San Diego for One

After our time further north, Steve and I headed down the coast for his conference in San Diego. He was working Monday afternoon through Thursday evening, so although we did get to spend some blocks of time together, much of the time I had to check out San Diego those few days was on my own.

Those of you that know me will probably not be surprised when I write that I am really not an alone kind of girl. Sure, I like a few hours here or there as much as the next person, but especially when traveling, I get so much more out of the experience when I can share it with someone else.  So, heading out on the town by myself in San Diego was a bit of a stretch for me, however I wasn't going to let the time slip by.  I explored the Gaslamp district and Seaport Village near our hotel, trekked out to Old Town San Diego for some history and Mexican food, and went out to Balboa Park and the San Diego Zoo.  In some of our time together, Steve and I were able to head out to dinner for our anniversary on Tuesday night (a light dinner for Steve as he had a reception and dinner again later that evening), and then go together with the rest of his marketing team out to dinner in La Jolla.  In spite of having so much time to myself, I really did enjoy my time in San Diego. 

Rather than regale you with pictures of all of the places I saw, you know, by myself, I just wanted to post a few I thought were really cool.

This one is the view from our hotel balcony.  I don't know if you have heard of the "June gloom" along the coast of southern California, but apparently every year in June it is gray and cloudy almost all of the time, which is unfortunate if your entire vacation is along the coast.  Anyway, here is a picture from the six hours of sun we saw while we were in San Diego.  Our hotel looked over a marina out to the bridge to Coronado Island.

A hummingbird I spotted in Old Town - my grandma loved hummingbirds and would have been thrilled with this picture, so this one's for her.  :)

Another shot from Old Town, these are punishments from the first school in San Diego County.  I especially enjoy that Misbehaving to Girls is worth 10 lashes, the same as gambling but more than for fighting, wrestling, or drinking. (You should be able to click on the picture for a more close-up look.)

Yes, this is probably just a bird in a cage, but it is a special kind of bird, the Kookaburra from Australia.  Please tell me someone else out there knows the nursery rhyme song about the Kookaburra.  I showed this picture to Steve referencing the song, and he thinks I've gone off the deep end.  "Kookaburra sits in the old gum tree.  Merry, merry king of the bush is he.  Laugh, kookaburra!  Laugh, kookaburra!  Gay your life must be."

Here is the sign actually describing the laughing Kookaburra. :)

Mommy peacock with her babies, wandering around the zoo.  I had never seen baby peacocks before.

I spy a baby panda up in a tree.

Last one, promise... koalas, actually awake!  Apparently they sleep most of the day because it takes so much energy to digest the eucalyptus that they eat.  Plus, check it out - mommy and baby!