Coronado

The title of the first blog post about my trip was a little deceiving because although I flew into San Diego, we mostly spent our time in the outskirts of the city. That was probably a good thing because ComicCon was going on and I didn't have my Wonder Woman costume with me. I jest.

This was completely okay with me because we saw some incredible towns. One of those was Coronado. It's an island off the coast and seriously reminded me of something out of a movie. Think Pleasantville not War of the Worlds. After our trip to La Jolla my first full day, Ashley and I went to Coronado for dinner. Unfortunately, we arrived after dark but even that did not hamper our intake of the houses. The houses we saw in Beverly Hills paled in comparison to these, not in size but in character, Here's a sneak peak at one of the houses.
Because there are so many brilliant ones, I'm going to save those for a separate blog post. It sounds boring, but believe me, I think it will be worth it.

Back to the matter at hand- food! Ashley took me to this Mexican food restaurant called Miguels Cocina.
Her rave over the jalapeno cheese sauce did not disappoint. It was amazing! I think our eyes both lit up when the waitress told us you can buy it by the jar. We resisted though.
The back of the restaurant was so pretty.
Since we wanted a better look at the town in the daylight we decided to make that our destination after our Hollywood trip. Here's Coronado in the daytime.

Ashley and I decided to rent bicycles to go sightseeing.
We bought lemonade from two boys who took this picture of us. It was actually pretty good lemonade. They also had golf balls for sale - pretty convenient since their house was right by the golf course.
I wish I could share the picture of the lemonade stand, but Ashley took that picture with her camera. We're planning on sharing all of the pictures we took.

While we didn't see any celebrities during my stay, we did come across this guy. See what I mean about this place coming straight out of a movie?

We're off to celebrate my mom's birthday. Happy Birthday Nee!

"Swimmin' Pools, Movie Stars"

Do you ever have this idea in your head about what a place looks like but know it's probably not going to live up to that? Los Angeles was like that for me. I have those Hollywood images imprinted on my brain over time, yet I knew it probably wasn't going to live up to my expectations. However, I just had to see for myself. Ashley graciously obliged me and we drove the two and a half hours to get there.

First stop- Beverly Hills.

We made our way down Rodeo Drive ( I imagined the streets to be larger- you can never trust a Shrek movie!)

All of you car gurus out there probably know what kind of car this is, but I have no idea. I just know the lady beside it really liked it and there were swarms of people taking photographs.

Beverly Hills Hotel

You know you are getting close to Hollywood when you pass the prop rental place.
After nearly running out of gas and being famished, we gratefully made our way to Miceli's for some yummy pizza. (Can you tell we ate pretty good?) This place has been around since about the 50s and it lived up to the parking attendant's review.
Frank Sinatra used to have a restaurant around the corner from here and he would come in to visit. Ol' Blue Eyes would pay the bus boy ten bucks to walk three feet and buy him a pack of cigarettes. Julia Roberts had to be reminded that she was in a family restaurant when caught making out with Lyle Lovett back in the day. I love places like this that have so much history.
We then walked around Hollywood Boulevard. I have to say that I am glad to see this place one time in my life, but I don't know if I would go back because it was SO crowded.

Grauman's Chinese Theatre
This one is for D.

And one for me.
Jimmy Kimmel Studios

And speaking of Jimmy Kimmel, I heard he keeps Regis Philbin's star pretty shiny.
Hollywood Boulevard
We couldn't leave without getting a clear picture of the Hollywood sign.

We had to drive up these winding roads past houses built on hills, but it was completely worth it.
Were my visions of L.A. concise with reality? No. But am I glad I now have seen it for myself? Without a doubt!

Sunny San Diego

I've been home three days since my five day exertion to see my childhood friend Ashley in San Diego. When I say childhood, I mean we have known each other since before braces and first boyfriends. Here's a picture we took before prom one year.
This was after braces and first boyfriends and no, we were not each others date.

Ashley moved to sunny San Diego nearly three years ago when she married her love Nick. It's been that long since I had seen her and during one of our phone conversations the thought of me visiting came up and well, we sort of ran with it.

This little boy nearly ran out the door with his suitcase packed to stay at Poppy and Nee's house. (That's what he's calling my mom these days.)
I think my husband was a little more hesitant about me going, but he was also very supportive. Thanks hunny!

To get off the plane in San Diego was phenomenal. There was the feel of an actual breeze in the air, plus NO humidity! After dealing with baggage claim about my lost bag, I finally met up with Ashley and I seriously don't think we stopped talking the entire evening until at least 1 am (3 am Houston time- whew!).

The next day, we slowly made our way to an area outside of San Diego called La Jolla. I'm seriously glad I packed a light jacket but believe me, I won't complain about the weather. It was such a nice break from the Texas heat. Neither of us had eaten a hamburger in quite some time and I must say I think that day I ate the the best one I had ever had. Unfortunately, I cannot offer free advertising for the place because I do not remember the name and after 30 minutes of searching the Internet, I cannot find it. This unnamed place also had incredible sweet potato fries. I thought they were so good, I was inspired to buy sweet potatoes when I got home.

Once you can find a parking spot, Loa Jolla is one of those walking towns. I mean, who wouldn't want to in 75 degree weather.

It was a good thing we walked because we came across this place.

We shared all six of these Lil' Cups. We controlled ourselves and didn't go with the full size. I'm not sure you can say control when you order six of anything!
The flavors ranged from Tres Leches to Cookies and Cream. And, they were all either vegan or glucose free.

How's the peanut butter and jelly flavor Ash?

I think we liked them.
We went over to Seal Beach, but alas there were no seals. I found out later they don't come back to shore until about four in the afternoon.

These surfers were about as close to seals as we got.

We ended our trip to La Jolla by hiking (walking really) to see this view of La Jolla and some parasailers.

This doesn't quite complete the day's events, but I want to share our visit to Coronado in another blog post.

A Red Hot Day

Today, my mother-in-law and I took Gavin and my nephew Ayden to the Houston Fire Museum.

The museum is housed in the oldest Houston Fire Station dating to 1898 back when the the water hoses were pulled by horses.While the museum itself is not very large it packed in several firetrucks.

Granted these are not the firetrucks of our day, but I think the boys loved the shiny red vehicles and most definitely the writing on the wall. By the way, I don't have a picture of it, but the museum does have a scrap of metal from the Twin Towers. I believe firefighters from the area may have helped during that time. It was interesting trying to explain to a five-year old why the museum had the metal beam.
There was also a variety of equipment from the old to the new.
But what I think the boys most enjoyed was the play area. Kids could dress up in small firefighter coats, hats and gloves. Some coats still were not small enough.
But Gavin endured it for a photo.
Then the kids could take turns pretending to drive the fire truck and sliding down the pole.
This museum really had their act together when it came to activities for the kids. There were tubs filled with fire safety games from pretend phones to water bucket relay. We even took home some coloring sheets and a paper to plan a family escape route in case of an emergency. This one was trying to make his own escape!

Thanks Me Me for a red hot and fun-filled day!