Dorothy Piotrowski’s blog

Today is our last day in San Diego and we decided to head back to Balboa Park so that we could take pictures in the daylight.  We spent the next three hours walking around some of the park.  It is so beautiful there.

Eventually it was time to leave and start the last part of our vacation in Las Vegas.  The drive to Las Vegas was uneventful and we finally got to Darren and Allison’s house around 11pm.  We ended the evening with a late night snack at IHOP.

Just before I went to bed last night, Karen said that we had to be up and out the door at 4am because she had a surprise for me.  I said ok but then spent the entire night checking the clock every hour.  We got in the car at 4am, and I promptly fell asleep for about an hour.  When I woke up, we were in Temecula at the Vindemia Vineyard.  As we were parking the car, I saw the sign for California Dreamin’.  We’re going for a hot air balloon ride.

After signing the waiver, eight of us (a couple from San Diego, a couple from Vancouver and a couple of girls from Northern Ireland) piled into the van along with the crew to drive to the launch site.  Our pilot was Jeff who is rated number one in California and number twelve in the United States.  We stopped at a corner in the middle of the wineries to launch a couple of small helium-filled test balloons to see how the winds were blowing.  Jeff didn’t like the winds there, so we drove and stopped again, launched two more balloons and then decided this would be the launch site.

The crew got the balloon and basket out and begin to inflate it.  We climbed into the basket (it wasn’t pretty) and started our flight with champagne and orange juice.  You don’t realize you’ve actually left the ground since it is so smooth, like floating in a bubble.  It feels very magical.  It so quiet up there except for the occasional sound of the burners, and a dog barking in the valley.  We spent the next hour floating over the vineyards in Temecula.  At one point Jeff lowered the balloon into a valley, where we skimmed the tree tops, and floated over trees and a creek, between the hills.  We saw coyotes, rabbits, horses, and lots of beautiful scenery.  As we saw the ground approaching for our landing, I thought for sure that we were going over in the basket but we didn’t.  All balloon flights end with more champagne and orange juice.  The crew picked us up and drove us back to the winery, where we enjoyed a gourmet breakfast along with chocolate cake for the people celebrating birthdays.  We went back to the hotel to enjoy a long nap and a lounge by the pool.

We had a few more places we wanted to see in San Diego, so we headed down the coast.  We stopped in La Jolla where we found seals lying around on a beach, or swimming in the waves.  (They looked like black Labs when swimming!)  We kept driving down the coast and ended up in Balboa Park.  Since we didn’t have blue sky, we decided that we would come back to the park tomorrow.  We made a quick trip to Coronado Island to check out the Hotel del Cornado.  We ended our day with a take out dinner from Panera Bread.

A big thank you to Karen for my wonderful birthday surprise.

We wanted to do a photo tour in San Diego and after doing some research, we came across the Photo Caravan Safari at San Diego Zoo’s Wild Animal Park.  The Wild Animal Park is a second campus for the San Diego Zoo and it’s dedicated to the preservation and display of endangered species.  You can’t possibly see the entire park in one day, since it covers 2,200 acres, where large animals can roam in entire herds and flocks.   

After getting our orientation from Jaime, we boarded the truck along with our tour guide Barbra and started “Adventure Africa”.   The safari truck drives you through the enclosures to see the animals up close and personal.  (Steven Spielberg took this tour before filming Jurassic Park, which gives you an idea of what it is like).  For the next two hours, we drove around and saw rhinos, cape buffalos, oryx and many other animals.  But the best part was that we got to feed giraffes.  The giraffes actually put their heads into the truck.  It was really funny to see the reaction from people as the giraffes were grabbing the leaves that we were feeding them.

After our tour, we had a quick bite to eat and then took the ”Journey Into Africa” tram ride.  It’s bascially the same trip as we did on the photo safari except we did get to see additional animals such as the zebras, but you go around the enclosures.  While walking around the park we also saw lions and gorillas. 

We were exhausted from all that walking in the sun, and decided to head back to the hotel to enjoy a late afternoon swim.  We didn’t know where to have dinner so Karen did a quick search on TripAdvisor and found the Harbor Fish Cafe in Carlsbad.  We enjoyed fabulous fish & chips with an awesome view of the ocean.

After dinner we went down to the beach to watch the surfers.  The night ended with a quick shopping trip at the Carlsbad Premium Outlets.

Ola Amigos.  We decided that today would be all things Mexican.

We started our Mexican adventure in Old Town, which maintains a lot of San Diego’s history, heritage and culture.  We walked around the streets in the beautiful sunshine and checked out the many shops in Plaza del Pasado and Bazaar del Mundo.  After all that walking, we were getting hungry.  We had lunch at Casa de Reyes, and enjoyed the Mariachi band that performed in the outdoor restaurant.  (Who knew that a Mariachi band could play “Beer Barrel Polka” and  the “Chicken Dance”?)  Karen was getting into the Mexican spirit and even had a strawberry margarita with lunch.  

The next stop was the Las Americas Premium Outlets which is an upscale outlet mall, south of San Diego.  What’s really weird about this mall is that the Mexican border is right behind it.  The border is protected by a huge wall and lots of floodlights.  The mall does have a Bath & Body Works outlet.  I wonder how much lotion and shower gel crosses the border.

While watching “Diner, Drive-Ins and Dives” one night on the Food Network, Guy Fieri visited a Mexican restaurant in San Diego called El Indio.  We decided to pick up dinner to enjoy with the sunset.  Once we pulled up, we noticed the line coming out the door.  This place must be good.  We got some taquitos, chips and salsa and headed to Sunset Cliffs.  Unfortunately, there was no sunset but we still enjoyed the view with a fabulous Mexican dinner.

Adios amigos, until tomorrow.

Fresh fruit and “Beverly Hills, 90210″ … what a way to start the day.  We said our goodbyes to Darren and Allison and headed over to the Mall of Victor Valley to check out the sales at Bath & Body Works.  It’s time for their semi-annual sale.  We picked up a bunch of deals and headed on our way to San Diego.

We decided to take the long way to San Diego, and drove along the Pacific Coast Highway, stopping in Laguna Beach.  There were lots of people relaxing on the beach. playing beach volleyball, and even a few brave souls were in the ocean.  We even managed to find Wyland’s flagship gallery,  which has a great ocean front deck.  We didn’t see Wyland painting though … maybe next time!

The houses high in the cliffs along Pacific Coast Highway are amazing.  After a beautiful drive along PCH, we arrived at the Hampton Inn Carlsbad ($122.55  USD).  We got settled in our room and decided to hit the Westfield Plaza Camino mall to check out another Bath & Body Works.  We stumbled across a really good Asian restaurant called Pick Up Stix.  The food was yummy, and they served it in those little folding boxes, like you see on TV.

I think the time zone difference has finally hit us since we decided to call it a night by 7:30pm, and just relax in the room.  Tomorrow is sure to be a busy day, with lots of sight-seeing.