Quick Summer

The summer of 2011 flew by!  I can't believe that the last time I posted was July 19.

One of the highlights of the summer was The Ten-Year-Old-Trip to San Diego.  It is a tradition in our household to take a trip with each child when they turn 10 years old.  Our baby turned ten this summer, and she chose San Diego for her trip.  (The other two chose New York City.)  The rule is that you must pick a place in the continental United States.

It seems like the planning starts a year ahead.  One of the first things we do is pick the dates--5 nights.  Next we go online and research our destination, ordering travel brochures and bookmarking sites.  Then we work on airfare and then hotel.  The best resource for us was the San Diego tourism website http://www.sandiego.org/nav/Visitors. On the website I requested a travel guide to be mailed to me.  It had so much great info.  I poured over the guide for ideas.

We chose to stay in the Hotel Del Coronado.  Since it was first built more than 120 years ago, the Hotel del Coronado has been a beacon of grandeur and refinement among vacation destinations in Southern California and the world. With its iconic red-shingled roof adding a dash of majestic color to the dazzling azure Pacific coastline, The Del stands as the definitive example of what a luxury hot resort should be. Since it was first built more than 120 years ago, the Hotel del Coronado has been a beacon of grandeur and refinement among vacation destinations in Southern California and the world. With its iconic red-shingled roof adding a dash of majestic color to the dazzling azure Pacific coastline, The Del stands as the definitive example of what a luxury hot resort should be. http://www.hoteldel.com/  And best of all, it's right on the beach!  One Night was movie by the pool (Dive-in Movie) and another night was s'mores on the beach.
The town of Coronado is so cute and fun to walk in.  Cute shops, restaurants... 


We rented a car while we where in San Diego, truly necessary.  San Diego has a bunch of public transportation, but I don't think it would have suited us.  We rented a little Ford Fiesta.  What a fun, delightful car!  We rented from Fox Rent a Car because I was able to get the best deal from them.  I was a little worried because I had never heard of them, but it turned out to be great.  The shuttle van was easy to use, the driver of the van was great each time, the folks at the place were nice.  They did try to sell several add-ons when I checked in, but I kindly said, "No, thank you," and they didn't pressure me any further.  I would recommend them.

One of the best deals was the Go San Diego Card. http://www.smartdestinations.com/san-diego-attractions-and-tours/_d_Sdo-p1.html?pass=Sdo_Prod_Go&GCID=GOOGLE-san-diego-GOCARD-gbc  We probably saved half on all the attractions that were included.  There were a ton of attractions we could go to as part of the card.  We went to: The Birch Aquarium, kayaking in La Jolla, Belmont Park, LegoLand, San Diego Zoo, San Diego Safari Park, Go Car, USS Midway, Balboa Park (IMAX Movie), Harbor Cruise... We ran out of time and energy for all of the attractions available.


Of course, our number one favorite part of our trip was The San Diego Zoo!