Day 10: Back Home/Monday

After the San Diego Zoo, we drove home from San Diego, through Yuma, AZ, and back to Gilbert. The ride was nice. We passed sand dunes near Yuma. They were the same ones used to shoot special scenes for Star Wars IV and VI. They were used in addition to filming in Tunisia. On a side note, there were some popular movies that filmed scenes in parts of Arizona - like Indiana Jones & the Temple of Doom, Casablanca, Psycho, Wayne's World, and others. Back to the drive...one of the sights Tim pointed out was that along one part of the drive, you can actually see the border fence with Mexico. It wasn't that far away. From our distance, it looked to me like a rust-colored metal fence with vertical strips in between the vertical bars and one long horizontal bar on top. There was no way to judge how tall or short the fence really is from where we were. It was kind of cool in one place because our road went up a slight hill and you could see over the fence into Mexico. It didn't look any different on either side in that particular place, just like a rancher's fence breaks off sections, but it was still cool.



When we got home, the house was spotless! The trash had been taken out, the carpets were recently vacuumed, there were no dishes in the sink, no towels or laundry lying around, the dining room and living room were picked up, and it smelled clean. What a great Mother's Day gift from Jordan. She did a great job taking care of the house while I was gone. Even though she's the youngest, I had told the boys that she was in charge of the house. If she told them to pick up their mess somewhere, or take the trash out (it's their job), then they had to do it. On my bed was a card from Adam with a Red Robin gift card for me. The card was funny - just the way I like them from my kids. Another perfect ending to another great day.

Now, finally, on to Day 10 - The last day of our official vacation. We woke up Monday when we were done sleeping. We started our day by having breakfast, and just relaxing around the house, enjoying our time with the kids as they each got up (or home from work, in Logan's case). We decided to go out to eat since we were starting "clean eating" and a cleanse for a week the following day. We went to Hibachi Grill. That place is great! It's a Chinese buffet, but they also have pizza, Mexican food, french fries, etc. (although I don't think I ever tried any of those there). I always start at the grill. I chose my veggies and then a little bit of steak. I handed it to the chef who grilled it right there in front of me. I figured if I always start with fresh veggies and lean looking meat, I'll be that much more full before hitting the junk food type of choices on the rest of the buffet. Tim started with the grill, then the sushi bar. Nothing spectacular, not much fish, but he still enjoyed it. After that, I chose carefully. I didn't want to gain 5 pounds the day before trying to lose weight. I had been pretty good, since I never gained any weight on the whole vacation, even though I ate what I felt like eating. Anyway...I chose 2 or 3 small pieces of sweet & sour chicken, a skewer of chicken meatballs, some orange chicken, a spoonful of the beef and broccoli, and I think that's about it. I was pretty full. I went over to the dessert bar, which is pretty big. I didn't want jello, or the cakes - they're usually dry anyway, or anything with chocolate, or puff pastries (no flavor anyway), in fact the only dessert I chose was a scoop of their ice cream and one serving spoon of banana pudding with vanilla wafers and whipped cream. I felt more full than I had felt in a long time. I felt satisfied and knew I could now start a strict 2 weeks without sugar, artificial sweeteners, artificial colors/flavors, soy, grains, dairy, or caffeine. I wouldn't feel deprived. By the time I start missing some of those things - especially healthy dairy - I'll be able to have it anyway.

After dinner Tim and I went to the movies to see Captain America 2: Winter Soldier. We thought about Spiderman 2, but figured we'd see whatever was released first in case we missed it by the time Tim came back from his next trip. The movie was very good. Better than the first one, better than I hoped it would be. It was great.

After that, we went home, wrapped up the night, and got ready to return to our regular routine in the morning getting him ready to head out Wednesday - but now we could do that more rested, more at peace, more relaxed. It was the best ten days in a row of my life!

Day 9: Sunday - San Diego/Zoo

Sunday morning we got up early, had the great breakfast Pat had put out for us, then headed out for San Diego. The drive was nice, not much traffic on a Sunday morning, and you can see the coast from the road once you get near San Diego. Tim has always had to rush back from wherever we've been to get home for work, so when we're going somewhere, there is no stopping. Asking him to stop so I can take pictures just wasn't done. For the first time, we had no real schedule, no rush. We could even take another day in San Diego if we wanted to, he didn't have to be back to work for 3 more days. I asked him if we could stop somewhere to get a few pictures, since I'd never been to San Diego and wanted pictures of the ocean there. To my surprise, he said, "Sure we can." I was so happy! We pulled into a rest area that had great views, as well as another lookout area too. The ocean wasn't as close from there, and it looked totally different from the L.A. area beaches. After a few minutes, we were back on the road again.

We found getting to zoo really easy with the GPS. I'd been wanting to see that zoo for years! I've been to a couple of zoos in my life, but I had never seen a koala, hippo, polar bear, panda, or gorilla. I was really looking forward to seeing them. The parking lot was HUGE! I know the Phoenix Zoo lot is too, but I'm used to seeing that one. This definitely looked bigger to me. Getting in was pretty quick. They open at 9 AM, and we got there around 10, but since it was also Mother's Day, (and church day), the crowds were probably much smaller than they usually would have been. It wasn't outrageously priced, either, and of course, I brought a coupon to save us $8 on admission.

