San Diego

After traveling nearly 2400 miles in two weeks we knew we needed to slow our pace. We spent seven relaxing days in San Diego at the Point Loma hostel (highly recommended!) in the Ocean Beach neighborhood of San Diego located just north of downtown. We were within walking distance of the ocean, cute shops and restaurants, and plenty of twenty-something surfers. A fifteen-minute bike ride took us to Mission and Pacific Beaches. The cooler weather the coast brings was a welcome treat after spending numerous day in 100+ degrees. It's hard to argue with Ron Burgundy who said "It's a fact, it's the greatest city in the history of mankind."

Our first full day in San Diego was spent in Coronado island located on the other side of the San Diego bay. We watched the renowned 4th of July parade and weren't that impressed... without any floats or candy and only a couple of marching bands it's hard to see why it is famous. That evening we watched the fireworks at Ocean Beach just down the street from our hostel. The fireworks were good but the real fun began right after the grand finale - marshmallow fight! There had to be over 2000 people running around throwing marshmallows at each other on the beach. Apparently this has been a tradition in Ocean Beach for years. The San Diego Reader cited that 600 pounds of marshmallows were picked up by 10 a.m. on July 5th. It was really quite fun to participate.

Over the course of the next week we visited multiple beaches including the top rated Coronado Beach, went to a Padres game, saw the Pandas at the zoo, checked out museums in Balboa Park, biked down the boardwalk at Mission Beach, and watched the sun set while sipping delicious cocktails from Hotel Del Coronado (thanks for the gift certificate Uncle Bob :)We were lucky enough to meet up with our friends Amy and Tim from Denver who were in San Diego for a family reunion. It was nice to see some familiar faces.

More California fun coming soon!