Late Friday night, we got back into New York from a week away in San Diego. I had been to California a bunch of times (mostly San Francisco, and a little bit LA) but this was my first time in San Diego. It was such a beautiful, relaxingly beachy place, with great food and beautiful sunsets. Here are a few pics!
Where We Stayed
We rented this Airbnb beach cottage in Imperial Beach. It’s a little beach town in southern San Diego – it’s actually the southernmost point in the U.S. and you could see Mexico right across the street! We were a 15 minute walk from the pier and the beach was right on our doorstep. It was lovely, and the cottage was adorable – exactly like the pictures and just so beachy and beautiful and a perfect space for us for the week, but the area was a little sleepy. I had this image of being able to walk to tons of cute shops and restaurants and a playground, and it wasn’t exactly like that. If we go again, I think we will end up staying in Coronado or maybe even La Jolla.
This was the view from the front porch. When Georgie napped I would spend some time soaking up the sun from the couch. We brought our travel highchair which worked perfectly, and loved taking walks up and down our sunny street.
The Tijuana Estuary was on one side of us, and the ocean was on the other. Every night, once Georgie was asleep, Tom and I would head out to the beach to watch the sunset. It did not disappoint!
On our last night, we checked out this hotel which was just past the pier – we swam in the pool and had cocktails in the outdoor restaurant while Georgie ate mini cheeseburgers and fruit salad.
What We Did
Tom was working most of the days we were there, but we managed to get a lot of quality time all together. When he was working, Georgie and I would hang out at the cottage, walk down to the pier, or head into Coronado (I LOVED it there). We found this adorable bookstore called Bay Books, and I fell in love with this little cafe called Cafe 1134. They had a delicious chicken pita and yummy smoothies and the best iced vanilla chai I have ever tasted.
I had planned to spend lots of time playing at the beach, but unfortunately most of the beaches around us had warnings of sewage-infected ocean water that could make you sick (yikes). Since I knew Georgie would spend most of her time eating the sand, I didn’t think it was such a great idea. It was kind of a bummer, but oh well.
We did end up having lots of pool time which was great – we stayed at a hotel downtown one day while Tom had his meetings there, and another night we stayed at the Andaz, and got upgraded to their Star Suite (we asked for a suite so Georgie could have her own room to sleep in, and this was the only one available). It was so not for families (there was a stripper pole…) but it was huge and there were mirrors on every ceiling (!!), which Georgina was endlessly fascinated with.
We spent one afternoon at the Hotel Del Coronado, which was lovely and recommended to us by everyone we asked for San Diego tips. It’s right on the beach and it’s a pretty big resort-style hotel, so when you get there you immediately feel like you’re on vacation. We had lunch and cocktails at their Shearwater restaurant, then walked around the resort and beach for awhile.
And of course, I spent a large amount of time staring in awe at all of the beautiful palm trees everywhere. Palm trees are one of my favorite things in the world, I just love them so much. Thanks for being so beautiful, San Diego!!