My sister had recommended the sky lift ride to see the zoo. She said it was really nice from up there. We did that first while the line was short. I forgot she went in October, and I forgot that outside of Arizona there are trees. The ride itself was nice, and there were great city views, but we couldn't see a thing below us. Nothing but green tree tops. Not a single animal - but still a fun ride to take with Tim.

The first thing we went to see after taking the sky ride was the Polar Bear exhibit. I had no idea how big they were! They had a statue outside the exhibit that stood ten feet tall. They said it's actual sized based on the boy bear they have now. They're twins, a brother and sister. I was watching for a long time, just mesmerized. What beautiful animals.

The next major sight for me (with lots of other animals in-between) was the hippo. They had a big one, and a baby one. They were huge. I knew they'd be big, but I guess I didn't realize how thick their skin was. It was like an old leather sofa. It had some deep scars in it too. Not sure if it's from other hippos or if the zoo got them that way from being rescued in the wild or something.

The koala was a must-see for me. Tim had seen koalas and even held one when he visited Australia with his family the Christmas before we got married. They eat eucalyptus leaves, which is like catnip to a cat, and being "drugged" and "high", they sleep for about 20 hours a day or more. Many didn't move much, and they seemed to sleep like my cat, with their face pushed up to something - in their case, the tree boughs. A few moved a little, but it was very difficult to get a photo of them facing us.

A really interesting thing happened while watching the koalas...we noticed a crowd gathering on just one side of the street, and people were making noises like they were startled or surprised by something (gasps, not like they were afraid). I stepped into the street to see around the crowd and there were two zoo employees walking a cheetah and a white wolf (looked just like a tall, thin dog) down the opposite sidewalk. I read later that these two became friends at the zoo (somehow), in spite of them being "a cat and a dog". They are regularly walked together from their cages to the close encounter area nearby where people can pay $100 and up to get close to a few of the animals. That was the most amazing thing to see. Cheetahs are my favorite animal ever and our zoo just lost the last 2 recently with no idea when they'll be able to get more. This was a wonderful treat for me!

The gorilla enclosure was very similar to our zoo's orangutan exhibit. There were a few in there we got to see, especially once they came near the glass. I think they like seeing all the people sometimes to avoid being lonely. They seemed to enjoy being near crowds more than away on their own.

We also saw lots of other animals and tons of birds. We saw giraffes, zebras, leopards, some similar to what the Phoenix Zoo has, and others we'd never heard of. It was a great day, we spent about 5 hours there and I'm sure there were a few areas we didn't get to see. Also, there were a few other animals that weren't on exhibit that day that we didn't see, so I think another trip someday would be great. I'd love to bring Jordan here. She loves animals and her favorites are all here (except penguins).

I saved the best for last...the PANDAS!!! The signs read that we could expect a 30 - 45 minute wait in line to get to them (mostly because people obviously linger, understandably, while photographing and videoing them). Being Mother's Day and early in the morning, our wait was only about 10 minutes, and it was through a bamboo forest type of setting. We passed a Red Panda along the way. It was about the size of a small lemur, and didn't look much like a panda, but it was still cute. Once we got into the panda viewing area I was so happy! They look like large stuffed animals come to life. We watched them eat bamboo, sleep, move around a bit, and smile at us - at least that's what it looked like. I wished Jordan could've been with us to see them! Unfortunately, it'll have to wait until next time.

Sorry this is sideways, I took it with my tablet.

All in all, it was a wonderful day, with perfect weather, but if you decide to visit the San Diego Zoo, a word of caution...it is a large zoo, and it is NOT level by any means! There are areas with very steep hills, both leading down and others leading up, and many exhibits you have to go up several flights of steps that have been built in the middle of the zoo areas (unless you have crutches or a wheelchair, then you can use the elevators). There are 2 moving sidewalk type of escalators that help, but they are pretty far apart. Also, there is the sky ride to make it shorter to get to the other side, but they're only one way. There's also a train, but you won't get to stop and get pictures when you want. Other than being quite the workout (even Tim was surprised at how tired he was from it all), and the paths are a bit confusing in places where they don't match the map quite right, it's a beautiful zoo with some reasonably priced gift items, a great selection of animals, and good food at the restaurants (or at least the one we tried). I look forward to another trip there with Jordan someday.

Day 8: Our Day in Long Beach

Saturday we woke up at our Bed & Breakfast. Pat, our hostess, told us breakfast was ready from 7 to 9 AM. We both are people who don't want to waste a vacation sleeping, so we were up around 6:30. (It was very light in our room and our curtains were only sheers over mini blinds.) We got presentable and made our way downstairs somewhere close to 7:00. The table was already set, with fresh fruit in little ramekins, plenty of muffins, bagels, and breads available, two kinds of juice, coffee, teas, milk, 3 kinds of cereals, yogurt, and Greek yogurt. And that didn't even include the hot breakfast entree that Pat makes special each day. She later added scrambled eggs and sausage to the table. Fresh fruit and Greek yogurt? That was way better than the Carnival ship's breakfast buffet. That was mostly pork (bacon, sausage, ham) and lots of carbs, like pancakes, waffles, breads, and fried potatoes. It was exactly what my body had been craving. We were very pleased with our stay here.

