10 Jul Vacation continued Days 15-20 -> San Diego Stopover

Posted at 14:20h in California, What we ate today, What we did today by

Thursday Apr 22

Our flight off Kaua’i was at the reasonable hour of 11a, so we had our alarm set for 7a to roll out of Princeville. We ordered a quick breakfast & a last round of Mac nut lattes from Java Kai in Kilauea, and ate as we drove the 45 minutes down to Lihue to return our rental car. 

Everything went smoothly and we were back at the tiny airport with plenty of time to spare before our flight. 

We boarded the plane and took off for our connection on Oahu — our only glimpse of another Hawaiian Island. We couldn’t believe how many buildings there were compared to Kaua’i – given the islands of Oahu and Kaua’i are roughly the same size! Kaua’i has a population of 70,000 and Oahu is home to close to 1,000,000.

Our layover on Oahu was very fast and soon we were on a long trans-pacific flight to San Diego.

We timed our trip so we could have 5 days with my cousin Mike and his family. The flight costs to stopover in San Diego were the same as going strait to Denver, and since our sublettors were in our apartment through Apr 30, we had some time to kill before needing to get back.

Despite how amazing the island life was, we were ready to return to the mainland. Being isolated in the middle of an ocean, far from our family and friends for 5 months was the price we paid for strict COVID restrictions that kept 99% of tourists off the island. We had a once in a lifetime opportunity to see the island without tourism, and we’ll be forever grateful for our unique experience of Kaua’i. We hope to be able to return some day to visit our island friends and experience the magic of Kaua’i once more!

Our flight was uneventful and we landed in San Diego around 9:30p. We were picked up promptly by Mike, and after some late-night visiting with Olivia, Brian, and the new puppies we forced ourselves to head to bed (still on 3 hours earlier-island time). What a journey!

Friday Apr 23

We had an action-packed weekend planned with some of our mutual friends arriving that afternoon from Colorado. But first, 9-yo Olivia made us a great breakfast of sweet potato pancakes and fruit. We went on a neighborhood walk to Tecolote Canyon while we waited for our fellow Coloradan arrivals.

 

Our friends Lindsey and Brian arrived late that afternoon and  we had a lovely dinner around the beautiful gardens of our family’s home!

My cousin Mike and Lindsey had worked together for many years back in Denver, and back in 2014, Lindsey was the first person Mike introduced me to, on my first visit to Denver in prep to relocate there. Lindsey and I became fast friends, sharing loves of skiing, hiking, camping and the general Colorado wilderness (now haven taken us to five states). Mike and Brian, Lindsey and Brian, myself and Aaron have been the orchestrators and attendees of several amazing camping trips over the last 7 years, including our last trip before Kaua’i, to the base of Mt Shavano in Poncha Springs, Colorado, October of 2020. It was an amazing re-entry to mainland life to immediately get to jump into time with our favorite people. 

Saturday Apr 24 

Saturday was an action packed day of San Diego fun. We went to Mt. Soledad National Veterans Memorial which featured great views of the city and ocean beyond. We toured La Jolla tide pools and saw tons of seals on the beach. We grabbed massive poke bowls (since Aaron and I were still hooked on fresh seafood!) and sat at Palisades Park overlooking the ocean in the sunshine. 

So many seals at La Jolla beach!

We soaked up the sun for hours and decided on plans for the evening – hitting a neighborhood brewery, meadery, and Thai food. A day filled with smiles and so much fun we were all up till midnight just enjoying each other’s company.

Sunday Apr 25

Sunday was another great day filled with seeing San Diego sights. We took a leisurely walk for several hours around Balboa park and got tacos for lunch. 

We spent the evening at the Dog Beach watching the plethora of dogs running joyfully across the sand and shallow ocean water.

Monday Apr 25

We spent Monday morning with paints and chess games while Lindsey and Brian prepared to leave Monday afternoon to drive back to Colorado by way of Vegas. We said goodbye to our friends, grateful to see them again within a few weeks for more camping back in Colorado.

Monday night Aaron, Mike and I went out to a local bar for a couple beers. It was great to catch up and hard to believe we were almost finished with our three weeks of vacation!

Tuesday Apr 26

Ok – I’ll say it – vacation life was getting a little rough. So much takeout food, lots of social drinking, and not a ton of exercise was taking its toll on our bodies, previously tuned to a lot of healthy food and not much else. Waking up was getting rougher and our digestive systems were almost always feeling a little off… BUT I will also admit we were committed to remaining in Vacation Mode however we could, and that was largely possible because we let ourselves be flexible, and check in often about what we felt like doing at any given time (often the answer was ‘take a nap’). 

This final day, all I wanted was brunch. I began looking at the closest restaurants around, finding a coffee shop with breakfast sandwiches and even closer: a farm-to-table restaurant famous for overloaded Bloody Mary’s. Luckily, I was still on vacation! One last hoorah on our last day before flying back to Denver.

Mike had graciously lent me his convertible to drive around while he worked that day from home. We cruised around the nearby San Diego neighborhoods, soaking up sunshine with the top down. We parked for a while at Fiesta Island Park making phone calls to our family about our impending return to ‘life’. Finally, we stopped for some groceries, happy to visit our favorite chain store Sprouts, for dinner supplies. 

We were happy to cook and get a break from takeout food, spend some time in the kitchen again. After dinner, Aaron and I prepped for our flight in the morning, ready to kiss vacation life GOOD BYE. 

 

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