San Diego Trip - Day 1

America the Beautiful (but loud)

Rick worked all night Saturday night, so when he got home Sunday morning, we loaded up the truck and hit the road. I kept the kids up until midnight the night before hoping that they would sleep the majority of the way so Rick could sleep as well. Ella went to sleep about 45 minutes into the ride, and about 50 minutes into the ride, I realized how full my bladder was. Not wanting to wake up either Rick or Ella, I held it as long as I could. I finally had to give in about 30 miles into the Mojave Desert. Stopping at the Rest Area woke Ella up for good – not good.

The Las Vegas Valley is around elevation 2,100 feet, and to get from there to San Diego (sea level), you have to pass through several mountain regions. During a couple of the passes you rise over 4,000 feet and back down to 2,000 feet. The scenery is spectacular, so I was really taking it in. That is until about the last 2 hours of the trip, when Ella decided to scream as her only form of communication. Whether she was laughing or crying, she was screaming, which, of course, meant that Rick could no longer sleep! The Bay Club Marina and Hotel was such a welcomed sight! This is the view from our balcony – a nice place for me to sit in the mornings while the rest of the crew slept in.



We took showers and naps and decided to hit the road before sunset. We tried to find a place on Point Loma to watch the sunset, but ended up at the Cabrillo Monument. This monument is at the end of Point Loma, and overlooks San Diego Bay. I tried to get some pictures of us, but none of them turned out like I hoped. You can see North Island behind us, where Angie and Ryan used to live. One new thing I did learn – there was once a North Island and a South Island separated by the Spanish Bight, and one president (I can’t remember which one) had the bay dredged to fill it in.

After the monument, we called Angie to get directions to a place to watch the sunset, but by the time we got there, we didn’t feel like stopping because we were starving. We drove around Point Loma for a while looking for a place to eat, then out towards Shelter Island where we were staying, then towards Harbor Island. Then we realized we were probably close enough to The Fish Market – an excellent restaurant right on the bay we had been to with Angie and Ryan. We had to wait for a table, but we lucked out and got one right on the water. The atmosphere was fantastic and so was the food! Notice two things about this collage – Bradley’s faux hawk (he’s very proud of it!), and Ella’s kiss face – that will give you a visual for a later story.