We went on a 5 day trip to San Diego, California. Neither of us had been there before. We went because Jason’s job flew him out to attend a meeting. We decided to make a trip out of it.

We left Salt Lake Saturday morning with our winter coats on and arrived in San Diego that afternoon to people wearing sun dresses and shorts. It was such a change to see palm trees and so much water! One of the first things we noticed were all of the birds of paradise. They were everywhere.

We rented a hotel room at the Vagabond Inn (weird name, we know.) The hotel was located in Point Loma, really close to the beaches. The first thing we did, of course, was find something to eat. We checked out a local cafe called Point Break. Great food!

Saturday night we went to find a beach nearby at Sunset Cliffs. We ended up finding one, but it wasn’t what we were expecting. It was beautiful, but instead of having lots of sand, it had lots of rocks. Surfers and people with their dogs sure were loving it though. We spent plenty of time taking in the view and searching for sea shells. We then sat and enjoyed the sunset. So romantic!

We slept in Sunday morning. When we awoke, we ate breakfast and searched out a beach that we knew would have sand. We ended up going to a very popular spot along Mission Beach. We spent a few hours playing in the surf and marveling at the fact that we were actually on vacation! What a blessing. We didn’t have any sunscreen, so we couldn’t stay there long. When our cheeks started getting pink, it was time to go.

We went back to the hotel, got cleaned up, and went out for a romantic candlelight dinner at a local Italian restaurant.

After we ate dinner, we wanted some dessert. We decided to follow Steve and Shay’s recommendation and check out the Gaslamp District in downtown San Diego. We parked, walked along until we found Ghirardelli’s chocolate shop. They gave us a sample chocolate (eggnog, so good) at the door. We ordered the Domino, a chocolate sundae with banana slices. The chocolate sauce was the best part. It was made of pure melted chocolate. Yummy!!! The smell of Ghirardelli’s was intoxicating.

Once we left there, we finished walking along the Gaslamp District. There were lots of street performers. One guy in particular was extra bizarre. He was covered in silver paint, doing a strange dance to techno music. All of the bars and restaurants were crowded, but most of the shops were closed.

We woke up bright and early Monday morning to go to the San Diego Wild Animal Park. We had to drive about 30 miles north, to Escondido. We were very excited to go there, especially because of Lane’s love of animals. We used a coupon and got the Best Value tickets, which included the Journey into Africa safari tour. The park was huge! We basically walked the entire thing. We saw so many animals.

The first thing we did, after buying sunblock, was check out some meerkats. We then headed toward the gorillas. As one gorilla went up to another, a nearby little girl said, “It’s whispering secrets in its ear!” It was cute. Next we watched an animal show which featured several types of birds and a smart red river hog that was obeying commands like a dog.

The next animal we saw was a gibbon (a type of monkey) that was very vocal.

Watch the video here.

We went on the safari tour which took us to a huge section of the park that you can’t walk to. We saw several types of gazelle and antelope, giraffes, three different types of rhinos, zebras, and many other animals.

ROOOOAAAAARRR!!! Sleeping lions… The next animals we saw were a male and two female lions who were basking in the midday sun. They had just separated the adults from the babies, so we didn’t get to see the babies. Bummer. The male was scoping his kingdom from atop an old range rover.

After a really long hike, we finally arrived at the elephants, both Asiatic and African. The baby african elephant was so cute. It was playing with everything in its path as it followed its mother around.

We scarfed down lunch while we watched some marmosets (more monkeys) play.

Another really long hike… We made our way to see some condors. On the way we saw porcupines, prairie dogs, and an owl. We looped around to see a sleeping tiger.

We then visited an aviary called the Hidden Jungle. Lane got a blue parrot to dance. On our way out we walked through a building that contained reptiles, amphibians, and arachnids. Lane loved the poison arrow frogs; they had three different kinds! Next we bought some nectar for the rainbow lorikeets in Lorikeet Landing. As soon as we entered, we were bombarded by them! They were on our heads, on our arms, everywhere.

We were getting hot and tired, so we decided to take a sitting break and check out the bird show. It was awesome! Lane’s favorite was the giant secretary bird and its “leg killing” action. Jason’s favorite was the juvenile condor that swooped down over the audience with an incredible wing span of 11 feet. We saw a talking african grey parrot, named Casema, and some hawks. Oh and there were so many vultures flying overhead that weren’t actually part of the show but added to the atmosphere.

We finished up by seeing some dik-diks and ineracting with some gazelle and antelope in the Petting Kraal. Oh did we mention there were birds of all shapes and sizes everywhere?

After a long, hot, fabulous day we would recommend the Wild Animal Park to anyone visiting San Diego. It was really worth while and fun!

Tuesday, we moved to a new hotel, the Dana Inn. It was located on Mission Bay. There were the cutest little black ducks nearby. Lane checked out the views while Jason attended a business meeting. We went to dinner that night with Jason’s company.

After a very long day of business meetings on Wednesday, we flew home to our precious cat, Zoey.

The trip was awesome and relaxing! We had so much fun. We definitely want to visit San Diego again. We still need to go to San Diego Zoo and Sea World.

Click here to view our full collection of San Diego photos.