After an unexpected white Christmas it’s been an exceptionally dreary winter and spring in the Pacific North West with above average rainfalls and unseasonably colder temperatures. Escape is a must and this spring’s choice of escape was San Diego. Our pandemic vacations had been heavily focused on being in the car and seeing nature. We were looking forward to enjoying a brief snapshot into living in another city.

Day 0: Friday

Mira's old enough to schlep her own bags through the airport.

For this trip we changed up our normal pattern by taking the last flight out instead of the first. Night travel with children sounds nice (“they’ll just sleep”), but with the recent rental car and general staffing shortages we’ve found navigating the after landing experience with an exhausted child to be on of the harder parts. The process wasn’t smooth with a long line for the airport shuttle and a short delay at the counter. In the end Budget pulled through with a very nice Toyota 4Runner. Just a few minutes later we were in our rental. Even with the delays and the late night Mira handled it like a champ though she did manage to steal the master bedroom.

Day 1: Saturday

One of the key requirements for this trip was that we wanted the ability to: 1; Walk to the coffee shop and 2; Walk to something that we wanted to see. We grabbed coffee from the little place at the bottom of the building on the walk to the USS Midway, so mission accomplished. San Diego’s downtown is pleasantly compact and it wasn’t a long walk. There’s a fair amount of dodging tents, crazy people pushing shopping carts of trash, or the person screaming at nobody in particular in almost any city these days and San Diego was no exception. I suspect the city is doing regular sweeps as the ideal route changed every day.

There's so much to see and do at the Midway that it ended up taking the whole day. It was especially neat seeing all the tactical sections.

We thought the USS Midway would be a short 2 hour outing but we ended up spending the majority of the day there. The Midway exceeded all expectations. It is easy to underestimate how large and complex these ships are until you get to one up close and realize just how much there is to see. This museum had aircraft from all periods as well as the major the living and work spaces with all the kitchens, laundries, barbershops, ready-rooms, and everything else that makes a floating mobile military base possible.

Our favorite part of the experience was spending time in the two major control spaces for the ship-board and air-borne operations. These areas are setup just as they were for the beginning of the Desert Storm operation for the first Gulf War. The volunteer that was in those spaces had served on that day as an intelligence officer and was able to give a detailed walk through of what every person in those chairs would be doing and the role they played in that operation. She was also great at answering questions from both the kids and the adults and we left with even more appreciation of what we ask of the individuals who choose to take on those roles.

A day at the museum wouldn’t be possible without a refuel and the ship cafeteria was pretty decent and served beer. They had turned the rear plane elevator into an seating area with a view of downtown which certainly beat eating in the windowless crew mess.

For the rest of the evening we just grabbed some street food at the outdoor market and walked along the waterfront. Somewhat inspired by the day’s attraction, Sonali and I started watching WWII in color on Netflix to close out the evening.

Day 2: Sunday

Our sore feet had us opt for the car on the second day. We’ve entered the family renting an SUV stage of our lives with our rental this time being a Toyota 4-Runner. It’s a car I’ve never driven largely due to it not feeling like a great value. Driving it was just fine but nothing exceptional. Of course we were strictly on road where it’s not expected to stand out, though it was easier to park than the behemoth Tahoe we have at home.

No aquarium visit is complete without a picture of jellyfish

The destination was La Jolla with the general plan to check out the beach. It was windy, cloudy, and a little chilly so we made it as close to the water as a cliff-side restaurant. If we wanted to be cold at the beach, we could drive 10 minutes and sleep in our own beds.

It was restaurant week. We sampled the tasting menu had a few cocktails and headed to the Birch Aquarium. The Aquarium was okay, we’re a little spoiled between Atlanta, Chattanooga, and Monterey Bay versions that we have been to recently. They did have a cool seahorse and sea dragon exhibit along with doing a good job of explaining the conservation efforts of Scripps.

In the end, a half day and maybe a bit disappointing. Had we done more research we would have checked out the paragliders. Extra rest for the following day proved to be a positive though.

Day 3: Monday

There are certain places that gain a legendary status in the mind of someone growing up in the United States. The San Diego Zoo has been high on that list for me from all the nature conservation programs we saw on TV and in school. As much as I’ve always wanted to go, most things don’t live up to the imaginary version created in childhood.

The San Diego Zoo was just amazing. It wasn’t just the animals, but the park was meticulously crafted to make it feel like you were moving through their habitats. The plants next to the walks were almost as amazing. This is a place that is truly a must-visit.

Mira getting into the mood on the path to where the monkeys are.

A couple monkeys chatting in the sun.

In the habitat, the comfy habitat, the lion sleeps during the day.

No kid can pass up an opportunity to poke their head out of an ice sheet.

To top it all off, they had beer!

We all sent our step counters way past 10,000 and wore ourselves out seeing everything that there was to see. After we had our fill of the zoo, we got dinner at a fantastic Italian restaurant Piacere Mio that had both an extremely friendly staff and amazing food. An amazing zoo, a bottle of bubbly, and great pasta. One can’t really ask for a better day.

Day 4: Tuesday

Rest, donuts, pool, tacos.

We were near by to the place that had massive cake donuts.

The margaritas and tacos in San Diego were a touch above. It was hard to pick a place.

Day 5: Wednesday

We’d heard very good things about the Safari park version of the San Diego Zoo. Further away, it’s a bigger park with more animals in an environment where they can roam freely. It certainly had that, but still felt underwhelming compared to the real zoo. While there were more areas to walk, the overall focus seemed to be more on the value-add (and additional-cost) experiences compared to enjoying the animals.

At the Safari park

We did the big safari bus tour, looked at some more animals, got lunch at the restaurant, then came home. More WWII in color!

Day 6: Thursday

Unfortunately Sonali’s migraines flared up so it was just Mira and I on our outing to Legoland in Carlsbad. One of the major downsides of living in the PNW is the total lack of theme parks. You can do most activities in a light mist, but a roller coaster really isn’t one of them.

So I was excited to join her on her first ever, true roller coaster experience.

The first roller coaster experience on the Dragon Coaster. We survived.

The rides were generally cute with Lego accents throughout.

We found the Lego minerals especially neat.

I'm a total sucker for giant Lego scenes.

The park was definitely targeted towards younger children. Mira, at 9, had fun, but I could see her getting bored in even a year or if she had been a veteran of other theme parks.

Day 7: Friday

What I was very excited about was the half-day sailboat cruise from Sail San Diego. Ever since moving close the water, this is a thing that I’ve been wanting to do more.

This was a relaxing cruise around the bay with another family. Sail SanDiego provides refreshments, allowing one to get in a full sailor’s mood.

A little sailor in the making.

I was surprised that Mira worked up the courage to sit out front in the full on headwind. Unfortunately the water was too choppy to get head out into the open ocean, but a good time was had.