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Old 16 Feb 20, 01:41 PM  
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Stewboy
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Wonder on the West Coast: Day 5 - Anaheim to San Diego

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Friday 25th October 2019

Following on from the excitement of last night’s Halloween party, today was going to be a lot less frenetic; we were checking out of the Homewood Suites and making the drive down to San Diego. With a lunch stop along the way, we expected the 100 mile (ish) drive to take about two hours. Our arrival in San Diego would (hopefully) coincide with Kimberly’s arrival at the airport. Just to recap: Kimberly is Jo’s friend that now lives in San Francisco and came to visit us in Walt Disney World a couple of years ago; Jo last saw her when she visited San Francisco in February.

Before all of that, we actually needed to get ourselves some transportation! So after a 7:30am start - coffee, packing, Golden Graham ‘Frozen’ snacks (from last night’s ‘Trick or Treating’) to keep us going, followed by our usual hotel buffet breakfast at about 9:15am when Isabella was awake - I left the hotel and made the short walk to the Alamo car hire while Jo and Isabella finished packing and getting ready.


Snaaaaacks

I left the hotel to be greeted by another beautiful day in Anaheim. The ten minute walk to Alamo took me up South Harbor Boulevard towards Disneyland and the busy junction with West Katella Avenue. After I eventually got across I headed down West Katella Avenue towards the Alamo. Turns out the Alamo is on the other side of the street, and getting across wasn’t as easy as it should’ve been due to a crosswalk being out of order. I didn’t fancy getting arrested for jaywalking or getting run over so I had to walk a little further before I could get back across the road. This did mean that I got to see the back entrance to Disneyland - well, it’s actually the back of Cars Land in California Adventure - and the Alpine Inn, one of many hotels we almost stayed at.











Even though I’d already checked in online when I arrived at Alamo, I still had a bit of a wait to be seen as there was a queue including some English airline cabin crew and a Spanish-speaking man who couldn’t get the hang of his hire car.

When I did eventually get seen I then had another short wait while they gave my car (a Jeep) a quick wash and brought it round for me. I’m so used to picking up cars from big parking garages at airports in America this was quite a different experience, especially being able to drive the car straight out of the parking lot and onto a main road.


Jeeeeep

I drove the Jeep round the block and back to the hotel, pulled up out the front and went up to the room to help Jo and Isabella bring the bags down.

With the car loaded it was time to say goodbye to the Homewood Suites. As you’ve probably gathered, we thoroughly enjoyed our stay here. The buffet was simple and delicious, the free drinks were most welcome, and the room was clean, spacious, and comfortable. The location, whilst not the closest hotel to Disneyland, offered such a quick and convenient way to get to the parks via the Toy Story parking lot. I have nothing but good things to say about this place and would be back there like a shot given half a chance!

The time was about 11am we pulled out of the hotel and headed towards the I-5, only a five minute drive away.


San Diego here we come!

It was now a straightforward, traffic-free drive south along the I-5 through the beautifully scenic Southern California countryside - a really enjoyable drive.

About 25 minutes outside of San Diego we stopped for sustenance at In-N-Out Burger. We were all excited to try this, and were not disappointed - it was delicious! Jo and I both had the famous Double-Double burger; Isabella had a vanilla milkshake as she didn’t fancy a burger - she’s not really a burger fan.






I-5 views








In-N-Out Burger


Jo, Isabella & the Jeep

As mentioned earlier Jo’s friend Kimberly was going to be joining us for a couple of days in San Diego, and our arrival in the city corresponded with her flight landing at the San Diego International Airport.

The airport is conveniently located right in the city, just three miles outside of Downtown San Diego near the seafront and only a five minute drive from our hotel and the International Cruise Ship Terminal.


San Diego Harbor

We arrived at the airport but Kimberly hadn’t come through yet. It was busy in the pick up/drop off area and there was nowhere to stop. Fortunately it’s easy to drive out of the airport, loop round, and come back again. After we did that a couple of times Kimberly was out. She’d travelled light with just a hand luggage bag, and after some quick hugs and welcomes, we got Kimberly and her bag in the car and made the five minute drive to our hotel.

For our stay in San Diego we’d booked the Best Western Plus Bayside Inn, on West Ash Street at the border of Little Italy and Columbia in Downtown San Diego. This is a short walk from the cruise terminal (important), a short drive from the airport (as mentioned), and a ten minute Lyft journey from the Gaslamp Quarter where all the eating and drinking is done!

