Our Trip to San Diego

We spent a few days this week in San Diego. Our friends had told us to go on a whale watch before we have to move, and with whale season being all "winter," we headed over for a trip. It was a very relaxing couple of days in San Diego. We stayed right downtown, which was great because we could walk across the street to the harbor. The kids had a blast, we all ate delicious seafood, and we're so grateful we could spend a few days in San Diego.

Here we are with the USS Midway (a.k.a Soldier Boat) behind us. We're at the dock where our whale watch was leaving from too.

Here's the Hornblower, our boat. Luckily, we were there on a very good day. It wasn't crowded, and there were maybe 50 on the whole boat.

Behind our boat is a cruise ship, known to our kids as a boat hotel. We tried to explain a cruise ship to them, and Madison grasped the concept that they stayed on it like a hotel. Now, they can't stop calling it a Boat Hotel, and they thought it was so cool to see it loading up while we were in the harbor. After we returned, the boat hotel took off on its journey.

We started out on the upper deck, but after we left the docks, the kids got cold, and we moved downstairs. The air temp was around 60 degrees, but the wind made it colder.

Luke kept telling us he could see sharks with the binoculars...he was looking at the land.

Leaving San Diego

USS Midway again

San Diego on the left with Coronado Island on the right (Naval Base is there, and that's where we stay a lot)

Luke then took up using the Viewmaster, which he brought, claiming it was his own set of binoculars. He didn't see much.

Still looking for sharks :)

Alex was not interested in looking for sea life.

Well, he was interested once we moved inside.

Here's the middle deck where we spent a lot of time. The kids could see well from here, and it wasn't cold.

Whale! See the blowhole "puff" in the distance? We saw nine whales on the tour. The captain had told everyone to yell, "Thar she blows," when they spotted a whale. Madison took that to heart and yelled it EVERYTIME she saw a whale, even if everyone had already noticed it.

Whale

More of the whale...we really had a great time on our three and a half our boat ride. We weren't sure how the kids would do being out there that long, but they loved it. It was a great way to spend the afternoon, and it was amazingly relaxing. We recommend the Hornblower anytime!

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The next morning, we walked across the street again to the harbor. We see the USS Midway in the harbor everytime we visit and finally decided to visit it. They have a very cool walkway along the harbor, dedicated to the sailors of long ago. San Diego was a major port during WW II, and even my grandpa spent a lot of time here in the Navy during the war.

On the USS Midway, we were able to tour the different decks of the boat, and since it's an aircraft carrier, there were many opportunities to sit in aircraft on the boat.

Up on the flight deck...I would have liked to have taken more pictures, but Alex fell asleep in his stroller, so he and I stayed below while the rest of the fam went up to the flight deck. All in all, we spent almost three hours at the Midway. Luke was thrilled. He has always called it the "Soldier Boat" and was beyond excited we were able to tour it.

Flight deck view

More from the flight deck

Awesome trip to San Diego! We also were able to have some yummy treats from Extraordinary Desserts, a local favorite. Before heading home, we stopped at the huge commissary in San Diego, where they have Julian Pies (from the town of Julian we visited in October). We love those pies and brought two home..one for now and one that was frozen and hasn't been cooked yet. The Apple Mountain Berry pie is delicious!