rub them. It's a bunch of different hybrid scents of mint. We try to decipher the different scents and are surprised that we can actually detect the chocolate scent in the Chocolate Mint plant and lemon scent in the Lemon Mint plant. (I remember how my mom has a ton of mint growing in her gardens and how she is always trying to get rid of it. I wish my sorry garden would grow some mint. Hell I wish anything could grow in my little sorry garden. So far, I've got a hardy climbing rose and about 20 varieties of weeds.) We stroll over to the pepper section. It's a plethora of different red peppers. Who know red peppers came in such different varieties! We wrap up our garden tour and are treated to a local musician playing his saxophone. We decide to leave Balboa park for the day b/c we have a swap meet to get to. We hop on the #30 bus and head to our hotel room so I can put on some comfy clothes and walking shoes. I was in sandals with heels. Though I walked pretty far in them, it was time to break out the sneakers and get in some REAL walking :)We left our room and were walking to the Trolley center and I swear, at ever intersection we came too we got green lights! It
was like that Jim Carrey movie, Bruce Almighty, when he hits all the green lights. Well, lady luck kept with us, cause we get to the trolley center just as the Old Town line arrives! We hop on and it takes off. We get to Old Town just in time to see our #9 bus pull in. We hop on the already packed bus and head off the swap meet. Now for any of you that have no idea what a swap meet is, it's like a giant rummage, garage sale or flea market. But not really. It's got good stuff, not just crap that people don't want. Like it has a farmers market, (we saw avocados that were 2 for $1, HUGE pumpkins that were just $1, amazing Orchid arrangements for $10) new designers selling their dud
s, I saw a leather purse that the owner told me was $45, by the time I left, she brought the price down to $15 for a full leather, one of a kind purse! Lots of beachy clothes, funny t-shirts, florists, Apple accessories, local artist paintings, matted photo's, Charger and Laker merchandise booths, jewelry makers selling their sterling silver pieces, designer sunglasses, DVD's, Music, furniture, rugs, trinkets, souvenirs, you name it, they had it at the swap meet. I found some sunglasses and these awesome new UGG boots for $25. In high school (over 15 years ago) I had a pair of Uggs that I sported almost everywhere. Well, in Southern California (especially in beach neighborhoods), they (still) are a basic piece of your wardrobe, not a trend. I got them for nostalgia sake and to wear as slippers during the cold winter months that east coast living brings. I love my Uggs! Thanks Boo for getting them for me! and Thanks to my mom for buying me my first pair waaaay back in the day. I still remember walking into that surf shop with you for those boots.
was like that Jim Carrey movie, Bruce Almighty, when he hits all the green lights. Well, lady luck kept with us, cause we get to the trolley center just as the Old Town line arrives! We hop on and it takes off. We get to Old Town just in time to see our #9 bus pull in. We hop on the already packed bus and head off the swap meet. Now for any of you that have no idea what a swap meet is, it's like a giant rummage, garage sale or flea market. But not really. It's got good stuff, not just crap that people don't want. Like it has a farmers market, (we saw avocados that were 2 for $1, HUGE pumpkins that were just $1, amazing Orchid arrangements for $10) new designers selling their dud
s, I saw a leather purse that the owner told me was $45, by the time I left, she brought the price down to $15 for a full leather, one of a kind purse! Lots of beachy clothes, funny t-shirts, florists, Apple accessories, local artist paintings, matted photo's, Charger and Laker merchandise booths, jewelry makers selling their sterling silver pieces, designer sunglasses, DVD's, Music, furniture, rugs, trinkets, souvenirs, you name it, they had it at the swap meet. I found some sunglasses and these awesome new UGG boots for $25. In high school (over 15 years ago) I had a pair of Uggs that I sported almost everywhere. Well, in Southern California (especially in beach neighborhoods), they (still) are a basic piece of your wardrobe, not a trend. I got them for nostalgia sake and to wear as slippers during the cold winter months that east coast living brings. I love my Uggs! Thanks Boo for getting them for me! and Thanks to my mom for buying me my first pair waaaay back in the day. I still remember walking into that surf shop with you for those boots.