The short drive from the airport is not without its challenges though; driving in San Diego is very different to the wide roads of Florida and Anaheim - there are one way systems, tram lines, many many crosswalks, tight roads, parked cars, and pedestrians.

Eventually we made it to the hotel, located the convenient underground guest car park and parked up. The time was now about 2pm, and as the rooms weren’t ready until 3pm we dropped off our bags in the luggage storage and headed out to get some lunch.


Kimberly!








Best Western Plus Bayside Inn

Jo had found a Karl Strauss Brewery only a five minute walk away which she knew I would enjoy, so we headed there.

Isabella and Kimberly were going to have lunch, and Jo and I were there for the beers. However, after browsing the menu, we thought we’d get a couple of appetisers to share too.

Isabella got some mac and cheese, Kimberly had a Cheddar Burger and Jo and I got Duck Fat Pretzel Bites and the Asada Fries.

Jo and I sampled a few different beers - unfortunately I didn’t write down what we had - but they were good, and I bought a six pack of the Mosaic Session IPA to take on the cruise with me.

After some nice food, tasty beers, and a good catch up with Kimberly, it was time to head back to the hotel, pick up our bags, and check in to our rooms.






On our way to Karl Strauss










Karl Strauss Brewery


Cheers!


Mac and cheese


Asada Fries


Duck Fat Pretzel Bites




Beers to go!

We arrived back at the hotel at about 4:30pm. Kimberly had booked the Meze Greek Fusion restaurant down in the Gaslamp Quarter - about half an hour walk away - for 7:15pm, so we had some time to chill out in our rooms before dinner.


Collecting our luggage


Our room








The view

While I did my notes, and Isabella did some reading, Jo went to Kimberly’s room to do some more catching up - they hadn’t seen each other for eight months, and had a lot to catch up on!

When Jo came back, we got ready and by 6:30pm we headed out into San Diego and made our way towards the lively Gaslamp Quarter, where most of San Diego’s nightlife is.


Ready for the evening

It was a lovely evening and we enjoyed the walk and seeing San Diego at night.

Once we arrived at the restaurant we were seated straight away and ordered a selection of hot and cold small plates to start, followed by a main course. It was standard Greek food - it was nice but nothing out of the ordinary (I think we’re spoiled with good Mediterranean food in the North London area). The waiter did make a big show of setting light to some cheese, which was a highlight!




San Diego at night






Dinner drinks


Selfie


Ooopa!

However, having said that we had a lovely evening, we had a couple of drinks each, and then got a Lyft back to the hotel - we didn’t fancy the half hour walk!

By about 9:30pm we were back, and as we were all tired after a fun afternoon and evening in San Diego we said goodnight to Kimberly and went to bed.

We’d really enjoyed what we’d seen of San Diego so far, and tomorrow we were looking forward to exploring beautiful La Jolla, and once again sampling the San Diego nightlife!

Thanks for reading.
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Old 16 Feb 20, 07:14 PM  
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magickate
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Been looking forward to this bit, glad to hear the drive was straight forward too.
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Old 16 Feb 20, 08:35 PM  
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mrsdjh
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How nice to be able to meet up with your friend there. Looking forward to reading more about San Diego.
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Old 22 Feb 20, 02:44 PM  
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Tinkermom
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You trip reminds me so much of our trip last year, same hotel in Anaheim, picked our car up from the same car hire place. Headed to San Diego via the same In out burger. Relived that we stayed in a different hotel in San Diego as I was starting to feel a bit stalker ish 🤣
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Old 31 Mar 20, 06:10 PM  
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Stewboy
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Originally Posted by magickate View Post
Been looking forward to this bit, glad to hear the drive was straight forward too.
Yeah, drive was actually really nice, unlike the time we drove from Miami to Orlando! TFR

Originally Posted by mrsdjh View Post
How nice to be able to meet up with your friend there. Looking forward to reading more about San Diego.
San Diego is great. Can't wait to go back

Originally Posted by Tinkermom View Post
You trip reminds me so much of our trip last year, same hotel in Anaheim, picked our car up from the same car hire place. Headed to San Diego via the same In out burger. Relived that we stayed in a different hotel in San Diego as I was starting to feel a bit stalker ish 🤣
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