For Labor Day weekend, we headed south to San Diego to visit one of my besties from law school and her husband, who have newly relocated from New York to San Diego – quite a change for them! I haven’t ever been to San Diego, so I was looking forward to exploring a new part of California and looking forward to seeing two of our favorite people in their new home. Lots of people have said that we’d love San Diego – it’s a bit of a mix of California and Florida, where we grew up. While we were only there for a couple days, I’d say that I agree. Beachy and laid back like Florida, but with California’s mountains and the Pacific that I love so much.
We drove all the way from San Francisco to San Diego – unfortunately not along the beautiful coast, but through the dusty middle of the state, down the 5. Particularly dusty with the terrible drought we are in. We of course brought our furbaby Coconut with us – if we can bring her somewhere, she always comes with us, and she loves a good roadtrip, especially if she can stick her head out the window. The drive was long but not too bad and we were so happy to finally get there without too much traffic.
Coconut – the ultimate road tripper
We started the weekend with a trip to the beach – the beautiful beach! Our friends live in Cardiff by the Sea, which is one of the northern neighborhoods, and they are walking distance from the beach – amazing!
Sandy Toes, Happy Heart
While the guys caught some waves (Ryan hasn’t surfed in ages, so it was a real treat for him!), I caught up on girl talk and life and work with Nicole, soaking up the sun and soaking up the joy of being with one of my best girlfriends after too long. After such a fun day at the beach we headed to a baseball game at Petco Stadium – Padres vs. Dodgers! This is a big rivalry game so it was a fun one to be at and everyone there was so excited for the game. I love a good baseball game, mostly for the socializing and the beer and hot dogs. Petco stadium is a great place for a ballgame and we had a great time. Will Ferrell was at the game promoting his new HBO special, Ferrell Takes The Field, so everyone was quite excited to see him.
What’s up Will!
They also have a special hashtag at Petco Park (#SDinHD), and if you tag a photo on Instagram or Twitter with this hashtag, they’ll flash your photo up on the jumbo-tron. Which of course meant that we (or really just I) spent much of the first half of the game scanning the big screen for our group selfie rather than watching the game. But we finally had our 15 seconds of fame. Oh and the section where we sat was the lucky winner of FREE FOAM FINGERS! You have never seen a group of people so excited over 50¢ foam fingers. It doesn’t matter what it is, if you win something, it’s amazing. I suppose that’s just human nature.
After the game we had dinner with some friends who have recently moved from San Francisco to San Diego. Part of our tight knit neighbor group, they’d just left us in the City by the Bay to relocate to sunnier skies in the South. We met them in the North Park neighorhood of San Diego at a great restaurant called The Smoking Goat. It was so delicious. We all shared octopus, truffle fries and meatballs for an appetizer and I had the most amazing burata salad for my main course. Delicious, fresh ingredients and a low key, relaxed atmosphere. The sparkling rosé wasn’t too bad either! The guys all had the Moscow Goat cocktail which they thought was superb.
Sunday morning we lazily slept in and made breakfast together, gloriously lounging around. We were scheduled for an afternoon of sailing around the Bay, and on the way we stopped at one of the best taco spots (though there are many, I’m told!) and our friends’ favorite, The Taco Stand in La Jolla. I love Mexican food – it’s probably my absolute favorite. I remember as a kid being asked: if there was only one thing that you could eat for the rest of your life if you were stranded on a deserted island, what would it be? My answer was always hands down: Nachos! You already know about my love for cheese (documented here), and Mexican food usually has plenty of it, and spices and tomatoes and jalapeños and all of the things that make me happiest. The Taco Stand was sooo tasty and I’d highly recommend it. We had the Al Pastor tacos and the California burrito. Delish!
Al Pastor Tacos – yum!
After our quick stop for tacos, we headed to the marina for a sail around the Bay. And what a perfect day for it – blue skies without a cloud in sight, sunshine, and about 80°F. That is heaven in my book. There were 6 of us in total and we chartered a sailboat for a three hour tour! We sailed out from the marina, all along the Bay and along Point Loma. It was a windy day and perfect conditions for sailing. A few beers, snacks, lots of sunshine and gliding along the sparkly water. It was the perfect way to spend a Sunday afternoon.
Hanging with Nicole
Bromance
We used a company called Sail San Diego for chartering the sailboat and it was a wonderful experience. Our captain for the day was a guy who truly had a joy for sailing and was friendly, chatting with us about the boat and the Bay and his experiences with sailing. I would highly recommend going for a sail if you are in San Diego and this company in particular was wonderful. It wasn’t too pricy and I thought a very good value for the cost.
Power Couple Extraordinaire
My Handsome Hubs
Sailing near Point Loma
On the way home from sailing we drove down through La Jolla to check out the seals that perch along the shore there. A very touristy thing to do, but when in Rome, right?
La Jolla Seals Snoozing
San Diego was a lovely weekend getaway and I can’t wait to go back! The beach is so lovely, the weather is perfect, and the food is delicious. Combine that with spending time with some of our absolute favorites and I can’t think of a better way to spend a long weekend.
BY Jackie
LOCATION San Diego, California
