In March, Mom and Dad visited us in San Diego. As a total bonus, Ed and Meg came out for part of the time. It was an awesome trip. And, I get to start writing something in my blog other than “We sat around our house” or “We went to gardens full of native sticks plants.” This is very exciting news! But as they say in writing classes, “show don’t tell” so here are some details!
We went to the San Diego Botanic Garden in Encinitas. Just inside the entrance is a high-tech greenhouse that contains tropical plants and gorgeous wood installations that contain epiphytes. These wooden structures have cables attached and can either be on the ground or lifted to form plant chandeliers. There are also a lot of orchids, which warmed the heart of my crazy plant lady sister-in-law.
Second on Meg’s list of lovable plants are succulents. So, we turned to a life of crime and took teeny-tiny pieces (some were already detached!) so she could create a succulent garden in Chicago. It was about as successful as it sounds. The plants traveled well but didn’t take to their new home so well. Probably because plants, like people, become really weather weenies when they live in San Diego too long.
After the garden, we went to Viewpoint Brewery in Del Mar. It’s right by the race track and has a huge outdoor patio alongside the San Dieguito Lagoon. The beer and food are both delicious. The weather was perfect. We took the 101 between Encinitas and Del Mar, which was scenic but also showed how developed Encinitas has become even over the last 10 years. It’s pretty amazing.
the car horn. This was
“obnoxious,” said Dad.
Finally, we went to Cabrillo National Monument to look at the Pacific and Bay views. It is a really gorgeous place and it was fun to take Ed and Meg to a place they hadn’t been in San Diego.
The next day, we met up in Little Italy and went to the Saturday Farmer’s Market. The fruits and vegetables looked so good, the flowers were beautiful, and I found a little plant stand where I bought the plant that has leaves that appear to be bug-eaten (Monstera). We met up with our cousin at Ballast Point, where we had lunch and beer.
For dessert, we stopped at Holy Paleta, which is my new favorite place. I’m glad it’s located in a place that is hard to park- otherwise, I might go every day.
Then we sped-walked to the USS Midway since we had timed-tickets. We had a lot of fun visiting, mostly on the flight deck. Dad talked to just about every docent. We looked at the A-3 Skywarrior. We looked off the bow. And someone pretended to be a shooter (carrier-style, not weapon-style!).
After the Midway, we were thirsty (again) so we went to Vistal to grab a drink with Bay/sunset views. We randomly ran into our cousin and his wife again, so they joined us. We sat outside. It was delightful- really scenic and with fun company.
And that was the end of the weekend! Ed and Meg left while Mom & Dad had another day. We took an Amtrak up to San Juan Capistrano, which was such an amazing adventure that it deserves its own post.