4 go La La in La La Land - Day 6: They'll say, Let's go to San Diego

[Pumba75]

Monday 6th August 2018

With the exception of Melissa, we were finally all beginning to adapt to the time difference and beginning to wake at more reasonable times - 5.30am for me today, with the girls a little while afterwards. Melissa had been awake since 3.30am!

I started the day sat on the balcony, drinking a coffee and watching the world go by, which included a rather large navy vessel sailing past - the sight of a big boat from the balcony became a recurring event most mornings we were there!

During the planning stage of this trip, we’d made a list of things that we wanted to do in San Diego, but no concrete plans around when we’d do them - so as we chatted through what we might do today, we decided to make it a shopping and cinema day. We fancied a more relaxed pace today rather than full on tourist mode!

The girls had been saving pocket money and E, in particular, was keen to visit Hot Topic, one of her favourite stores in the US. A cinema trip has also become a bit of a family tradition on our US trips, and we’d had one earmarked for this holiday once we’d realised that Antman and The Wasp wasn’t going to be released in the UK until after we’d departed.

So, we agreed on a trip to Mission Valley Mall, which would get all the boxes ticked, including a visit to Target!

After getting ready, we took the relatively short journey to the Mall, which was only about 15 mins away.

We’d decided to get breakfast when we got there as they had a Panera Bread - one of our favourite haunts when in Florida. We took a little while to decide what we wanted - well everyone else did, not me, there was no discussion as far as I was concerned - a Bear Claw and a Latte, breakfast of champions! The girls had a cherry danish and a cookie.

Melissa decided on oatmeal.

We love Panera Bread and could probably visit every day given half a chance. Of course, it was also an opportunity for yet another US barista to spell my name wrong - I’ve been a number of things over the years when I’ve had to give my name, so today’s effort wasn’t too bad - even spelling it out, I was still “Graene”.

Breakfast completed, it was time to get shopping - Hot Topic was the first port of call, and was where we spent the best part of the next hour. We don't seem to have any photos except this bag, which we didn't buy!

M picked up a couple of Avengers key rings that were on a “buy 1, get 30% off a second offer”. The guy serving us was great, telling us about places to visit whilst in town. He signed us up to their loyalty programme - cue more confusion over my name - again, I spelt it out, but he seemed to think the last 3 letters were B, M & E - yep, that popular UK name of Grab-me...


Anyway, by the time me and M stepped outside, an email came through from Hot Topic giving $10 off of a $30 spend - good news for E who was still deciding what to spend some of her money on - she ended up getting among other things, a swimsuit that was already reduced from $50 to $10, and a couple of tank tops that where on a “buy one get one free offer” - with those offers and the $10 voucher we’d been emailed, her circa $100 haul only actually cost her around $40 so she was very happy. We were also amused to see some interesting addition to the Funko Pop range of figures...

Next stop was Bath and Body Works - we didn’t spend quite as long here as Hot Topic, but it was close! We came out with bags that were lighter in cost than they were in weight!

It was another hot day today, so we were a bit confused why Outback felt this was necessary…..

We decided to take the bags back to the car before going to the cinema, and went via Target. The girls had their eye on some snacks, but we decided to pick them up after the cinema so they didn’t roast in the car. I, however, did make a purchase - I like to buy a sports top of some description each year - I’ve got a few Major League Soccer tops, but have also picked up some t-shirts for college teams over the years. Target are often good for stocking shirts for local teams and I managed to find a University of San Diego Toreros Tshirt.

Bags safely stored in the trunk of the car, we headed back to the AMC cinema for the film.

We arrived just as the trailers were starting and sat down with a flatbread pizza and chicken tenders that we shared whilst watching. It was a good film, which we all enjoyed (well, Melissa tolerated it, as she does with all the Marvel films, which the girls and I love). I loved the original Antman film, and this one was as good, if not better. Like all good Marvel fans we knew to sit through the credits for the “post-credits” scene, which was worth waiting for - but, oh my word! (no spoilers!).

Once the film was done, we went back to the car via Target to pick up the bits the girls had seen earlier and also some drinks for the room, and then headed back to the hotel.

The girls were keen to go for a swim, so we went down to the main pool, however, they really should have talked to each other about outfit choice...

