Hi Pretties!
A few months ago, I started thinking about my Mom's birthday and how fun it would be to spend it together on a girl's weekend. We initially tried to go to New York during her actual birthday in July, but it didn't end up working out so when there was a Southwest Airlines sale we closed our eyes and picked San Diego as our destination for Labor Day Weekend! I have been looking forward to this trip for months and I was so excited it was finally here.
Before we decided to go on this trip, we bought tickets to see one of our favorite bands at Red Rocks. The concert ended up being the night before our early morning flight, but there was no way we could miss it!
When I say that Red Rocks has my heart, I really mean it. It's impossible to be unhappy when I'm there. It was a perfect day and we decided to grab Panera Bread and snacks before the concert so we could have a little picnic at our seats. It rained for a few minutes here and there but otherwise the weather was great.
The concert started out with who I wasn't familiar with, but she was awesome. Her voice is very similar to Adele's and she is so much fun and super talented! was next and while I'm not a fan, I do know a lot of her songs. She was really good as well. I love how excited artists are when they perform at Red Rocks! It's just as cool of an experience for the fans as it for them and I love it.
Sidenote: While watching Sara perform I decided that she is Alexa's doppleganger. They are gorgeous twinnies.
finally came on stage and it was hands down one of the best concerts I have ever been to at Red Rocks! They were so energetic and happy and it was awesome. I have seen them live three times now and they just get better and better. It's definitely obvious that they get more confident as time passes. Their stage setup was very cool and they had tons of awesome effects and fireworks. They made sure to play their hits, but they also played tons of songs from their new album "Native" which I loved because it's my favorite. If you have yet to check them out, I highly recommend their newest album. It has a little something for everyone. You can't tell really, but in the bottom right photo is Ryan Tedder running through the crowd during their last song.
The show ended with confetti and I was just completely blissful. Ryan Tedder's voice honestly gives me the chills because he is so talented. I'm obsessed. In case you don't know, Ryan and one of his band mates are from Colorado Springs where I grew up and Ryan now lives in the Washington Park area of Denver which just makes me love them even more. Supporting local bands makes my heart happy.
The next morning Mom and I were up bright and early to catch our flight at 8am. We landed in San Diego at 10am, ready to start exploring. We dropped our stuff at the hotel and headed to catch the
Old Town Trolley. Mom and I both said that we were so glad we did this. For about $30 a person, the trolley runs all day and you can hop on and off at 12 different stops in San Diego. It's a great way to cover a lot of ground and see the whole city and no cab or rental car is going to get you to all of those destinations for that price. Well worth it in my opinion!
Our first stop off the trolley was Coronado Island so we could check out the famous
Hotel del Coronado. It was absolutely gorgeous and so serene. We decided to go to the hotel for lunch where we could see the beach and the ocean from our table. We went to
Sheerwater and it was lunchtime on the Friday before Labor Day so it was busy and the service wasn't the best, but the food was good and the views were gorgeous! Next time I think we will try and explore the island more because we didn't have time.
After lunch I made Mom walk out to the beach so I could stick my toes in the sand! I can't remember the last time I was at a beach, I think it's been at least 8 years. I walked out to the water and it was freezing! I was not expecting that since it was 85 degrees and humid outside, but apparently their water comes down from the Artic? Don't quote me on that. I was shocked at how many people were splashing in the water in their swimsuits.
We hopped back on the trolley and headed towards
Balboa Park,
Little Italy, and
Old Town. I loved that we got to catch a glimpse of all the different areas of San Diego. We would have loved to walk around and explore Balboa Park, but it was extremely hot and humid so we just watched from the trolley. We did hop off at Little Italy to grab some gelato and we shopped for some gifts and souvenirs in Old Town.
The trolley continued to the
San Diego Harbor and the
Seaport before we got off at our hotel so we could shower and change for dinner. Again, we would have loved to explore those two areas more if we had more time! There is always next time :)
We stayed at the Westin Gas Lamp and I thoroughly enjoyed lounging around the room in my robe. I let my Mom pick out our reservation and we ended up at
Searsucker which is a restaurant owned by Top Chef competitor Brian Malarkey. It was a really cool atmosphere! We started out with cocktails and our appetizer of duck fat fries with tomato jam. Delish was an understatement. We also had salads and entrees, but the fries were the star of the show! At the end of our meal they left us with suckers that said "See You Next Time.." Get it?
Mom and I called it an early night so we could be up bright and early on Saturday! Our first stop after picking up our rental car was a trip over to the Hillcrest area for breakfast at Crest Cafe. I'm a big fan of Diners, Drive Ins, and Dives so when we found out that Guy stopped by this place, we had to check it out. It was a cute diner with delicious food! I had the Chicken & Waffles, and my Mom had the Lemon Ricotta pancakes. We had zero complaints. They also had this amazing mural on the outside of the building. I played model outside, natch.
After breakfast we hopped in the car and headed about 30 minutes away to Escondido and the
San Diego Zoo Safari Park. Everyone knows about the San Diego Zoo, but when we started doing research we decided to head to the Safari Park instead and we were so glad we did. It's huge and filled with all kinds of wild animals and some really cool activities including a Hot Air balloon ride that takes you up in the air and an 80 meter run by an extremely fast cheetah who is best friends with a dog. We got to see a wallaru, gorillas, birds, and everything in between.
Their newest exhibit lets you go in a caged in area and hangout with some super chill lemurs. I was kind of obsessed and apparently I need to watch Madagascar because everyone kept asking if they were going to sing "I like to move it!" Sadly, they did not.. but they were fun!
