Y'ALL-- life has been so, so busy. Our house is going on the market next week, and we have been catching up on years of projects I said "we'll get to one day..." The upstairs floors were all refinished (and we lived like we were camping out downstairs for two weeks!) and now there are a half-dozen painters running around and everything is covered in plastic, they are reglazing a tub and doing the loooong overdue leaf removal from the fall. Between that and work also being busy (yay, growing vacation fund! I own a design/antiques business, and work primarily with a major online retailer doing flash-sale type things, so my income depends on how much people are buying. Thankfully they seem to be in a shopping mood lately, so I'm really busy, which is wonderful!). We are also launching a huge new partnership with the community garden I organize, and it's grant-application season....So, no Dis for me! I really want to get started on our WDW trip, though, so let's plow through this last day in California and then I will get going!
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BYE-BYE CALIFORNIA!
We woke up Friday morning to another gorgeous, gorgeous day. It was a little chilly, but so sunny and beautiful. I packed up our room while Adam attended a final session. The boys helped me load the rental car, and we went for a last walk on the beach.
We discovered that right outside our room, a sand artist had been at work during the night, and this fabulous sculpture greeted us.
He told me it took about 6 hours to create this one. I really wish we had all stopped back by before we checked out, because this would have made a great Christmas card!
I really, really do wish I was there!
They were installing an ice skating rink on the hotel lawn!! Can you imagine ice skating with a view of the beach?!
We took a short walk down the beach, then headed back to meet Adam. We were checking out of the Coronado, with plans to head over to Balboa Park for the afternoon.
We tried to stop at Snooze again, but by 11-ish on a Friday morning there was a 1.5 hour wait....so we started just kind of wandering around the downtown area looking for something. We happened on an AMAZING bakery--I so, so, wish I had written the name down, but going from memory, it was City Bakery on University. We all got sandwiches and some treats, and some biscotti to take back to my mom, who was house-sitting for us. If you find yourself in the area, stop in for the grilled cheese and tomato soup. It was, hands down, THE best I have ever had. YUM.
We took our box of goodies (cupcakes and some macarons, also the best I've ever had) and headed to nearby Balboa Park. I was not doing well with pictures today, but it was a gorgeous day and people were out in droves enjoying the park complex. There were street performers, musicians, and tons of beautiful buildings to look at.
I had researched the different museum options looking for one that might appeal,to all of us, and we settled on the Museum of Man. This was super cool-- they had such a wide variety of exhibits, and it was pretty kid-friendly. The interactive exhibit on monsters (like mythological ones throughout the world, as well as the under-the-bed variety) was the kids' favorite.
There was a room on ancient humans, another large area about Egypt (with mummies-- some were not a in sarcophagus-- my kids were a little freaked!) and another room on Mayan civilization. There was a big exhibit on education, civil rights and the immigrant experience, which I really enjoyed because it related to the community volunteer work I do. The kids pretended to be interested.
There was an exhibit on craft beer (
@TheMaxRebo I thought of you!) that my husband thought was awesome. We decided to pay the additional fee to visit the exhibit on cannibals. This was....ok, I guess. We try to expose the kids to all kinds of stuff--well-rounded people and all. Most of the exhibit was ok, not super child-friendly, but they were engaged, but parts were WAY too "real," for lack of a better word, for kids that age. It is still what they talk about most, but I can't tell if that's because it was fun or really scary.
At this point, it was getting to be late afternoon, and we were ready to head to our new hotel in LaJolla. (The rate for our Coronado room rose to $600 a night after the conference...uh, no?)
We had booked at the Grande Colonial in La Jolla via Expedia, and got a really great rate. The hotel itself was so neat-- in a really old building, with all sorts of cool architectural details, none of which I photographed. Here are my kids playing chess in the lobby, though
We checked out the room (the beds were SO comfortable!!) and then headed put in search of dinner!
We were about a block from the ocean, and I was SO smitten with this town. When I'm I. The position to spend $2 M on a 2 br house it's where I'm headed
!
Continued next post!