Swim over, we returned to our room to shower and get ready for dinner. One of the advantages of the hotel location was that we could walk to the marina where there were a number of eating places.

It was quite a busy evening and our first choice (Mitch’s Seafood) had a long queue. After wandering around looking at other options, we settled on Point Loma Seafood, which was nearby, and managed to get in before they shut the doors at 8pm! It was an interesting place inside, doubling up as an eatery and fishmonger!

After quickly perusing the menu up on the wall we all opted for a “fish plate”:

M - Cod

E - Shrimp

Melissa - Crabcakes

Me - Combo plate (a bit of all the other 3!)

It was all freshly cooked and served with fries and homemade coleslaw and tartar sauce (which was amazing!).

We sat at a table on the upstairs terrace and enjoyed our dinner watching the sunset over the marina and the downtown skyline.

After that we walked back to the hotel and got ourselves ready for bed.

Another lovely day.

Tomorrow - Balboa Park

[i love jack]

Love your start to the day, sounds perfect, sitting on the balcony.
Great bargains at hot topic.
Evening meal looks lovely too

[mrsdjh]

This type of day would suit my girls down to the ground - shopping, Target, cinema & swimming. I hope your pool outfit didn't clash with the ladies!

The hotel sounds like its in a good location and your evening meal looked nice.

Hope Melissa managed to get her sleep pattern sorted soon.

[Grump$]

Nice relaxing day.

In all our trips we've never tried Panera Bread think it's about time to rectify that. The bear claw looks awesome.

[disneypars]

Another great relaxing day. Food looks great again.

[Lisa_Lollipop]

What a lovely day of slowing down the pace, you can't beat a bit of shopping that's for sure! You did well to brave BBW with the girls, my OH leaves me too it as I can be lost in their for hours!

I am now wondering why I have never been to a Panera Bread... it's on the list for our next trip to the US for sure!

And loving the matching stripes ladies!

[florida girl]

Brings back happy memories of our stays at San Diego at the same hotel. It’s a lovely pool area 🌞🌞. Glad you all enjoyed it.

[Pumba75]

Originally Posted by i love jack

Love your start to the day, sounds perfect, sitting on the balcony.
Great bargains at hot topic.
Evening meal looks lovely too

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It became a favourite spot at the beginning of each day, and normally where i ended each night as well!

Originally Posted by mrsdjh

This type of day would suit my girls down to the ground - shopping, Target, cinema & swimming. I hope your pool outfit didn't clash with the ladies!

The hotel sounds like its in a good location and your evening meal looked nice.

Hope Melissa managed to get her sleep pattern sorted soon.

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Ha - no, I made sure I didn't have my stripey outfit that day

Originally Posted by Grump$

Nice relaxing day.

In all our trips we've never tried Panera Bread think it's about time to rectify that. The bear claw looks awesome.

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Yes, you definitely should! There is no greater pastry in the world than a Panera Bread Bear Claw

Originally Posted by disneypars

Another great relaxing day. Food looks great again.

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It was a lovely, relaxing day

Originally Posted by Lisa_Lollipop

What a lovely day of slowing down the pace, you can't beat a bit of shopping that's for sure! You did well to brave BBW with the girls, my OH leaves me too it as I can be lost in their for hours!

I am now wondering why I have never been to a Panera Bread... it's on the list for our next trip to the US for sure!

And loving the matching stripes ladies!

See more...

Ahem - I may not have stayed in BBW for the whole time they were in there. I can neither confirm nor deny reports I may have been spotted in some sports shops during that particular period...

If I have encouraged more people to visit Panera Bread, then my work here is done!

Originally Posted by florida girl

Brings back happy memories of our stays at San Diego at the same hotel. It’s a lovely pool area 🌞🌞. Glad you all enjoyed it.

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We loved the hotel - if we ever return to San Diego, then it will be top of our list to stay at

[Aims]

Very nice first full day in San Diego! I'm a frequent customer at Panera, love the bear claws but I think their pecan roll is my favorite. Love the view from your hotel room balcony, and Point Loma Seafood- what can I say, it's another favorite spot of mine for seafood. Looks like a great day to me!

[slow.jo]

I used to love Hot Topic when I was younger

I’ve recently found out I’m allergic to an ingredient in B&BW hand soaps - I was devastated!

Beautiful location for dinner.

Jo xx

#grabme