This was our day to celebrate our 17th Anniversary away, and we reserved it to do absolutely nothing but hangout at the beach and eat. Boy, was this a big day. hahaha
This is our last full day in California. We departed the 12th day.
Day 11!
We started off by waking up as early as we could. Trying to get our kids back on a somewhat normal schedule as they return to school a day after we land. We got ourselves ready for a fun last day. We made two reservations for this day, breakfast at Duke’s La Jolla and dinner at George’s on the Cove.
Duke’s La Jolla was so much fun. Like, apart from the beautiful view from the deck of the ocean, the atmosphere, decor, the staff, just everything was enjoyable from walking in. Duke is the reason the world surfs. The most I know of him was from what I learned before going to the restaurant. He was a multi-medal olympian, a hero, the first son of Hawaii, and just seemed like a really nice man.
We got checked in but our table wasn’t ready yet, so we decided to grab a celebratory drink at the bar. My husband ordered a Duke’s mai-tai which came in a large glass tiki head cup. For me, a mimosa, which came in a boring champagne flute.. ha! And, for the girls, two chocolate milk shakes. The bartenders we spoke with were so nice, like more than normal, and we joked about being all from the East Coast. We had noticed a lot of people from California are actually not natives. By the time we drank a few sips, we got greeted for our seats. We were given a big half round booth on the deck. The view of the cove below, as we were high up on a cliff, was gorgeous.
When we got seated, we ordered another round of drinks for the adults, my husband really liked that tiki cup, then we ordered our breakfasts. He got the Onolicious French Toast with a side of fried rice. I ordered the Hawaiian Breakfast with bacon, and the girls each got the French toast, too. Absolutely amazing. We shared bites, talked a lot, looked over the rail a few times at the ocean, and enjoyed it all thoroughly. We thought this was by far our favorite meal of the trip. That fried rice was definitely the best thing ever. I mean, THE BEST!! Everything was fresh and cooked right. Also, the place was sparkling clean, which is always a good thing. It was such a great experience.
After breakfast, I stopped at the front to buy my husband that mai-tai tiki cup. They have a small store set up on the side of the waiting area. Since he liked one at Trader Sam’s in Disneyland that they had run out of, the HippopotoMai-Tai; well, I just couldn’t resist. Now we both have a tiki cup souvenir from this trip!
Once we left we took a quick drive to look at some of the cove sights again, then grab more drinks for the day before heading back to the hotel. We were all looking forward to laze around on the beach. And laze around I did. It was a super hot day, especially in the sun. So we grabbed umbrellas with our chairs and set up camp. And, I had done something I have never done before with my kids at the beach…. SLEEP!! Yup, I have never napped on the beach with my kids around. But this day, I cared two shiz less and left my husband to solely watch them, which isn’t that big of a job as the kids are very aware of their surroundings, swim like fish and play in the sand a lot. I mean, we half ass watch them when we are chilling out on the beach, so he had to use his full ass here really. 😉 haha With them supervised, I shut my eyes then immediately drifted off into a mimosa nap for a half hour. It was the most glorious thirty minutes of my life. hahah The hot sun, warm breezes, sounds of the waves, gah, it was the perfect place to nap. Which I never do. I should change that.
After a few hours at the beach, we decided to hop to the pool and hot tub before getting ready for dinner. It was real nice but short-lived as we had to get ready for dinner. I jumped up first, because I take the longest..then I have to get the girls set up with outfits, so it’s just best I shower first.
The sun was starting to set as we headed to George’s on the Cove, on the ocean terrace upstairs, for dinner. What a gorgeous view!! HOLY MOLY! The terrace over looks the cove from a huge cliff. We were not able to get a table for four at the glass railing, but one set in. Which worked out great. The menu at George’s is very eclectic and fun. I liked it a lot.
We were greeted with a Happy Anniversary right when we checked in, and everyone we saw knew it was our anniversary too. Super sweet. Our waiter was real nice. We started off with a round of drinks and with an app of homemade chips, guacamole and salsa. We ordered our dinner at our leisure, which was super. We ordered Kalbi skirt steak for me, braised short rib for my husband, shrimp tacos for our oldest and chicken tenders for our youngest.
