San Diego 2023 Sept

 We went to San Diego for AB's work conference: 

Torrey Pines:

$20 to park up on top. Few free parking north of the park near the beach. 

We did the loop trial going to Red Butte, Razor Point, Yucca Point, Flat Rock (down to the beach), and then up Broken Hill Trail. 

Red Butte

Razor Point 

Flat Rock

We didn't realize the north fork of the Broken Hill Trail is pretty boring. It's the south fork that actually has more interesting structures and views of the golf course. Of note, you have to walk all the way back on a paved road if you do that broken hill trail (prob not worth it). 

Balboa Park

We didn't have much time, so didn't do any of the paid activities: museums, zoo, etc. We went on the $3 miniature train b/c Baobao loves trains. Also saw the giant Moreton Fig Tree and walked through art center and the main center. We wanted to go see the Japanese Friendship Garden, but turns out it was closed that evening due to a wedding. How disappointing! And by the time we got to the houses of the different nations, that was closed too. Ah well, the park itself was beautiful to walk through. Maybe next time it'll be worth it to go to the zoo with Baobao. 

La Jolla

We went to la Jolla cove and saw sooooo many sea lions. Heard they were going to close the area soon bc people get too close to them and have gotten hurt. It's true, the sea lions go right up the stairs. 

They were really noisy, barking all the time. There were baby ones too. I think we were actually not supposed to go down to the beach, bc the other places had signs not to go down. There were so many people going diving in the morning. Some of them were so big and fat. Maybe the patriarch. Baobao couldn't resist going into the water even though it was so cold. Didn't seem to bother him. 

The seashell beach didn't have any seashells. But Baobao liked playing on the sand. 

Later we went to mission bay beach. One near a cove so it didn't have as many waves. It was still very windy and cold though. 

Mission Bay beach

We went for a short walk in the morning before visiting our friend TL. It had a nice beach walk you can bike or walk on. Parking wasn't bad on a weekday morning. 

Fairmont Grand Del Mar

This hotel was super nice, like the other ones for AB's conference. We got to pet some horses, and enjoyed the pool and the resort walk. I got a facial and a massage...so decadent. Didn't feel like I fit the place. Also enjoyed the hot tub, jacuzzi, and saunas. It was a bit too cold for the pool for us, but Baobao jumped right in. We tried a little hike with my friend TL, but Baobao cried most of the time. Last day we got awesome seafood: lobster, oyster, crab, ceviche, ny steak, etc. It was awesome.