the bargeron explorers | 2 days in San Diego, CA.

 My family recently took our first trip to the west coast together to..

Sunny California!

Our trip began with a mid-morning flight with Southwest out of our home airport and a (brutal) five hour layover before arriving in sunny CA for a 10-day trip that we had high expectations for. We started in San Diego, drove up to Anaheim, flew to San Francisco, and then flew back down to Los Angeles for a final night before flying back to the east coast. It was exhilarating, exhausting, and FUN!

Because we only had two full days in San Diego, we chose a handful of must-do things based on our personal interests and preferences. We loved San Diego and definitely wished we had more time there, but we were so happy with everything we did during those two days! San Diego has such a cool vibe, and it has only gotten cooler over time. (I say "over time" because I gratefully visited twice before this trip while I was in college! I loved it then and loved it again this time.)

After arriving as the sun set the evening before and crashing from a long travel day, we woke up with so much excitement on our first full day! We stayed at the gorgeous Manchester Grand Hyatt San Diego, and were blessed with a large room, separate sleeping space for the adults and kids, and a beautiful view of the San Diego Bay from our room. This particular hotel, also, has a club where we received breakfast, snacks and drinks throughout the day, and heavy hors d'oeurves and desserts in the evenings (our access is part of my status with Hyatt hotels). We took advantage of this perk every chance we got, and it was always delicious each time we went.

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Day One

On our first full day in San Diego, we did ate breakfast at the hotel, and immediately called for our rental car from valet and headed to start our trip with a bang at the...

San Diego Zoo!

We explored this amazing zoo for over five hours, and it was AMAZING. If five hours at a zoo sounds crazy, let me say this: we could have easily stayed LONGER. There were so many exhibits, and all of them were just outstanding. The kids were on cloud nine all morning -- and so were the grown ups! We saw koalas (!!!), elephants, a polar bear, a tiger, a rhino, and MORE. We don't get to see animals like this on a normal day, so you can imagine our excitement. We splurged on frozen icees, t-shirts, and stickers to commemorate such a fun morning here.

After we left the zoo, we headed to another iconic place in San Diego:

Old Town San Diego!

While in Old Town, we walked the streets, went into (what felt like) a million shops, devoured street tacos, watched a folklorico dancer performance, listened to a mariachi band, and more. The character throughout Old Town is just incredible and full of Mexican heritage and historical sights. We spent around three hours here, and (again) could have stayed longer.

After leaving Old Town, we went back to our hotel, ate dinner in the club, and then walked a mile along the bay so the kids could play at Waterfront Park. We saw this park on the way in from the airport, and immediately knew that we would play here at sunset one evening. This was the night, and it was so fun! We have a thing for scoping out parks while we're traveling, and it's one of my favorite parts of every trip. I know we'll outgrow this particular tradition once day (a reality that makes my heart ache, honestly), but I love that it's ours now. Pro tip: kids will enjoy traveling a lot more when they feel like the things they like to do matter, too.

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Day Two

After exploring some hot spots the day before (and walking twelve miles in the process), we spent our second day in San Diego staying near the coast. We love a good beach day, and this was one of the best! We started the day with another hotel breakfast, and then hopped in the car to do some more exploring. Our first stop was...

La Jolla!

This is a truly must-visit when in San Diego. The houses, the atmosphere, the seals (yes, seals!!). Just all of it feels other-worldly. We didn't tell our kids about the seals we were headed to see, only that we were going to hang out a fancy beach town for a bit. They were totally surprised and giddy, and it was such a fun surprise. We were giddy, too!

We parked at Children's Pool (super easy to find with GPS), watched the seals and birds up close for a while, and they walked along the La Jolla coast to admire the town's seaside character. The majestic rock faces are hard describe but easy to feel, and watching the waves crash into them is an experience that I think everyone should have at least once in their lives. Again, hard to describe but easy to feel. A beach with caves? Yes please!

After a couple of hours in La Jolla, we hopped back in the car and backtracked to spend the rest of the day at one of the most fun beaches on earth...

Mission Beach!

Tacos on the beach? Yes please! A theme park right off the beach, too? Again, yes! People rollerblading along the beach path between the ocean and all the action? How fun! Although we didn't go to the theme park or go rollerblading, it was still a fabulous atmosphere all-around. I came here once during college and thought it was just so cool, so it was extra fun to be able to bring my family here over a decade later. The water was freezing, too, by the way, but we still got in just to be able to say we did.

We did, in fact, eat tacos with our toes in the sand and it was the best. The simple things really are the big things, huh? They have proven to be for me, anyway.

After a few hours at the beach, we loaded back up and headed back to the hotel for one more club dinner here and a night of resting in the room after two big go-go-go days. We had many more go-go-go days in our future, too, and we have learned to pace ourselves so we don't burn out too quickly. Some say that we are still too intense travelers for their liking, but I stand by this statement: your pace may not be my pace and that's okay; the important thing is that we are aware of the paces that are best for each of us.

We all agreed that two nights wasn't enough for us to fully enjoy San Diego, but it was the perfect start to our big California adventure. Stay tuned for where we headed next!