Hello, hello! Right now I’m still in Michigan, and we’ve been having such a great time introducing our friends and family to Henry. It was freezing here in the weeks just before we arrived, but we must have brought some of the West Coast sunshine with us because it’s actually been fairly nice our entire visit. On Monday temps actually got up into the 60’s, which feels like a major heatwave after a brutal Midwest winter, so we really couldn’t have come at a better time. I’ll be sharing more about our trip once we’re back home in Portland, but in the meantime, I wanted to finally share some photos from one of our other recent travels where we also enjoyed some beautiful weather…
(see what I did there with that segue?)
Back in the beginning of February, we went on our first trip as a family of three to sunny San Diego! Cameron had a conference to attend for work and since it’s a place I had never been (but had been dying to visit!) we decided that Henry and I would come along. He was just under eight weeks old when we left and so I was a little nervous about flying with him, but I’m so glad we just decided to do it because we had an awesome time! I posted some photos on Instagram during our trip (with the hashtag #henrysfirstvacation) but I thought I’d share some more of the photos I took, if you’d like to see…
Henry was a total champ on the plane – just nursed and slept 🙂
(It’s crazy to me how much he’s already grown and changed since all these photos were taken though!)
The first night, we stayed in a hotel in downtown San Diego that had some really nice views 🙂
And Henry discovered the joy of hotel beds 🙂
We had dinner with my husband’s boss and his family our first night, and got to see the USS Midway and the Embarcadero (I didn’t get any pictures of it, but it was pretty impressive!) On our way back from dinner, we ended up stopping at a place recommended to us by the flight attendants on our flight from Portland…Extraordinary Desserts! This place seemed super popular since it was packed and it was right up my alley, a definite must for anyone who loves sweets visiting San Diego!
Our second day, we drove north to La Jolla – what a gorgeous place!
We had a fantastic brunch al fresco at Cody’s (thanks to a recommendation from Tammy at Lemons Avocados & The Bay!) and it was the perfect way to start our day there. Cam and I were also really impressed by the fact that even though we got there on a weekend day at peak brunch time, we still got a great table outside right away…in Portland, the wait for brunch can be pretty crazy (as in 2+ hours) and so this was a nice change!
After brunch, we spent some time checking out downtown La Jolla, it’s such a cute town!
We ended up getting gelato at a place that was actually right near where we had brunch called Bobboi and it was SO delicious. They had lots of really unique flavors and I’d highly recommend it!
We spent the majority of the afternoon just relaxing and taking in the magnificent ocean views La Jolla has to offer 🙂 These pictures don’t do justice to how stunning it is there!
So this was definitely not the outfit I intended to wear when I got up that morning, but Henry had other plans for my original ensemble…#newmomproblems
We were able to see plenty of seals lounging in the sun!
I loved La Jolla and hope we can come back and spend more time here someday!
Later that night, we headed for Coronado Island to check into the Hotel Del Coronado!
(Or ‘The Del’ as everyone calls it…) It’s so pretty and it was an awesome experience to be able to stay in such an iconic hotel. We had a great view of the property from our room and we were able to catch a gorgeous sunset from our balcony!
The next day, Cam was busy with work stuff for most of the day so Henry and I had some time to explore the hotel and go for a walk on the beach. The weather was amazing and now I totally get why people seem to love San Diego so much!
One of my favorite parts about the trip was getting to dress Henry in summer clothes, he looked so adorable! (Of course, he got plenty of time to relax sans clothing as well…his cuddly chubby baby body just kills me)
While Cam was working, I had the chance to check out the cute little downtown area on Coronado Island; it had a very charming feel and I enjoyed walking around while Henry napped 🙂
I’m obsessed with stationary type stores and I found the most adorable one on Coronado Island called Seaside Papery – I seriously wanted to buy everything, it was all so cute!
I ended up getting lunch at a little place called Delux Dogs and OMG IT WAS SO GOOD. I know hot dogs are not everyone’s cup of tea, but I personally like them and apparently they are trendy now. This place had lots of delicious options, but I went with a bacon wrapped hot dog with Mexican toppings and although it wasn’t the healthiest, it was awesome. Combined with amazing sweet potato fries and a lemonade I got for free for checking in on Yelp, it was a pretty fantastic lunch!
Once I headed back to the Del, I spent more time exploring the grounds as they’re fairly extensive!
We spent the following day soaking up more sun by the pool and just relaxing 🙂
Once Cameron finished up with his conference, we got to enjoy some family time on the beach 🙂
Our last day in San Diego started with a delicious brunch at one of the hotel restaurants and then a walk by the ocean to savor the amazing weather before checking out.
I couldn’t resist putting Henry in this stripey little number for our last day…he didn’t seem to mind 🙂
We were able to spend some time driving around the rest of the city outside of Coronado Island before we left, and there were a lot of different parts of town that looked really interesting. However, Henry’s feeding/napping schedule didn’t allow quite as much time to get out of the car and explore those areas this trip as we would have liked. But once he’s older, I’d love to come back and check out the San Diego Zoo and some of the other outdoor stuff that we didn’t have time for this visit. But overall, I loved San Diego and it was a perfect destination for Henry’s first vacation!
