San Diego Vacation Day 7: Torrey Pines, La Jolla Seals, PB

For our last full day in San Diego, we opted for some nature and beach time.

We started off at the Torrey Pines State Natural Reserve. I had come across it while doing some vacation research and thought it would be a great activity - hiking, beautiful views, etc.

Visitor Center

In case you're wondering what a Torrey Pine is...

Well, once again the "not enough protein in the a.m." problem reared its ugly head. Spencer just wasn't into it. We saw a lot of this:

But Dave and I enjoyed the gorgeous terrain and views (and I suspect Spencie did, too).

 

 

 

See, he enjoyed himself!

And we had a very special treat of seeing some Peregrine falcons. According to the hard-core birders who were camped out photographing them, the junior falcons had just left their nest for the first time that week and the mom was feeding them in the air.

When we finished our hike, he headed into La Jolla and had the most amazing lunch at The Cottage. Can you say "crab melt"? Delish! But no pics... After lunch we went over to an area called the Children's Pool, where a bunch of seals hang out. High quantity of cuteness going on (but we forgot our big camera in the car, so only iPhone photos).

I got the biggest kick out of the 3rd seal from the left - he had the most content expression!

We spent the rest of the afternoon hanging out at Pacific Beach (PB) by our house. More digging and sandcastle building, plus Spence and I went on a nice stroll.

That evening, we went to Mission Beach to check out the boardwalk. There's a small amusement park with a wooden roller coaster. We didn't do that, but we ate dinner and Spencer and Daddy played a round of mini golf. Then it was home to pack and get ready to head home the next morning. I guess by this time we were all pictured-out!

It was a fabulous, relaxing yet action-packed week. Feel so blessed that our little family is able to take trips like this. Making memories!

San Diego Vacation Day 5 - Zoo, Padres

Spencer was really itching to spend a day at the beach on Wednesday, but we talked him into waiting until Thursday for reasons I'll explain in the next post. So we were up and at 'em early and headed to the San Diego Zoo. We were kinda on the fence about spending another day walking and looking, but we just felt we couldn't pass on the world-famous San Diego Zoo.

When we first arrived, we looked at the reptile exhibit and saw all sorts of cool snakes and such. But after that, we soon realized that we made a mistake by not having a hearty, protein-filled breakfast. Spencer didn't have much energy and wasn't excited about being there. To try to change up the mood, we rode the SkyFari gondolas to the other side of the zoo. That helped for a little while. Then we decided to catch an early showing of a 4D Ice Age movie. But after that he started saying he wanted to leave. So we rode the SkyFari back to the beginning of the zoo and then hopped on a guided bus tour. After that, we let Spencer get his face painted, ate a big lunch in the Outback section, and looked at a map to see what animals we just *had* to see before we left. These included the pandas and of course the gorillas.

 

 

 

How cute is Mr. Woo???

This is Mr. Woo's mom, whose name I can't remember. But she's a cutie, too.

I love gorillas, but seeing them in a zoo makes me so sad.

So, we were fine not seeing every single thing at the zoo - we enjoyed our time there nonetheless.

Our next stop after the zoo was taking in an afternoon San Diego Padres game. Daddy got us some killer seats on the 3rd base line. The game was relatively short and we were treated to some pitching at the end by UT alum Huston Street. Spencer got a big kick out of going to a "real" baseball game. He also decided that if he becomes a professional baseball player, his walk-up song will be Motley Crue's Kickstart My Heart. Parenting win!

Daddy helped him get a commemorative ball that was thrown our way.

Next up: Coronado Island

San Diego Vacation Day 4 - Birch Aquarium, USS Midway

On Tuesday morning we headed to La Jolla to visit the Birch Aquarium at the Scripps Institution of Oceanography. We loved this place - lots of good sea creatures plus interesting exhibits on solar power, recycling, etc. We saw the leopard sharks and rays being fed and then caught another feeding demonstration with a guy in a big tank full of all sorts of fish and eels. There was also a "touch tank" outside with sea stars, crabs, urchins, anemones and other sea life you could touch.

Great view from the touch tank area

Some type of sea dragon

Leafy sea dragon - freakiest creature I've seen lately!

I nerded out when I saw these BigBelly Solar cans b/c my company makes a product used inside them.

Sidebar: We watched a video about how seahorses reproduce. The daddy seahorse carries the eggs in a little pouch, and when they're ready to be born he just starts shootin' babies out of his pouch. It is fascinating and has been a topic of discussion ever since!

After eating lunch at the aquarium we headed to the USS Midway Museum, which was one of the things Daddy was the most excited to see. This was the longest-serving Navy aircraft carrier of the 20th century and it was decommissioned in 1992. We did a self-guided tour and also saw a few sections while led by a docent. One of our guides told us that they jokingly call the Midway "a daycare for retired Navy officers."

Spencer having a Top Gun moment.

This doll/mannequin thing in the commissary was SO CREEPY

E-2 Hawkeye pilots ready for takeoff

Even though we enjoyed both of our activities this day, in hindsight there was a little too much walking/looking and not enough doing to keep Spencer really engaged. We were all exhausted at the end of the day and I think we ate cereal at the house and called it a night!