California, Part 1: San Diego

For the first part of my trip to California, Steph and I were in San Diego. She was going to a friend's sealing, and I decided to tag along and see San Diego for the first time. I flew into the Long Beach airport Friday night and Steph picked me up on her way to San Diego. We stayed the night and went to the temple first thing Saturday morning for the live endowment and then sealing. It was pouring that day! During the sealing, I helped watch the kiddos. The temple is gorgeous!!


I ended up getting drenched swapping my luggage into Steph's car so after the sealing and pictures we went to lunch at BJ's and had a pizzookie. Yum! We then went to Balboa Park. I thought it was just a park, but it so much more! It is where the San Diego zoo is and other fun exhibits and restaurants. We walked around and listened to a wedding at the largest outdoor organ. There wasn't a whole lot going on at night, so we just walked around and made plans to come back the next day (Sunday) when it was light outside. We also drove around downtown and I got a tour of the city.


Back at our spaceship hotel, we ate our PeiWei dinner (yum!) and chatted until Serb came, then we chatted some more. We stayed up so late!!! I love girl talk!

It looks even spacier when it is lit up with green lights. Totally trippy!

Back at Balboa Park we went through the Botanical Gardens. It was so pretty. So many beautiful flowers and greenery. I love botanical gardens and water lilies. Those are my favorites.


We just happened to come on a day with a craft fair. So, naturally, we just had to walk around and see what the vendors had to offer. The booths we stopped at the longest were the jewelry vendors. There was one vendor who was selling precious stones in sterling silver that he makes himself. We fell in love with almost every piece we saw! We had to get some cash then come back and make the hardest decision of the trip so far! Steph bought a gorgeous Laboradorite pendant and I bought a coral piece. I am really happy with my choice. I've already worn it and love how it looks!

Every Sunday there is an organ performance at the park. Since it was Sunday, we decided to attend the performance and call that our church attendance. It was a really good performance. You can hear 33 seconds of it for yourself.

After seeing Balboa Park, we went to Old Town San Diego and went to the Mormon Battalion visitor's center. I was a little hesitant thinking it would be lame and boring, but it was actually really cool!




Making a final stop at a Ghiradelli store so I could get my fix of peppermint bark for the Christmas season, we then headed to Anaheim to go to Disneyland in the morning.

Stay tuned for Part 2: Disneyland!