We escaped the desert and hopped on a short domestic flight to the West Coast arriving in San Diego, California.
Situated on San Diego’s marina we arrived at the Sheratons with scenic views and nautical inspired interiors.
Started the day with a delicious fish finger sandwich in Quinn’s Ale House overlooking the boats and people splashing around in the pool.
I attended to some bridesmaid duties with Mads, with a slight distraction playing with this man Reed.
Once we’d wrapped up our tasks we headed out to watch the sunset with a speedy stop to check out the view overlooking downtown San Diego.
My fortunate friend Mads is lucky enough to call San Diego home, each time I visit we manage to squeeze in a trip to La Jolla.
The coastline is very dramatic and has been nicknamed ‘the jewel’ of San Diego. Feeling the sand on our feet we pattered down to La Jolla Cove in search of seals.
The cove is a marine reserve where seals splash about and happily lay back on the rocks basking in the sunshine without a care in the world.
The sun started to set and the noisy seals disappeared into the darkness much like us. After lapping up the golden sky our minds drifted to food – as always and we debated on what to eat.
We settled on driving to Mission Hills and trying out the ridiculously popular food spot known as Lucha Libre Taco Shop. The restaurant has a pretty memorable interior, with hot pink and gold being the choice for the colour palette.
The namesake wrestling tradition is evident throughout with framed pictures of wrestlers featured across most walls.
There was even a gold booth seating area for those dedicated enough to booking in advance. The atmosphere was chilled despite queuing for some time, but with the smell of hot tacos being whisked up in the distance we thought it would be worth the wait.
The good news – it was worth every minute and I’ve got the evidence to prove it. Above I opted for a gourmet taco that was grilled in cheese with fresh fries, topped with avocado and chipotle sauce. It sounds strange to order tacos with fries inside but is one of the most recommended dishes and was unbelievably tasty.
I also tested the Surf n’ Turf tacos which were equally as delicious.
They serve a creamy corn topped with mayo, chilli powder and lime that have a zingy taste that works perfectly topped onto tacos.
The next day we decided to play tourists and visited the San Diego Zoo, one of the largest most visited zoos in the world.
It was a gloriously sunny day, we hopped on a tour bus to grasp an overview of the gigantic park and spotted a polar bear casually bopping away in the clear waters.
Followed by elephants and giraffes including the teeny little baby one.
We watched a fantastic 4D interactive short movie based on the movie Rio, and happily admired the Macaws with their beaming bright colours.
Onto another eye-catching animal, the flamingos that seemed to all are resting in rather peculiar positions.
I managed to catch a quick snap of the Mandrill before the hairy thing trotted off.
I couldn’t take my eyes off this vibrant green little bird, honestly the brightest animal I have ever seen, I wouldn’t be a surprise if it glowed in the dark.
As we strolled past the hippo suddenly surfaced to the side of the glass tank and the crowds went mad following it’s every move.
Onto my highlight of the entire day getting to see the pandas.
The giant pandas that were busy chomping away on bamboo fascinated me.
They hid amongst the food as they munched away. I couldn’t help but think how cuddly and soft the pandas looked.
After a day of exploring, we decided to take in the scenic zoo and admire the scale of the place perched high on the skyride. This also saved our feet that had covered every inch of the park by the time we were done.
The zoo is an incredible day trip, and is definitely packed with so much to see you’ll end up being there all day too. I thoroughly recommend a visit if you happen to be heading in that direction. Who can resist visiting those giant pandas take another scroll up and check out those faces.
Another awesome day on the West Coast rounded off with an essential burger trip to the one and only In-N-Out Burger. Ironically don’t believe the name, as there will always be a huge queue upon each visit but that never stopped anyone with an ounce of sense.
In-N-Out Burger is an incredibly popular burger spot in Southern California. The burgers are juicy with thin meat patties and heaps of melted cheese. They have a ‘secret menu’ that houses some of the extra great treats including the Animal Style fries that are covered with grilled onions cheese and spread.
Just two days in and I’d already fallen deeply in love with California all over again with the sunsets, friendly people, adorable animals and not forgetting some exceptionally tasty food spots.
