My Month of Traveling Part One: San Diego

I hadn't seen my dear friend Alisa since her wedding almost 5 years ago, and as a surprise for her birthday, her awesome husband Stacy flew me out to San Diego for Memorial Day weekend. It's the first time I've traveled without kids in almost five years (since her wedding, actually) and even the plane trip was wonderful: just me and my iPod and my sketchbook. The rest of the weekend would prove to be just as mellow, relaxing, and fabulous. It was so good to just to see Alisa!
Stacy picked me up from the airport and as I followed him into their home, I heard Alisa ask why he was home from work so early. Then she saw me! That was fun.

Flying into San Diego

We had dinner that night at El Zarape--delicious! This was taken outside of the restaurant.

The next morning we walked down to get coffee and breakfast. I forget just how beautiful Southern California is. Sigh.

After breakfast we drove out to Torrey Pines state reserve. It was a beautiful hike. All the wildflowers were in bloom and trying to identify them was a challenge.

The view was pretty spectacular, even on a cloudy day.

Driving back through La Jolla.

On Sunday we went to Balboa park, and toured the museums and walked around. There was a festival going on at the International Cottages, with food and vendors and dancing. I love stumbling unexpectedly across fun things like that. Here's some of my favorite paintings from the San Diego Museum of Art:


George Inness "Farm Landscape, Cattle in Pasture"

Charles-Edouard Boutibonne "After the Promenade"

John Hoppner "Portrait of a Lady (Georgina Buckley)"

I loved the botanical garden!

The architecture in Balboa Park is incredible. I didn't realize it was all built for the first World's Fair, the 1915-16 Panama-California Exposition.

After a marvelous day at the Park we drove to downtown San Diego for an early dinner at Monsoon, an upscale Indian restaurant. The food was wonderful and the setting was very luxe and soothing. Then we walked just a bit, being all touristy and stuff.

Stopped at a relatively expensive haberdashery and I was taken in by this display.

And then the next day I was back on a plane and heading home. It really was a fabulous weekend: great friends, good food and conversation, episodes of The IT Crowd, new music and record shopping, long walks, and gorgeous weather. It was just the break I needed and I'm so grateful that I got to go!



And then, barely two weeks later, I was on another plane and flying to the Caribbean!