San Diego

As I suspected it was a rough sleep last night, up at 1,3,5 and then 6:30 for the day.  I was pretty impressed when I saw 6:30, 4 hour time difference is quite the sleep in.  Spent a little time with Glen on Facebook this morning learning new emoticons, it was fun.  There is even a guy wearing sunglasses, very cute.  We also found how to wink, kiss, and a heart, these emotions should all do him well in the future with his Facebook friends.

Breakfast consisted of last night leftover pizza, yummy, and 2 OJ from the lobby deli from $5.  OJ is a lot cheaper in Belize according to André.

We started off the morning by going over the Coronado Bridge to Coronado Island.  I had done this once before on a tour when I was in San Diego for work, it is quite different when you are driving!!  The bride to PEI is very tame compared to this, it seemed like the sides weren't very high, and it was a little twisty.  André says the views were really nice, I was concentrating too hard on the driving to enjoy.  We drove as far as the naval base and then got out and walked to the beach.  This is really a fantastic beach; it was low tide, and a great beach for walking/running on.  There were many many people out exercising, having the naval base right there probably helps. 

We walked from the end of the beach where we were up to Hotel Del Coronado.  This is a very beautiful old hotel, reminds me a little of the Algonquin in St. Andrews, here is a link if you are interested.

http://www.hoteldel.com/ 

This is where the rich and famous would stay, Fred and Lima have stayed here more than once, this is the closest we get to the rich & famous, we are staying at HoJo`s.  We explored the public areas of the hotel, very pretty, and then walked a little through the small town, André got a new pair of running shoes. He blew out the back of his in Belize. 

Back down to walk the beach back to the car.  Both walks on the beach we were lucky to see dolphins swimming, I love seeing dolphins in the wild, but then I feel so sad when I see them in a zoo or park.  We also saw a pretty good fight between 2 seagulls over a flat fish. American seagulls are pretty much the same as Canadian seagulls. Also saw a few fighter jets fly by and land.  Pretty cool how fast they come down and land compared to a commercial flight.  One thing that is pretty amazing here is that you cannot smoke on any public beaches or parks.  That must have caused quite the controversy when it passed, but I think it is incredible.  No cigarette butts on the beach, but it would be quite the pain if you were a smoker.  It was a really nice morning for a walk on the beach, and pretty funny to see what people are wearing.  It was probably low 70’s and we saw everything from bikinis to jeans and sweaters on the beach. André says to many jeans and not enough bikinis. 

After our tour around Coronado we decided to drive to Balboa Park.  Here we went to lunch at the Japanese Tea Pavilion.  It was a very good lunch and a much needed break from walking.  Balboa Park is very impressive, so many old buildings that are now museums.  It is amazing to have them all concentrated on one area so close to downtown.  This is also right beside the famous San Diego Zoo.  We spent about 3 hours just walking around and looking at the gardens and different buildings before I faded.

http://www.balboapark.org/info/history

We're back at the hotel now taking a break.  André is having a tequila, surprise, and I may have a little nap, another surprise.  Joey, Kyle and Liam are scheduled to arrive at 5:30, so far flights look on time.  Can't wait to see them!

They arrived on time, we made it to the airport in plenty of time, and San Diego is quite a small airport so it was very easy to find them.  Lots of excitement, everyone is so looking forward to spending the week together and the cruise tomorrow. 

Went to supper again at the same place as last night, can`t beat the price or the atmosphere.  We had quite a wait in the line tonight, 5 takes much longer than 2 to get a table, may be our theme for the week.  Liam didn`t make it through dinner before falling asleep.  I’m afraid another theme we will have for the week. 

After dinner just head back to Joeys room and visit for a short while, need to make a couple of trips and calls to front desk to get a cot, for some reason they didn`t want to share 3 in a king bed, and Kyle is too big now, we are done with that. Cot arrives and Liam is already asleep and moved to the cot, he will be surprised when he wakes up in the morning. Off to bed ourselves, I take my seasick meds and hope for a good night sleep.