We decided to walk to Wahoo Fish Tacos for lunch. (Wahoo's is another must if your in SoCal :) So we huffed it a mile in the sunny California sun with the ocean breeze blowing to cool us down. I got the carne asada tacos and another local beer Woody (like the beach surf wagon) and Boo had the Fish Taco's and a Corona. Yummy eats, but so much I couldn't finish it all. GOD I missed SoCal food! After lunch, we walked down to Sea World to catch the bus to PB (Pacific Beach). Man, the walk was faaaar and over the looong Mission Bay bridge. But I did discover lots of biking trails that run along the San Diego River. There are so many outdoorsy things to do in this town, it's amazing, no wonder everyone is in such awesome shape here!Poor Boo was in flip flops and we were walking so much. His feet were becoming tender, so I new we needed to stop and chill soon. Everywhere we went, w
e saw people on beach cruisers. I've always wanted one and still do. Maybe one day I'll trade in my mountain bike for a beach cruiser :) Anyways, we hopped on the bus at Sea World and rode it to Crystal Pier in PB. We headed straight for the beach and sunk our toes in the cool sand. We went to dip into the water and I had forgotten how cold the Pacific ocean was compared to the Atlantic ocean, so my feet got shocked when the waves lapped up on them. We decided to chill for a while, watch the surfers, (which there were at least 40 of them in 
the water) and catch the sunset. So we spent the next couple of hours beach bumming it. So nice to just sit, relax, and take it all in. The sun set around 6:15pm and it was beautiful. I'll take a sunset over a sunrise ANY day of the year. Don't get me wrong, sunrises are pretty, but sunsets are beautiful. They just set the romantic mood. We grudgingly pulled ourselves away from the beach and decided to walk up Garnet Street and see what was going on. Just like we left it many years ago, Garnet street was still pulsing with activity. Tons of beach people going out to dinner, drinks, shopping the funky shops, it's a completely different vibe then the Downtown Gaslamp district area. It's alot more casual and easy going in PB. It's where I felt most comfortable and at home. I suppose b/c when we lived here, we lived right on the beach. I would just slide open up th
e patio doors and the Harbor would be right there with the beach to the left. That was my play ground growing up. We headed up to Trader Joes to buy breakfast for the next morning, (since we were catching an early flight) and decided to have drinks and an appetizers at Freds Mexican Cafe. Boo sips on a margarita, I get a 20 oz Tecate beer and we snack on chips and salsa and get into some deep philosophical discussion about our opinions on why/how the smaller Eastern European countries ruled the old world(Italy, England, Spain), while the huge Western European and Asian countries didn't have the confidenc
e to take over (Russian, India, China) Oh... did I mention that we both had a second round of drinks and only appetizers? yeah, we were buzzing, but the conversation was awesome. So we stumble back to the bus stop and head back to the hotel to call it a night. We have a 6:20am flight to catch.
e to take over (Russian, India, China) Oh... did I mention that we both had a second round of drinks and only appetizers? yeah, we were buzzing, but the conversation was awesome. So we stumble back to the bus stop and head back to the hotel to call it a night. We have a 6:20am flight to catch. The next morning we woke up really early, packed up, showered, and were checked out by 5am. We didn't say a word during the cab ride to the airport. I was pretty sad to be leaving and just wanted to think about all the things we did while we were here. I'm sure Boo was thinking something similar. The flight home was uneventful. Easy flight (I slept the entire way) to Atlanta. Had a quick 1 hour layover. The flight form ATL home was rough. We sat next to this women and her screaming child, who would not shut up the entire way home.
The trip out to San Diego, we both agreed, was one of the best trips we've taken. We loved every minute of it and had an amazing time. I hope to make it back "home" soon. Till next time, GET OUTDOORS!!!
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