One of the things we decided to pay a little extra for was a behind the scenes safari that takes you right up to the animals. It was well worth the money! We got to get up close and personal with giraffes, rhinos, buffaloes, and other animals. We got to feed the giraffes and were supposed to feed the rhinos too, but because of the heat they were sleeping and not interested in anything to do with us. One of the species of rhino they have are two of only eight left in the entire world!
Feeding the giraffes was so awesome! They do it so often that the giraffes see the safari truck as the food truck so they literally come running and stick their heads in ready to snack! It was one of the coolest things I've done. My coworker has been to safari in Africa and even she was impressed because she said she never got to get that close to the animals.
Those boulder looking things at the top of the hill are actually rhinos that were taking a snooze. No offense to the zoo at all, but I decided it was much cooler to see the animals out in the open and in more of a natural habitat.
After our Safari Park adventure, we hopped in our car and sped back to San Diego because a very special visitor was waiting!
JULIETTE.
Fun fact: She got there before we did and I left her a key so she was just hanging out in our room thinking that I was catfishing her. With one hug we were already BFF's and I just knew it was going to be a blast. We headed to Old Town to eat some delicious Mexican food at
Casa Guadalajara (thanks to a recommendation from Tiff). Mom got to put up with us giggling, taking pictures, and talking blogging and she didn't even seem that annoyed.
After dinner we met up with Tiffany and her adorable sister for a night out in Gaslamp. Apparently we missed the memo that all of California was also out in Gaslamp because it was hot and crowded and lines and covers and I almost got pissy once or twice but then there was alcohol and it was fine. In fact, it pretty much got cray cray. Get it? Because of my awesome new shirt I bought at Forever21?! It was $10 and I could not love it more. I am so cool.
WE HAD SO MUCH FUN. That's not an exaggeration at all. We laughed and we danced and we girl talked and it was exactly what I imagined.. except better. I love these girls, so much. If there is a way that I can just magically make all of my blog friends be in the same city as me.. please let me know!
Let's take a little recap break so we can have douche canoe story time:
Here's the short story..
Juliette meets cute guy, cute guy has a not as cute friend, I hangout and dance with the not as cute friend, I jokingly send a text saying I got stuck with the ugly friend, then the not as cute friend takes it upon himself to
READ MY TEXTS when I'm not paying attention, get pissed off, and then
TEXT ME from my own phone to tell me how rude I am.
Um no sir, you are rude for going through a complete stranger's phone and then having the nerve to call me out on it.
PS. My phone is password protected now. Learned my lesson!
Everything was all fun and games until Juliette and I woke up the next morning with hangovers from hell and an hour drive to go to
Temecula and do.. what else? Drink a bunch of wine! What's that they say, YOLO? The first few minutes were kind of rough but we persevered and hit up four wineries with my Mom. It was a blast and so pretty! PS. We purchased our tour through
Devine Tours. It was affordable and everything went smoothly. I highly recommend it!
We got to ride on a bus with some interesting characters, one of which appeared to be single, so naturally he sat by us every time and we made lots of awkward jokes and took pictures of him when he wasn't looking. We are the most mature ever! He clearly loved us.
The wineries were gorgeous and the weather was pretty and I loved every second of it. I kind of felt like I was living Heather Dubrow's life for a second. We finally found some champs at the last winery which happened to also have some cute bartenders who we really enjoyed flirting with. They gave us beads and didn't count our pours and it was awesome. I even forgot about my hangover for a few hours. Later that night was a completely different story but we'll just forget about that little tidbit.
How gorgeous are these views? I think I could live out there and drink wine and just be happy forever. Considering that
Temecula Valley is considered a way smaller version of Napa Valley, I'm pretty sure that a trip to Napa needs to happen pretty soon.
My amazing Mom let us take naps on the way to La Jolla. We heard the beach views were incredible so we wanted to make a quick stop. It did not disappoint! I guess I'm going to have to have a beach house along with my winery house. I better win the lottery!
Can we take a second to discuss how awesome the panoramic camera view is? I still have an iPhone 4 so I have to steal my Mom's iPhone 4S to take pictures and I'm always amazed.
While I know that most of this recap included Juliette (le duh).. I have to take a second and say thank you to my Mom for planning and enjoying this trip with me. I'm lucky to have such a great Mom who I can spend time with and we always enjoy each other's company. She is my best friend and pretty much the bomb for letting my drag Juliette on our trip with us. I hope her birthday trip lived up to her expectations because I loved every second of it! Juliette left on Sunday night and Mom and I planned to head to Blue Point Coastal Cuisine for dinner. I was feeling sick and went back to the room but Mom gave the restaurant two thumbs up!
On Monday morning, we had our last breakfast at
Cafe 21 and headed to the airport. When Southwest asked for volunteers to leave later that day we basically jumped for the chance.. along with everyone else. Sadly we headed home instead!
Time to brag on
Miss Juliette for a second.. I'd be lying if I said that writing this recap didn't make me incredibly sad. Even though we only spent 24 hours together, it felt like we were long lost best friends. We laughed our heads off and had so much fun and I'm so incredibly happy that we got to meet, but I'm sad that I don't get to see her all of the time. She is funny, gorgeous, sweet and I'm happy to say now one of my greatest friends. Thanks for making the six hour trek back and forth and for even putting up with my laugh, my whining, and my dramatics. When someone sees the best parts of you along with the worst parts and still wants to be your friend? That's when you know it's a friendship that's meant to be. I'm not lying when I say that it was truly one of the best weekends ever! I'm looking forward to planning another trip and making sure that
Allie and
Faith join us.
And with that I end the longest recap there ever was. Now I'll go cry in the corner while hoping that I can just press rewind and do it all over again!
See you next time, San Diego.. I'll definitely be back.