The view from the table was perfect. The ocean was our horizon line and the sun setting was golden. Gah, just made for the perfect ambience. The breeze up there was chilly, so our girls were freezing, but as soon as food arrived they stopped complaining. I think also the breezes changed direction. Our meals were fantastic. We each shared our dishes with one another, and thought no one had one dish better than the other. Even the chicken tenders were the most delicious tenders we had ever had. At the end of our meal, the waiter gave us a gift!! Can you believe that!?!?! They gave us two bottles of olive oil from our favorite organic olive oil company. Which was ironic and so awesome, and thoughtful!
After dinner we went back to the hotel. As we were driving back we decided to park the car then take a walk over to the town to grab a sundae. It was about a five-minute walk. We went by a few cute shops in that town area. Super cute area filled with quaint shops and restaurants. Perfect beach town. We ended up stopping at this cute ice cream shop, Scoops. This place is known for its natural ice cream and ingredients. They catered to a lot of dietary allergies / vegan lifestyle. Which vegan items, if you are unfamiliar, often times contain rice or nut based products, like cashew or almond as alternatives to conventional/non-vegan products like cow’s milk or eggs..just FYI. Our oldest daughter has an all nut allergy so we are constantly asking ingredient lists wherever we go. They clearly list everything vegan, however. We got some interesting flavors.. peanut butter marshmallow crunch sundae (for me), honeycomb (for my husband), salted caramel (our oldest), and, of course, chocolate (for our youngest). We had a nice time eating our ‘sundaes’ on the street seating. They had a very nice set up outside. Ok, I do have a tiny complaint about Scoops. The place was beautiful, clean, great flavors, and if I lived in the area I’d probably go back. But not for sundaes. I don’t know if you caught my quotations there around sundae. They didn’t actually serve hot fudge!! They have listed chocolate sauce, so you read that and scratch your noggin like, ‘what?’. Sundaes is about two things, not even the ice cream so much as it’s about whipped cream and hot fudge! Bahh!
Well. By the time we had finished our chocolate syrup sundaes we saw that it was real late and headed back to the hotel. We had to be at the airport by mid morning the next day, and still had a lot to pack up in the room; and by we, I mean me getting everyone packed before it was time to hit the hay.
Our last day… Day 12!
Well, this is a bummer to type out, though it was a pretty great last day.
We were all packed up, dolled up and out of the hotel early to grab a bite before heading to the airport. Luckily, we were located about 15 minutes from the airport and our plane was not taking off till early afternoon. So we had some time. Which was a huge bonus, as this meant we could literally go anywhere in the area before heading over to drop off the rental.
We had planned to eat breakfast at Richard Walker’s Pancake House. We actually went. Sat down. Ordered drinks. Got to talking with the waiter, got up and left. They use peanut oil in their pans, for every dish. We couldn’t eat there. Thankfully we asked about how they deal with food allergies because their peanut oil use was not listed on the menu. So important to ask!! So, a bit deflated we couldn’t get apple pancakes, we opted to go to a bakery we had heard about, Sugar and Scribe.
Holy wow, guys! This place was unbelievable. First, just the aesthetics, it was beautiful. Rustic, welcoming; the aroma of coffee mixing with the pastries is what I figure heaven smells like. The pastry displays were so beautiful, they challenge some of the boulangeries I had seen in Paris. That is how beautiful the pastry work appeared. We grabbed some coffees, waters, an apple turnover, a chocolate ganache cromuffin, a prosciutto cheddar croissant, and a pistachio croissant. It may have been the most delicious pastries we have eaten..and we have been around, folks! (Dear Sugar and Scribe, Please open up here in my town. TYVM, Fat Me)
We wished we could stay in that bakery all day, but we had to get going! We had a car to drop off and a plane back home to catch!
The San Diego airport was so pretty, and not hectic as I had figured. We landed in LAX, which we had been to many times, and is just crazy all day every day, especially compared to this place. We boarded on time and the flight home was seamless. Our girls sat together again on this trip home, which was a huge bonus. Well, the big bonus was that we got home almost an hour earlier!! YES AN HOUR!! Sometimes those airstreams work in your favor, girl!
We got picked up by grandma, and walkd into the house and let out that huge sigh. You know, that sigh of relief that you are finally home. Home always feels so good. 🙂
Valeria Out Loud 