San Diego Vacation

Last week I had a conference in San Diego. We decided to make a vacation out of it, and Dave came out on Wednesday (no kids!). What an amazing city and what a wonderful vacation. We were there for 3 full days after the conference and we packed them with activities, but the mentality there is so chill, it didn't feel like we were rushing to do anything. 

On our first full day there we did two hikes, one along the Sunset Cliffs, and one call Ho Chi Mon trail, which is really a path carved by surfers, beginning in a very fancy neighborhood in La Jolla and ending right at the beach. It was no joke. Pictures cannot fully capture how steep and uneven the path was. It was all made of sandstone, so occasionally crumbled under our feet. At one point we had to walk across a very thin plank and at the end it was so steep that the surfers tied a rope to shimmy down on to the beach. 

Here's a shot of how narrow it was in some places

While we slowly meandered down, tripping and slipping, we were passed several times by agile surfers in bare feet, wet suits and surf boards. It was a little embarrassing. I also think they were a little surprised to see us on their turf. But it's San Diego, so of course they were very laid back about it.

That afternoon we rented sea kayaks and went out into the ocean. No pics for fear of getting wet, which was wise because both Dave and I flipped over. Loss of sunglasses, but luckily no phones or cameras. We got up close with some sea lions, which was really cool. 

The next day we rented a sail boat and went out into the San Diego Bay. It was windy and Dave had a blast. I was admiddely nervous. It's been a while since I've been sailing on anything but cushy, pleasure sail boats...

That night we went to a fancy dinner atop one of their highest buildings in the downtown area. The highlight was watching the sunset. It was lovely. 

On our last day we went to the famed zoo and saw this guy. He was very happily munching on some bamboo and was not interested in turning around to smile for the camera. But cool all the same. I've never seen a panda before.