San Diego Part One

Bonjour blogging family!
I have my promised California pictures!
Our trip was even better than what I had expected! AND I high expectations!
Considering that we only paid $45 a night for our hotel, it was really quite nice! It was clean, the workers there were friendly AND it had a pool & hot tub. Not bad at all :)
I had expected that Dan would work a lot down there and I would be alone quite a bit, but in fact he had A LOT of time off. Which meant we could go on more adventures. We went on an adventure every single day that we were down there. We discovered a lot of amazing beaches, gorgeous hiking spots and great places for a delicious nightly treat! Not to mention I shopped a lot!
 I made a friend on my flight from Chicago to San Diego and we went out on a lunch & shopping date. So all in all I expected to be alone often and that was just not the case :)
It was refreshing, relaxing and an adventure. It was exactly what I needed.
Here are some pictures from our two week adventure in San Diego.

Dan and I on our hike at Torrey Pines Reserve.

Our camera died at the very beginning of our 3 hours there. I was SO mad sad when it died because the view was incredible! Here's a pic I found on the google machine of Torrey pines so you can get the idea.

(taken from here)

See what I mean? Gorgeous.

Our next adventure was visiting Lajolla Beach. We went there with the intention of checking out the shopping along the beach but we were met with a pleasant surprise!
We parked our car along the beach and we were like ewwww, it's so stinky here! I said it was probably the sea food restaurant beside where we were parked & then we decided that we for sure did not want to eat there because it smelt way tooooo funky.
THEN we walked closer to the beach and we saw like a hundred seals!
SEALS! Right before my eyes, just chillin on the beach!
Maybe for all of my west coast friends this isn't that exciting, but to me it was like the best thing ever.

The cutest little baby!

Birds!

Dan with a sunbathing seal! How cute.

Big freaky birds. Not a fan. Although I am a big fan of the guy in the picture below.

I love the ocean. There is nothing like it. Whenever I look out over the ocean it just reminds me of how BIG God is. Not only how big He is, but how GOOD He is. I love those moments when I take the time to really revel in who He is.
Amazing.

At the end of our long walk along the beach we stopped in for some hazelnut coffee and bread bowl soup at panera. Oh baby.

Our next adventure was our day trip to Universal Studios in LA. It was such an awesome day! We left San Diego at 6 am and we were there by 8am. Luckily is was a chilly day and there were not that many people at the park. The longest it took to get on a ride was maybe 10 minutes!!
Also the rides were so cool. The 3d rides were the most fun! Although I get motion sick, the rides were totally worth the nauseous feeling I felt. You must go on the transformers ride. You need to go there, like right now.
When we first got to the park we took an hour tour of the studios! It was so neat to see the sets from some of the movies I love. This is Dan and I on the trolley for the tour.

From back to the future!

Whoville from The Grinch!

The Bates Motel from Hitchcock's "Psycho." Classic.

Airplane crash from War of the Worlds

Dan and I hanging out with Frank.

Universal Studios is so fun because it's like you are being entertained all day long. The rides are incredible, the shows are some of the best and your imagination is at work all day long.

We ended our day with Mexican food and a stroll down Hollywood blvd.

Well I still have lots more to tell you guys about our trip but it will have to wait until next time.
I had a great trip with the love of my life and it was exactly what I needed.
Although I am still sad, I am feeling overwhelmingly blessed.
Happy Monday friends!

xoxox
-Britt