San Diego: Part 3

I really didn’t mean for this to turn into three parts – apparently I took more pictures than I realized!

So after the zoo, we had dinner in downtown San Diego with Matt’s “line of business” – meaning the head of corporate banking and everyone within the group who was on the trip (each of the groups had their own dinner).  Our dinner was at Donovan’s, a delicious steak house in the Gaslamp quarter.

Because we are super lame were exhausted from the zoo, we called it a night after dinner.

On Friday, our last full day, we were able to meet up with some good friends of ours (shout out to Kaylan because I think she’s one of the only people who actually reads this!) who just happened to be in San Diego for their anniversary trip at the same time as us!  They live in Arizona so we don’t get to see them as often as we’d like – we were so excited to find out our trips overlapped! 

After lunch, we had a catamaran ride scheduled for the afternoon.  It was a little chilly, but such a fun way to see the bay!

And last, but CERTAINLY not least… the dinner party the last night was out.of.this.world.  Considering this was technically considered a “business trip” we were expecting a banquet hall with typical hotel food, run-of-the-mill décor, etc.  Wrong.  The theme for the last night was “There’s no place like home…” and they went all out.  The Wizard of Oz was written at the del, there’s a whole section of one of the shops in the hotel with memorabilia, but this party took it to another level.  I’ll share some pictures, but let me just say that they do NOT do it justice!  (Please note the projected image of the tornado and house on the back corner of the hotel in the aerial shots.

From the outside dinner/cocktail party, we moved inside where they had completely transformed one of the hotel ballrooms.  There was an amazing live band, ruby slipper chandelier, a balcony where Dorothy, the tin man, the lion and the scarecrow all danced, a giant ice sculpture filled with desserts, a “yellow brick road” running throughout and so much more… it was jaw-dropping.

 

The company also hired a sand castle creator for the week we were there and every day there was a new design.  This was the last night’s castle (Oz!) – it has a wagon wheel (the award Matt won was called the Golden Spoke) and a “Thank You” to the girl who planned the whole week (what a job!).

Such a fun trip!  And the girls had a blast with their nana & poppie (although I have never seen Harper happier than the moment we got home – she literally ran to me with open arms and a giant grin on her face!).

San Diego Zoo

As I mentioned in my first post, we had excursions to choose from each day while we were in Coronado/San Diego.  We tried to find a balance of resting/relaxing and still seeing some of the sights.  On Thursday we had a few different options but we both had no trouble deciding on the San Diego Zoo visit.  It was a full day trip that included a private tour, catered lunch and a behind the scenes “encounter” with some surprise animals.  It was definitely a little tough at times because we kept thinking about how much the girls would have loved it, but all it took was walking by one little kid melting down and I was happy to be on our own again. ;) I have about a hundred pictures from the zoo so bear with me here…

This elephant below made me laugh… we passed them on our tour and there was a group of 5 or 6 that our tour guide said were all females and about 50 yards away from them was this dude.  The guide said that he doesn’t like the female elephants and despite their efforts to get them to all “mingle” he comes and sits over here at the fence every day instead.

These next few animals were a part of the animal encounter after our lunch.  I can’t remember most of their names but it was fun to see them up close regardless!

This little guy was a baby sloth and was probably the cutest little thing ever!  It just kept snuggling with the zookeeper while she was talking!

Most people probably already know this but there are only 10 (I think?) pandas in the U.S. and they are all “on loan” from China.  There were two there that we were able to see.

One more post to come with pictures from the rest of our trip (I had more from the zoo than I realized – this post is long enough already!)

San Diego Trip Days 1 and 2

The last week of May, Matt and I were able to take a trip to San Diego just the two of us!  Last year, Matt won an award at work that is given to the top 1% of employees based on performance.  Part of that award is an all expenses paid trip (with a couple hundred of your closest friends aka: other employees from all over the world who also won the award and their guests).  Well, the trip last year was occurring when Harper was about 3 months old; needless to say (I hope), a week away from a 3 month old (especially when you’re nursing) is just not feasible.  Thankfully, Matt was able to defer a year so we were able to take the trip this year instead.  I am so glad we did – Harper was old enough that I didn’t worry as much, so I was able to enjoy myself – and the trip was to San Diego this year, staying at the Hotel Del Coronado!  We were there Tuesday through Saturday and had excursions each day, along with cocktail hours and dinner each night (all provided by Matt’s work!).  Everything was truly top notch – from the moment we got off the shuttle from the airport we were offered Arnold Palmers or lemonade in mason jar glasses and fresh (still warm!) coconut macaroons…

We were already missing the girls, but the view from our room made it up for it just a tad…  

Our first night there we had a welcome dinner on the beach and some downtime to just explore the hotel grounds.  It is such a gorgeous hotel – built in 1880 – so much history!

Unfortunately, Hadley left me with a little parting gift in the form of a virus, so I was running a fever our first night and had to call it a night pretty early.  Thankfully, our second day there, I had nothing planned until a massage at 1p so I was able to sleep it off while Matt golfed Torrey Pines.

Our second night (Wednesday) was the awards dinner at the resort.  The company brought in their own traveling Blow Dry Bar and set it up just like the regular salon inside the hotel.  I had an appointment there after my massage and it was so nice to have my hair done for the dinner rather than having to get ready myself!  :)

The company had photographers at each event – our photo at the awards dinner felt like prom night ;)

Below is a picture of Matt receiving his award…

On our third day we went to the San Diego Zoo and I have so many more pictures I think I’ll have to save the rest for another post!