San Diego, which of course in German means a whale's vagina

Vegas Hangover! Woke up at 12:30pm feeling like crap. Marc had only just crawled into bed after spending the night/morning on the couch! It was a great night but we were paying for it now plus we had to pack up and go to San Diego as Eric had new couch surfers coming in.

Finally after getting everything packed up, said our goodbyes and thanks to Eric we were on the road around 2:30. Marc started the drive but after 40min in we had stopped for food and to discuss if we should continue on. I had drunk a little bit too much coke at McDonald’s (free refills) so said that I would drive.

It was about a 4-hour drive to San Diego through desert and up and down valley’s. The traffic was pretty good but it got really busy in places especially the closer we got to LA. Marc had basically slept the whole way and I was feeling very spaced out due to the caffeine and hang over.

We finally made it into San Diego and we attempted to find a place to park for the night, but did not have much luck. We drove around for about an hour, even attempted to find a hostel but after a lot of frustration decided to head outside of San Diego to find somewhere cheap for the night. After a lot of heated discussions we finally found this budget motel on the outskirts of town. It was really cheap and not the nicest place in the world, the room was clean just a little old and the sheets on the bed where full of holes. So we slept on our sleeping bags and called it a night. Lessoned learned: Always make sure we have somewhere to stay if arriving at night into big cities!

Day 1: The budget motel turned out to be an ok place to crash; at least they didn’t have bed bugs. After a Google search we had decided the cheapest option for us to stay in San Diego would be to camp; the hostels were a bit pricey if you wanted to stay near the beach. We had found a place in mission bay about 10 mins out of downtown San Diego and made our way there.

Campland by the bay was a huge campsite, still a bit pricey for camping but after finding a nice site we decided to take the cheaper option and stay for a week. The facilities were really nice, we had water, electric and wifi. Plus there was a beach, swimming pool, gym and skate park. The rest of the day was very quiet and we had a really early night was we were exhausted.


Day 2: Really cold night last night; it is autumn but I hope the rest of the week is not as cold. Today was an awesome lazy Sunday we just relaxed; went for a swim, watched some movies, Marc read and I laid by the pool. So good not to have to go anywhere or see anything.

Today we also decided that time for the trip was running out; so canceled the last few stops on our list -> San Francisco and Vancouver. We were sad but as we had been to these two places before it was ok. Now after San Diego we would go to Disneyland, Los Angeles, and Yosemite National Park then back to Calgary, which meant we only had 2 weeks left of our 4 month road trip.. how time flies!

Day 3: Another cold night last night, but not as bad as the first night. Day 2 of chilling out went pretty much the same as day 1; relaxed by the pool, watch some movies, played monopoly card game and Marc played the pinnies.

Marc was getting a little stir crazy by the end of the day and was looking forward to doing things the next day now that he was fully recharged.

Day 4: Today we went to the World Famous San Diego Zoo. We arrived just as the zoo was opening and while we were lining up to get in a lady approached us and asked if one of us would like to get in for free as she had a membership that covered entry for 2. We said yes, I followed her in and Marc stayed lined up and paid, pretty awesome the way it turned out and saved us having to buy 2 tickets!

The zoo was huge with loads to see, we started at the ‘Lost Forest’ area and made our way around. The zoo was really mazing, the enclosures were super clean, big in size and the animals super healthy and happy.

We saw so many animals and we could see most of them up close, which was crazy. Our favorites were probably the mama and baby hippo, the pandas, the baby giraffe and all the amazing birds. I really enjoyed the elephant odyssey area as it also stepped back into history 10,000 years ago when giant versions of toady’s animals roamed North America, e.g. horses, camels, elephants and lamas but they all died out.

Also took part in a world record at the zoo for the most number of people doing star jumps in 24 hrs. It’s an initiative by Michelle Obama to get the nation active. we did about 60 star jumps in the 60 sec but we were the only adults doing it. The activity took place next to the polar bear exhibit, there was a guy dresses up as a bear, the actual polar bear saw it and was not too sure about the situation at all.

To end the day we walked around the ‘Outback’ and ‘Urban Jungle’ areas that had a lot of Australian animals, we did not spend too much time there before we ended our massive day and headed back to camp.





