Hi there! I’m home from my fabulous trip to San Diego. Oh what a wonderful time I had! I have to thank smallmasterz for giving me such wonderful tips before I left. I took some of your advice and ended up creating a very memorable trip!

Before I left; I had reached out to some friends in San Diego and they really took wonderful care of me. I was there for a wedding and thought for sure that I wouldn’t have time to do anything truly ‘fun’; boy was I wrong! While I didn’t do anything truly ‘naughty’; I did experience some places and experiences that I will never forget.

I spent an entire day in Balboa Park. If you’ve never beeen there; you must add it to your bucket list! Such a wonderful place with so much culture and beauty, history and classic architecture. My favorite two parts of the park were the rose garden and the Conservatory. The roses were so beautiful; I’ve shared a photo here with you of some of my favorite ones. Not far from the rose garden sits the conservatory. It is a very old structure filled with exotic plants from all over the globe. I have always had a love of botanical gardens and this one was certainly top notch! My favorites were the many varieties of orchids and of course, the death bog that housed venus fly traps and pitcher plants! Outside of the conservatory is a lovely lilly pond filled with many varieties and lots of huge koi fish, too.

You can’t make a trip to Balboa Park without also visiting the San Diego Zoo. I enjoyed many hours here; taking advantage of the many wonderful exhibits and animal viewing. My favorites here were the pandas! Oh they were so adorable! Just relaxing in the chill zone; eating bamboo shoots and completely ignoring the humans. I loved it.

I also spent a lot of time in La Jolla. The beach there is just spectacular and full of amazing looking people! I spent a day out on the water doing some kayaking and paddle boarding around the seven caves. I saw sea lions and the state fish (grabaldy?) that looked so much like a goldfish! I also spent time in the giant kelp area and was visited by three dolphins! I felt a real love for the ocean there and really enjoyed it.

I couldn’t go to San Diego without at least visiting Tijuana! Don’t worry; I had a bodyguard with me and I was safe the entire time. I ate a churro (yum!) and visited a delicious restaurant (garage?) to have my first ever homemade tortillas. So delicous! I got lots of great trinkets and some silver jewelry and made it back over the border safely.

I can’t wait to visit California again to explore even more of what this beautiful state has to offer.