Sunshine in San Diego

 A great flight to San Diego on Alaskan Aiways and on to the Pacific Terrace Hotel which was exactly what we wanted and needed. We were warmly welcomed and shown a table in the sunshine while our room was finished off .....and it was so sunny and warm. We were impressed from the minute we arrived - nothing too much trouble for the staff and our ten days there were heavenly. We established a routine of breakfast - an hour by the pool, maybe a stroll on the promenade, lunch and then an afternoon excursion. we booked various restaurants - a favourite being an Italian just around the corner but we ate in he hotel a couple of nights too. American food is not really impressive and the munu was typical - steaks, burgers, fish goujons and fries and either a cob, wedge or caesar salad. We wanted to relax as much as possible as we knew Las Vegas would be busy so we didnt plan much. 

On our second day I met a lovely lady staying there and she gave me all sorts of tips of where to go and what to do and that night a lerter was puched under the door containing all of these and more so we used this as a to-do list and ticked them off. We went to;-

*    Mount Soledad is a veteran's monument to all who served in all wars. Its set high up on a hill with 360' of Sandiago. I very moving place with walls and walls of names, photographs - some with brothers and family menmbers who gave their lives in service which brought me to tears! We found Glen Millers name and dates and US President Gerald Ford. Although a somber day it was a worthwhile visit and Im glad we went.

*    We had a hilarious trolley bus tour of San Diego going over the bridge to Coronada Island and saw Mexico on the horizon. Our guide cracked jokes the whole time and one elderly couple told us they live in San Diego but do this ride regularly just to listen to the commentary and always check its this driver as he's the best - we dropped them at the end of their street!

*    Balboa Park a 1200acre park featuring 18 museums, renowned gardens and restaurants all laid out in the spanish style architecture. We spent most a day here and couldnt do everything but we had a lovely day and really enjoyed the various buidings, the Japanese garden and beautiful Botanical building. Its home to the San Diego Zoo but we gave that a miss - totally agianst caged animals!

*    Temecular Valley Vineyards. A great day exploring this ancient wine region. We went on a tour with theee other couples and we were all great friends by the end of it! An hours drive from San Diego we first stopped at the old twn of Temecular with bijou shops, boutiques and great coffee places - it was very pretty and full of history - the land first occupied by the Temecular Indians, then the Spanish and then American settlers - a real frontier town. We visited three artisnal vineyards with generous pourings, had lunch at one and ended the day high up overlooking the vines, glass in hand as the sunset. A perfect day!

*    On our last evening we bobbed around the bay with more interesting people with an expert lady skipper and saw dolphins and seals and agian a wonderful sunset. Wed booked dinner downtoen that evening at a trendy and very popular Italian which was really good.

San Diego was great - the perfect match of relaxation, sunshine and interesting places and we decided wed love to spend more time there by the ocean in the future. WE were sad to check out and head for the airport.

We had to leave though as our adventure was ending in Las Vegas - again I had zero expectaions as everything I'd heard about Vegas was just so not me! We'd booked a hotel off-strip and our taxi driver told us en route that we would like it as the locals go there. It was the Red Rock Hotel which has a casino - there is no hotel in Vegas that doesnt have a casino but the casino floor was surrounded by various restaurants . It had a massive pool are consisting of seven pool and spa. Our room was very nice and had a view of the red hills in the distance. it had a huge flaw though - no kettle ot coffee making facilities! We were expected to leave our room - go down 17 floors to the Casino level and visit Starbucks for our morning cuppa or pay $16 every morning for room service to bring us one! I asked at reception and they were unhelpful - so I ordered a cheap kettle on Amazon - we had brought teabags with us and it arrived before breakfast  - hey presto it paid for itself before we left when we presented it to the cleaning staff! 

Las Vegas was a very special end to our trip and in my next post I'll let your know how we spent our time there.