California - Day 4

This was my last day in Cali and we played from sun up to sun down. Seriously. The day started with me and Jeremy driving from West Covina to Anaheim. And we took the train from Anaheim to San Diego. I honestly believe the train is too under-used. More people should ride trains.

After leaving the house at 7 am, which meant getting up at 6 am for me, we got to the Anaheim station for our 8am train with a little time to spare. The ride to San Diego was 2 hours, and I wanted to sleep but only got about a half hour nap. You see, the night before I'd gone to bed around midnight but couldn't get to sleep too easily. There was a bird that was singing and talking outside my window. If I had access to a bb gun that night I'd have used it. Instead I read a bit to fall asleep and remember getting sleepy around 1 am. So that meant only 5 hours of sleep. Oy!

After the train pulled into San Diego my friend Rosie picked me and Jer up and we headed to her house. She moved to SD 18 months ago and I've missed her! We chatted and toured her house before hopping on beach cruisers and headed for the boardwalk. Rosie and her 2 fabulous roommates all have beach cruisers so there were 3 bikes for our adventures that day and they had no issue sharing. I LOVED having the bikes and LOVED their generosity!

At the beach we rode from Pacific Beach to Mission Beach and then halfway back to Pacific Beach we stopped for breakfast/brunch. I had the most delicious Ocean Benny- eggs benedict with smoked salmon and fresh fruit. Delish!

We headed back to Rosie's house and loaded up the cruisers into her Jeep. Jeremy and I were folded into the Jeep into the very little space that was left. Seriously we were so cramped, but it was SO FUN! And after we squeezed in we headed to the Children's cove. The views were breathtaking and there were so many sea lions to see lounging in the cove and on the rocks.

After the cove we squeezed back into the jeep and headed to the Coronado island ferry. When we were pulling out the cruisers there was a group of elementary school kids who looked to be on a field trip who started singing Happy Birthday to me. Rosie got so excited and told them it had been my birthday the day before and suddenly the kids were starting the song over, and were louder. It was so adorable!

We were in a rush to get to the ferry and ended up missing the ferry, barely. Instead of waiting for an hour for the next ferry we raced our cruisers to another ferry that was leaving in 25 minutes. We got there with about 5 mins to spare and made it over to Coronado Island.

We rode our cruisers around the island heading for the Hotel Del Coronado. What an amazing building! It was built in 1888 and is still this amazing structure! It was so worth seeing!

Before heading back on the ferry we stopped into a Greek place and a local man was in there with his adorable, 2 year old black lab named Moxie. I could not stop petting her and making her do tricks! She was so sweet and just reminded me of my chocolate princess waiting for me back home. Sweet Moxie made me really miss Pili.

Once we got back to downtown SD we loaded up the cruisers and returned them to Rosie's house. Then it was time to end the evening with a treat. We headed back to downtown SD to a place called "Extraordinary Desserts" and oh my they were! My sweet treat was called ivoire royale which was a slice of 3 layered vanilla cake that had white frosting between the layers. The frosting layers also had blueberries, raspberries and strawberries. The top of the cake had white chocolate shavings all over it. It tasted light and was fruity and delicious!!

After our treat we headed to the train station to get ourselves back to Anaheim, and then drove back to West Covina. After packing and showering I crawled into bed just after midnight. I woke up at 5:40 and changed my clothes and brushed my teeth and we left for the airport at 6 am. My breakfast was another treat from extraordinary desserts - a raspberry pastry that's bottom layer was shortbread and philo dough. It was a great way to wake up considering how tired I was.

And now I'm home in Utah with my Pili after a really fabulous week in California!

California - Day 3

We headed for Venice Beach and Santa Monica Pier after Jeremy had some work done on his car. What he thought would be 2 new tires turned out to be 4 tires, an alignment, and a new serpentine belt. And then it was beach time!