Day 5: It was a much warmer night last night, which was excellent. In the afternoon we drove down to Pacific beach for a walk around and a swim. It was very windy along the beach so we went for a walk along the pier. The pier was really nice, there were about 10 little cottages on the pier you could rent out. It was a very busy place to rent accommodation but really nice as they looked out over the Pacific Ocean.

There were loads of surfers near the pier catching waves in. We stopped and watched the talent for a little bit, our favourite guy to watch was a body border who had no coordination and kept getting in the way of the other surfers, really funny to watch. We waited to see him catch a wave, but he just wasn't able to!

After the pier we made our way to the beach, stopped for some ice cream and I attempted to swim but did not go past my knees as it was freezing. Marc thought I was a girl but it was just way too cold. I even saw this little girl trembling from the cold, that was enough for me to turn around and go back in dry. Pacific beach was a really nice area with loads of places to eat drink and hang out.

 For dinner we headed to the Gaslamp Quarter in downtown San Diego. We didn't actually eat in the quarter but went to a local brewery ‘Karl Strauss’. It was really good actually massive servings of good food and great beer. We shared a spicy hummus dip, a plate of blackened chicken Mac and cheese, and a Beeramisu (like tiramisu just with beer).


After dinner we were extremely full, so a walk to the Gaslamp quarter was exactly what we needed. We were walking towards the gaslamp quarter when we ran into the Irish guys we hung out with in New Orleans!! It was a spin out to run into them randomly in San Diego.

The Gaslamp Quarter was really big; we had a walk around looking at the different shops, purchased a magnet and stopped in at another brewery ‘Rock Bottom’ for some more great beer before heading back to camp.     

Day 6: Today we were off to another great attraction in San Diego ‘Sea World’. We were up relatively early and at the park by 10am. We purchased our tickets and headed in. As we were in so early none of the shows where really on until lunchtime so we had plenty of time to look around. First exhibit we looked at were the penguins, it was really cool they had a large number of penguins in an icy cold enclosure hanging out and doing what penguins do. All the penguins looked very healthy and pretty happy in their enclosure. Next we went to the Wild arctic ride and exhibit. It was a simulator helicopter ride to the arctic it was more for kids then adults. After the ride we got to see beluga whales, another polar bear and my favourite was the walrus, as I had never seen one before, he was huge!

Next it was time to go and see ‘Shamu’ and the ‘One Ocean’ orca whale show. We arrived pretty early and managed to get really good seats. It was a very hot day so the 30 min wait was a bit hot but well worth it. The show started and it was amazing I never new that orca whales were so agile. There were 4 whales in the show and they really looked like they were having loads of fun, Jumping, doing 360’s and splashing the crowed (god did we get wet). We loved every minute of it!


After the whale show we made our way to pets stadium to watch ‘Pets Rule’. It was another awesome show with rescued dogs, cats, pigs and birds running around the stage doing hundreds of tricks. The last show we watched was ‘Blue Horizons’ at dolphin stadium, where people and dolphins performed acrobatics and crazy dives. All three shows were extremely entertaining.

After the shows we looked around the park at the other exhibits (Sharks, turtles, fish, birds) and then went on a couple of rides that were fun but we got absolutely drenched. The only negative we found at sea world was the food, we went to get some lunch but as it was so expensive and the portions were small we decided to give it a miss and wait for dinner.

Another massive day done, we had a quiet night with some fun in the pool to cool down after such a hot day.





Day 7: A very lazy day today, we did not have much planned so did not do much at all. Marc went for a run and I caught up on some emails. We spoke to Marc’s brother Chris on Skype, did some washing and started to pack up as today was our last day and were checking out tomorrow.

It was a really good week break in San Diego that gave us a chance to unwind and enjoy our last bit of warm weather before we head back to Calgary.

Day 8: Woke up pretty early this morning as our next-door neighbour had a really loud alarm go off around 5:30am! We managed to continue sleeping for a little bit but were still up early. I started to pack up our tent while Marc went for a run (I am very particular when packing up the tent so it’s normally better if I am left alone to complete the task!).

We left ‘Camp land by the bay’ around 10:30am and headed into San Diego to check out a couple more sites before heading to Anaheim. First we drove down along the seaport and stopped to take photos of the giant statue of a Navy guy kissing a lady and the battleship. We then went back to the Gaslamp quarter and walked around the Westfield mall and stopped for some lunch at the ‘Rock Bottom’ brewery again for some lunch. It was a lovely way to finish up in San Diego.