Birthday Vaca: Day 3

My birthday!!!

We woke up this morning around 7am and laid around the hotel room for a while before packing up and heading out for breakfast in Coronado. Andi found this little French café downtown called Tartine. I was enamored with the idea of finding real French croissants for breakfast, and on my birthday no less! We picked a spot on the patio and ordered. Macchiato for Andi; decaf coffee for me. HEAVEN.

We sat outside and watched all the cute doggies and babies stroll by. I love the way San Diego and Coronado Island have such a neighborhood feel. Very friendly and warm in all the areas we visited. We also split a Bacon Panino for breakfast, with a side of fresh fruit, a croissant and Epi bread. I wasn’t sure what Epi bread was, but apparently its like a baguette served with real butter and homemade jam. AMAZING!

After breakfast, we hopped into the car and headed for Balboa Park in San Diego. We contemplated a trip to the San Diego Zoo but at $40/per person, I picked my jaw off the seat of the car and we opted for a tour in the park instead. I’m a big fan of zoos normally, but $40 was waaay too much to spend for our 2 hour visit, in my opinion.

We walked inside Balboa Park for an hour or so. It’s a giant park with lots of paths and sculptures and gardens. There are also museums and old buildings you can tour, but we opted for the express version. The sun was shining and it was already in the high 60’s – another beautiful day in sunny California.

After Balboa Park and a quick phone call to our girl Ellie, we headed over to a farmer’s market nearby. I love the culture of farmer's markets – even if you aren’t planning to do a week’s worth of produce shopping – because you really get a sense of what it's like to live in that area. San Diego farmer’s markets are very different than Minnesota’s – lots of organic fruits like oranges and apples but very few vegetables (at least at this one, on this particular day). They did have some amazing street vendors serving up fish tacos and tamales. They all smelled delicious but we weren’t exactly hungry yet. I bought a fresh fruit smoothie and we left.

Next we drove over to Old Town in San Diego. We may have missed the memo on this one, or were too early on a Sunday to experience all it had to offer. Old Town is the historic “birthplace of California” and features an old-time city. It reminded me of a childhood family vacation to Silver Dollar City in Kansas. Very “shoot-out at the OK Corral" feeling. We browsed around the shops for a bit before hopping back into the car and heading North for the airport.

Our little weekend vaca to Southern California was nearly over, not for one last lunch stop at Wahoo Fish Tacos. We grabbed a quick bite to eat and headed to the airport. I had such an amazing birthday weekend with my husband! Just what the doctor ordered. Complete with a suntan, quality time together and lots of rest and relaxation. Thirty's going to be a banner year …