A little getaway

We (sort of) spontaneously decided to go away to San Diego for the night last week. I am going to be honest here: the supposed purpose of the trip was for relaxation and to spend time together before the baby comes, but the REAL reason was because I wanted to eat like a pig one last time before I can't anymore. Somehow we have realized that all of our favorite restaurants are in San Diego. I do love going, but I wouldn't call it my favorite vacation spot. It is strange, then, that I would say it has the best place to get pizza, fast mexican and awesome burgers in all of California.

John was able to get off early on Friday, so we headed down around 1. We went straight to Roberto's in Mission Beach. I had gotten really hungry on the drive, so the burrito tasted amazing. We love Roberto's for the food, but also for the feel. It is on the corner of a busy beachy street, yet it is never too crowded and is not very expensive.

John showing that this burrito has the correct amount of cheese, which is something he always laments when we go to Miguel's.

 After eating, we walked over to the beach at Mission Bay. It was a little more crowded than we usually like it, since it was Spring Break, but it was still nowhere near as bad as the beaches closer to us. We sat and enjoyed the perfect temperature and sun, I read my book and John went for a walk. It was nice to let our lunch settle a little (the baby is big enough that I feel fine while I am sitting and eating, but when I stand up I am able to feel how much I am eating. Walking helps...) with a short walk and a rest on the beach.

 

We finally stayed at the hotel my parents discovered many years ago, called La Pensione. It is a european style (meaning small) hotel in the middle of Little Italy. Little Italy used to be a pretty scary place (you went there to eat and worried about your car while you were eating...) but in the last 10-15 years it has been renovated with amazing loft apartments, art galleries and boutiques. The restaurants are still the same, but now the neighborhood has a really great feel. 

I was really happy to be IN the city at night, since we usually stay in a hotel that is not very centrally located. We usually stay out all day and have dinner and then go back to our hotel early. It was nice to do the reverse for once: I took a nap after the beach, and then we walked out of our hotel and onto the street ready to eat.

I have always been so intrigued with living in a big city, it an amazing apartment, shopping at a farmer's market outside my building, meeting friends for dinner in leather boots and a great bag. In these dreams I have the kind of job where I need to dress professionally with pieces chosen by season from In Style, that can appropriately transition from "day to evening" with "simple changes in accessories." I will probably always be infatuated with this, but I realized on this trip I don't actually want to live it. I am happy with my Wrangler wearing husband, my white chucks, my big truck, that dressing professionally in my job means wearing khakis and that we have a house with a yard and 3 ginormous dogs. Looking at the girls in boots just made my feet hurt. :)

We walked long enough to finally feel hungry again after Roberto's and then had Mona Lisa's for dinner. The pizza was amazing, and we also had some pasta. We were lucky we had a fridge in our room to bring back the leftovers.

The next day we browsed the Farmer's Market outside our building. We got some fresh squeezed orange juice, watched a crepe maker and listened to the artistic stylings of "The Smiling Accordian Player."

We went to Seaport Village after, and got John the funniest shirt. There is a store called "American Nostalgia" there that I have always loved because it sells metal signs and shirts with funny slogans. When we walked in we saw a shirt that said "Listen to Bob," and thought it was funny because that was all it said. We assumed it means Bob Marley. Inside, right next to it, was a shirt that said "Listen to John." (We assume this means listen to John Lennon, but I like to think it means listen to John Mayer, who my John can't stand...) After he assured me he would actually wear it, we had to get it for him. We also found my birthday present at a store called the Urban Lounge, but I am trying to forget about it until my actual birthday.

We then spent some time on Coronado Island and decided that we love it. We found a hotel that we want to stay in the next time we go (like La Pensione, small and cheap but nice.) and explored the town and the Hotel Del Coronado. I remember walking around the hotel with my parents, but I don't remember the beach. It was gorgeous, and the private villas attached to the hotel are bigger than our house.

It was here that we also tried the Burger Lounge, which unfortunately is expensive because it's goal is sustainable, grass fed, organic meats. I really hate that places like this are so expensive and hard to find, because this is the kind of food we should all be eating all the time, and it shouldn't cost more than McDonald's! *steps down off of soapbox* Anyway, this was actually the hardest place for me to decide what to eat, because they have a turkey burger, a salmon burger and a veggie burger. I ended up picking the veggie burger, because it was the first time I had seen a handmade patty made out of quinoa, zucchini and brown rice. It was VERY good.

We started for home in the early afternoon, and both agreed that we like to end a trip on a high note and get home as it's getting dark. Even though it was such a short trip, it felt relaxing and like we were gone for a long time. We left making plans for the next time we will go (basically as soon as we feel ready to leave the baby with my parents. :) ), wanting to stay on Coronado, and eat ourselves sick again.