July 2014 in San Diego

A journal entry: 

It is Thursday and vacation is nearly over, but I'm going to try to recount a few highlights. We're at the beach in front of Hotel Del Coranado, but that's not where the adventure starts. We started a little rocky as both C and I failed to factor in rain, Friday traffic, and checking baggage into our airport trip plans. We arrived to a long line at 6 for our 6:45 flight. We sent my stressed parents on ahead and we checked everyone's bags. The gate agent gave us stand by tickets and sent our luggage to Las Vegas. Flight delays meant that we made our original flight, but without our bags. They'd arrive at about 1:30 AM. Fortunately, the house near the sea was also near the airport.

The first day was a family beach day as second cousins, aunts, uncles, cousins, nieces, nephews, wives, husbands, etc. stayed quite a while at Mission Beach testing our sunscreen and letting the girls get adjusted to the ocean. They got a little braver every day. We got to see J and S for the second year in a row. They treated us to lunch at a beachside restaurant. It was great to see them.

Sunday we the beach again. This was La Jolla Beach and we brought out the boogie boards. Inside the house, the ants had attacked, but were mostly held at by spray, chalk, and complaints.

Monday most of the crowd hit sea World. C and I went to the Gaslamp Quarter. It's a night spots and we arrived well into the morning. I was very disappointed in the gas lamps and only mildly interested in our guidebook's walking tours. The most interesting aspect was that the area once well known for brothels now houses a Hooters, a Coyote Ugly, and several other mudflap-worthy establishments.

C and I napped the afternoon away and then she made lasagna for dinner. We are the pasta people. We got to meet all the Sea World souvenirs that night. All the second cousins seem to get on well and it's fun to be together.

Tuesday was Legoland. The others did well for back to back amusements. M dug the roller coaster. P is not so sure. My favorite part of Legoland was MiniLand. I spent a long time searching DC legos for familiar sites. The NYC subway was also pretty great. We closed the park down to Beck's delight. We then hit up In and Out Burger for a late supper. Kevin gave me tips on the secret menu so I had animal fries with my double-double and a shake. They were good, but I felt my arteries closing. P talked all the way home, but everyone else was asleep or practically there.

Wednesday was a quiet day at Ocean Beach, the closest beach to our house. The boogie boarding was really good, but the seaweed was thick. The F's came down from Newport Beach and took us out to the Venetian for dinner. We filled a banquet room and had a good family Italian meal with even better company. There was something special about catching up with distant family. I don't think T hears as well as he once did, but he remains quite jovial. I've always thought N was great and thoroughly enjoyed talking to her when J wasn't spinning his tales. Their son J seemed intimidated by the big crowd. I really enjoyed talking to JF. I can't explain what was so pleasing about the evening, but I didn't want it to end. Maybe that's why we played games until way too late that evening after the others left.

Everyone seemed tired on Thursday, but we returned to the beach and soldiered on. Vacation ended too quickly, but we had a great mini-FOG reunion.