Cali- Ocean Beach and Balboa Park

This time around we decided to fly directly to San Diego so we could jump right in and not waste time driving all over southern California (although we did plenty of that later in the week). Yes, the plane tickets were more expensive but the benefit of the San Diego airport actually being right in San Diego (seriously, like 15 mins from where we stayed) finally won me over. 

After a good nights rest, we woke up bright and early on Sunday morning and spent some time getting re-acquainted with Ocean Beach. We are SO SO SO lucky to have a friend who lives just a few blocks from the beach and since he was out of town for work, we had his whole apartment to ourselves. Of course, we were sad we didn't get to see him but adventures called him away. 

We walked up to the Ocean Beach Pier (which is frighteningly long, by the way) and watched the surfers for a while and then walked up and down the streets of OB daydreaming about living in one of the many adorable (aka million dollar) bungalows we saw. We like to spend time wherever we are acting like we live in the neighborhood. We enjoy seeing people in their daily routines, walking dogs, washing cars, whatever else people do on Sunday mornings. 

Eventually we found our way to James' absolute favorite place in California, Plant Power, which is also conveniently just a half a mile walk from the apartment. After he re-established himself as their number one customer by purchasing at least 3 breakfast items, we walked back to the apartment and rested for a bit before heading to Balboa Park. 

I wanted to go to Balboa Park specifically to attend the organ concert, which is held every Sunday at 2 pm. We weren't sure how popular the concerts are or how difficult it would be to find parking, so we got there an hour early. We had no problem finding a parking spot right near the organ pavilion, so we went to the Japanese Friendship Garden and walked around before the concert. The garden was really peaceful and beautiful, so I am happy we had extra time to do this. 

Now onto the organ concert- it was amazing and it was FREE so if you are in San Diego on a Sunday, I highly recommend you go to it. The organist was young and very engaging; he explained the history of the music he played and about the mechanics of the organ. James thought it would be boring but he actually ended up having a great time. So Sunday, 2 pm, Balboa Park, go there!

After the concert, we walked around some of the other areas of the park we hadn't seen before, namely the Spanish arts village and the carousel. James actually wanted to ride the carousel but we both noticed it seems to spin very fast and we both got dizzy looking at it. Yep, we are wimps. It is really cool though and the artwork on it is interesting to look at. 

After walking around for a while, I realized it was getting close to sunset and I really wanted to be at the beach for that. So we booked it to the Sunset Cliffs area but couldn't find parking actually in the park. So we parked on the street nearby and walked to the cliffs. Just like the last time we were in California, the sunset on the first night of our trip was amazing (the sun had already set when we arrived the night before)! Everyone else thought so as well, because there was totally a traffic jam getting back into Ocean Beach. It took us well over an hour to get from Sunset Cliffs to Plant Power (2.5 miles). Yes, we ate at Plant Power twice in one day and yes, we did this several other days of this trip as well. Seriously, James is their number one customer. 

After dinner, we were feeling kind of tired due to the time zone difference, so we took it easy and went to bed pretty early. Plus we're old and boring- reference earlier activities of watching surfers at 7 am and getting dizzy looking at a carousel...

California Trip- Balboa Park

So finally on the third day of our trip, the sun decided to come out. It was a stunningly beautiful day so we decided to walk around Balboa Park. We got a pretty early start so there were not too many people around. We parked in the 6th Street and Upas Street parking lot and had no trouble finding parking. We pretty much just followed the trails and visited many of the various garden areas. My favorite part by far was the rose garden. I have never seen so many varieties of roses in my life. I also enjoyed the botanical building. The desert garden was a little lackluster. I would have much rather just visited the desert (but not a good idea in August!).

It was my goal to not pay for very many attractions but we did end up visiting the Museum of Man. It was OK; probably a good choice for people with kids because it's not very extensive and you can move through the exhibits fairly quickly. Overall I am more of an art museum person and I wish we had done that instead. We also opted to not pay the extra admission fee to visit the Japanese garden, although it looked very pretty. We barely scratched the surface and definitely could have spent another day there. I've never been anywhere like Balboa Park before. 

After walking around for 5+ hours, we were feeling rather peckish so we went further into downtown San Diego and ate at an epic Mexican restaurant called Pokez. The vegan options were endless and the prices were amazing, not to mention the vibe which definitely had a artistic flair. I got an indescribably large taco salad (seriously, I don't know how they made the taco shell bowl it was in) that I had a hard time finishing. 

In the evening, we met up with our (formerly) Arizona friend Chris who ended up moving to San Diego after we already planned to be visit. That's serendipity! We went to a bar in Ocean Beach, the name of which I did not catch, and just sat and talked for hours. It was a very peaceful, beautiful evening- exactly what I imagined a Friday night in California would be like.