The final portion of our vacation was downtown San Diego. By then we had been away from home for 6 nights (and it my case, 8 of the past 9 nights thanks to a trip to NYC in the days preceding our trip), so we were ready to take it easy. Most things we did were within the convention center or Gaslamp area and walkable. And the sun finally came out our last few days! When we checked in, we were asked if we wanted to upgrade to a bay view for a fee. No way! The port view was exactly what William wanted! The bridge in the picture is over to Coronado.
On our first full day, we walked about 25 minutes along the water to get to the USS Midway aircraft carrier museum. If Pizza Hut and LEGOLAND weren't highlights, this one was! Had we planned snacks a little better and not worn ourselves out walking on such a hot day, I think we could have stayed for 4 or 5 hours. As it was, we were there for nearly 3.
We met up with our friends Lauren and Jesse for dinner and dessert and had a great time catching up. They were kind enough to drive to Anaheim last summer to meet us at Disneyland for dinner. Luckily this year, they only had to drive across town! On our other full day, we slept in, had brunch, and checked out the New Children's Museum before ending the day with a trip to Coronado Island to swim on the beautiful beach behind the Hotel Del.
Oh, and Starbucks. We had lots of Starbucks on our vacation. Because that's what we Shields like to drink. Even the little one.. . . .He may have had a few days of withdrawal once we got home and cut him off from his twice daily milk box! Ironically of all the things we didn't do it was use the hotel pool, though I had scoped out the pool closely before booking this hotel. It was so cold in Carlsbad when we went swimming, but it was warmer in San Diego. We just never had time with all of our relaxing to make it there!
