Arden had an out of state gymnastics meet! It was in San Diego! In February! Yes, please, sign me up. We didn't have the $$ to bring everyone, so it was just me and Arden. Which was fun, since I hardly get to see Arden between school and gymnastics! We flew in the day before the meet, and checked into our hotel (the StayPineapple hotel in downtown San Diego. Arden loves pineapples due to Psych, so it was a perfect fit).
We walked over to Harbor Village for dinner, and it was so nice to see the sunshine and the water. Even though it wasn't super warm we wanted to eat outside by the harbor. The sun was just setting and it was so pretty!
The food was delicious also:
After dinner we walked around a little, but it was getting pretty dark so we didn't spend too much time. But I talked Arden into doing this picture for me, isn't it cute?
We headed back to the hotel and I watched the Jazz game and Arden watched a show on her tablet because she is no fun. We turned in early, so Arden could rest up for her meet, and I had a long run to do in the morning.
I got up super early and headed out for my run just as the sun was coming up. I ran down by the water and it was glorious. There was a homeless dude just waking up in the park across from the water, and I must admit that I considered joining him in his urban outdoorsman lifestyle. Look at the view he wakes up to! It's almost worth the lack of access to hot showers! But not quite.
I ran by the USS Midway aircraft carrier and saw the famous statue....
And I had to do like 16 miles and so I ran all the way around to Harbor Island and ran back and forth out there, which did. Not. Suck.
There were quite a few people running by the time I slogged my way back over to the hotel, and there were some faaaast people making me feel bad. But overall it was a beautiful, warm, happy, sunny run, and I thought about it on every other long run that I did in the freezing cold the rest of the winter.
After my run and my shower, Arden and I wanted to go to the zoo. We figured out that the hotel shuttle wasn't operating yet, so we took a brave step and did our very first Uber over to the zoo! It was super easy, and the driver was nice and his car was clean and he didn't kidnap us and sell us into slavery, which was nice.
It was a beautiful sunny day, and me and Arden liked this animal, which I can't remember the name of.
The big attraction at the zoo was the giant panda! We waited in line to see it, so we were pretty happy she was awake!
We walked around quite a lot (I got close to 40,000 steps in this day), and the day was perfect. We saw pretty much everything, which takes a lot of work in a zoo that big! And Arden is cute!
It was so fun to run around the zoo with my Arden, she is so fun to hang out with. We tried a selfie on the way out, but I am not good at selfies. Plus, I hate them.
By the time we were done zoo-ing, the hotel shuttle was operating, and so we arranged for it to pick us up. It was an open air, giant golf cart kind of thing, and it was fun to ride in, though our hair did get messy. (This picture was pre-ride).
After that we went back to the hotel and got Arden all ready for her meet. This involves showering, and gymnastics hair. Gymnastics hair is an arduous task, but I was getting pretty good at it. Arden did just fine, and got some medals.
The meet was supposed to start at 6, but it started like an hour late. It was a really big meet, and tons of girls were there, so the meet itself took a long time. They were in the huuuge convention center and there were like three meets going on at the same hall at the same time. One of the meets was actually a boys' meet. There was like, a full hour between Arden's events, so I wandered over and watched the boys' meet for a while, and it was so interesting! They do six events instead of just 4. Arden did well on the meet itself, and it is always fun to watch her do her thing. After the meet was over, there was the standard half hour wait between the meet and the awards. We snuck out of the awards after Arden's age group was done, but by the time we got out of there it was like 10:30 p.m!
As we walked back to our hotel, which was in the "Gaslight" district, we figured out that we were smack-dab in the middle of nightclub central. There were lines to get into every other building on the block, and crazy women in ridiculous heels and short skirts on a very cold night. But it was a fun atmosphere. Here is Arden under the "Gaslight District" sign.
I promised Arden some ice cream after the meet, and luckily the huge Ghiradelli store downtown was open until MIDNIGHT! I was cold so I got the fanciest hot chocolate ever (yum!), and Arden got a sundae that was huge. It was the perfect end to a fun day! I loves my Arden so much and I am so proud of her and how hard she works.
The next day we had some time before our flight, so after we checked out we walked over the top of the convention center and did a little shopping at Harbor Village again. Here is Arden on the top:
From there we took another Uber (we are Uber pros by this time!) and headed out to Coronado Island, so we could see the ocean waves. Here we are crossing the bridge we have been looking at all weekend:
We headed straight for the beach. It was windy, and made it feel cold, but it was so beautiful! I could watch the waves all day.
We love to feel the sand beneath our feet!
I know you can't see it very well in the picture, but the sand here on this island actually looks like gold! (I looked it up and it is due to a mineral deposit offshore that contains mica). Just trust me.
We took a beach break and ate food at a cute little restaurant. We of course had to eat outside in the warm sunshine, because we knew it was our last meal before heading back to the frigid north. Look how fabulous!
We walked back over and said goodbye to the beach, and then we headed back to the hotel, picked up our luggage, and off to the airport we went. It was a short trip, but so much fun! We should make it an annual tradition. :)
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