For whatever reason I had a sour stomach today. It was so hard to not just say lets be done touring and head home. I mean, hello I'm in California and its my birthday. I can't spend the day at home with a tummy ache. So once we got to Santa Monica and parked, we walked a bit. We walked along the boardwalk and then through the 3rd street promenade and then from there back to the SM pier and then headed back to the car to head to Venice beach.

At Venice beach I ate the most delicious clam chowder! And then we sat on the beach for a bit. And then walked along the shore. And I collected some seashells.

Then we headed back to Jeremy's house and picked up my choice of dinner - egg rolls from Jack in the Box and frozen yogurt. I made sure to add brownie bites to my yogurt, as a sweet treat, since I didn't want cake for my birthday and a treat was still needed.

Once at home it was so nice to relax with my friend. We watched a movie and then watched videos from trips we've been on and looked at photos from the last 5 years' adventures. It was fun to laugh and reminisce. It was nice to just spend time with my friend.

Tomorrow....... San Diego!

California - Day 2

Today started with a trip to Newport Beach. Once we got to Newport we stopped for food at Subway and I couldn't stop giggling at the cashier who told us,"thank you, have a nice life" when we left. Granted, we'll probably never meet again, but I have never been told that by a clerk as I've walked out of a store or restaurant.

After getting some lunch we headed over to a boat tour that was self guided. We literally were given a map and a boat, and we headed out to explore the Newport Harbor. Let me say Jeremy was a fantastic boat captain once he got the hang of what was going on. He was a little freaked out that we literally were given no instruction except how to reverse and how to accel and when we were pulling out of the slip playing bumper boats he was a little nervous. I wasn't allowed to take pictures until he had a better handle on the operation. And once he knew what controlled what it was smooth sailing. Literally.

The harbor was gorgeous! We enjoyed a picnic in our boat while gazing at some beautiful homes surrounding the harbor. We watched for all the boats' creative names and laughed at some of the more creative like, "Honey's Money" and "Trust Me".

After returning our boat we headed to Balboa and enjoyed sitting on the beach watching the surfers and the waves crash onto the shore. We took a stroll along the Balboa boardwalk where we took a ferris wheel ride. Note to all - when there is a sign that says "don't rock the seat" you should take notice or else look like a dumb blonde when you rock it and the ride operator gently hollers at you to stop. Oops!

After the boardwalk we walked out to the end of the Pier and enjoyed garlic fries at Ruby's. We then watched the fishermen and a group of 3 sea otters who were begging for the fisherman's catches. I was convinced the otters wanted some garlic fries, so I tossed them a couple. They didn't get eaten, the otters were holding out for fish and the fisherman rewarded their begging.

Tomorrow..... Venice Beach

California - Day 1

I got to California Saturday night and was greeted by my dear friend Jeremy. It is after all birthday time, so its Courtney & Jeremy trip time!

Day 1 adventures began Sunday with Happy Birthday wishes for Jer. And once his friend Sean arrived, we were headed to The Huntington. The weather was amazing - gentle breeze and in the low 80s. And the gardens were incredible. We walked around only a portion of the 120 acres that exist of the Huntington Botanical Gardens, but it was stunning! There was so much to see and it was just amazing beauty everywhere we went. It was very easy to sit and enjoy the view and be caught up in the mesmerizing beauty.

After leaving The Huntington we needed frozen yogurt, so we headed to Yogurtland. I sampled 6 of the 12 flavors available before deciding on mixing pistachio with coconut and adding almond slivers and moji. It was a delicious treat!

We headed back home for a game of Gloom and then for dinner the birthday boy wanted pizza, so we of course ordered pizza. The online system wasn't working, or so it told us that it wasn't connecting to the store, so we opted to pick up our pizza. Not ten minutes after getting home a delivery driver showed up with the order we thought hadn't been placed online. So here's my warning - be cautious of ordering online with Dominoes.

After dinner it was time for a show Jeremy had been waiting to watch so I half watched, half read so I seemed supportive of the birthday boy's evening plan.

Tomorrow...... Newport Beach.