We didn't have anywhere to be until our business event around 1:00, so we just went back to our room, spent time on the internet, and relaxed until it was time to go. It was nice not to have anything pressuring us to go "do" anything. We took our showers, got dressed, and since we still weren't hungry, we skipped lunch and went to the meeting. It was held at the Maya Hotel, which happened to be right next to where our cruise ship had been docked. Did I mention it was next to the Queen Mary, sister ship of the Titanic, that's been turned into a hotel? Anyway, the meeting wasn't what we were used to. I felt like a Mom in that room of 200+ people, most of them under 30, many barely 20 I would guess. We had great speakers, got all the latest info, then they did something we didn't expect - they broke for a 40 minute scavenger hunt. You earned points by forming teams (we were there alone, out-of-state, so a little awkward), then you did group activities like, Have your team do 300 push ups and video it, then send it to FB with the hashtags they were looking for to earn points. Tim did over 50 and I was very impressed. They had things like video your team in a pretend earthquake, find a person to chase you but you can't ask them to do it, buy gas or dinner for a stranger, etc. If I had a day to do it, and a team, maybe - but 40 minutes with strangers...wasn't easy. Anyway, after the event, we listened to a great speaker, and before you know it, we were done.

We were done by 4:00, and by now we were hungry. We decided to go back to our room, and do some research to find a nice place. Tim spent over half an hour pouring through the local magazines' ads to research online. We hoped for a place at a marina or with a great ocean view. Then we tried someplace that maybe had live music. We also looked for someplace with nightlife going on. We also thought of maybe a Chinese buffet (so we can pick and choose what we eat). We didn't have much luck there, so we chose a nearby place called the At Last Cafe. It was originally a catering company that opened up a restaurant after a few years. The ad said it was featured on Guy Fieri's Dives, Diners, and Drive-Ins. That sounded promising. Good food, even if it didn't have a view or music. It turned out to be just a few blocks away. Again, finding parking on one-way, historic, residential streets was difficult. We finally found someone leaving, so we took their space. The place was tiny, but yes, the food was good. I ordered the Brick Chicken. It's half of a chicken breast, cooked under a brick, full of flavor, served with potatoes and veggies I think. I ordered a lemonade and it tasted homemade. It was one of the best glasses of lemonade I remember having. The staff was a little disorganized, bringing wrong items to wrong tables, but I think every table saw at least 4 different people! So you know they tried to do things quickly for the customer, they just weren't organized. Everyone was doing every job. Anyway, it was a great, peaceful final dinner in California. After dinner, we just went back to the room to enjoy our cozy inn room.

Day 7: Off the boat, onto the Bed & Breakfast

Waking up on Friday, we were a bit sad to be leaving the boat so early (they kick you off by about 8:15 AM), but again, we weren't leaving to go home, or back to work. We were leaving to stay at the Beachrunner Inn in Long Beach, a cute little Bed & Breakfast. So I guess it wasn't too sad, was it?

We got off the boat, which was easier than I would've guessed. We chose to carry our luggage off rather than leave it out the night before and claim it in a roomful of suitcases tomorrow. No inspection, no security, nothing. We walked off, no lines, no stopping, straight through to the parking garage in just a few minutes. We only had to hand in our claims form to declare what we spent and were bringing back, which was close to nothing from Mexico. Anyway, the Beachrunner was just 4 miles from the port, and check in wasn't until 3 in the afternoon. We decided to stall until 9 AM, then swing by the Bed & Breakfast to let the owner we were there, find out how early we could check in, and to ask the owner where we could grab breakfast and head to a beach nearby. You could almost see the ocean from the Inn, but it wasn't beach area. She recommended Belmont Shores just a little ways down the road. Off we went.

We headed down the street to Belmont Shores. It was a cute little beach town. Lots of surfing items, beach clothing, and seafood shacks. We were told we could check in early, but not before noon, so we went looking for a place to grab breakfast. We weren't overly hungry so we stopped at a little doughnut and coffee shop on the main street. Parking in Long Beach is different. Half the streets are one-way streets, and all the streets have signs up that say, "No parking on Thursdays (or whatever day on that sign)...street sweeping". You may find the best little shop, but parking may not be available for a long way down the street, nor on the side streets. We probably chose the coffee shop we did because we found a parking space and just tried to find what was near the car. Inside was small, but fairly clean. It was run by just one woman. She did the baking out back, and ran the front of the shop. We ordered our coffees and bagel egg sandwiches. We didn't rush through our breakfast but we didn't stay too long either. I couldn't wait to get on the sand, staring at the ocean waves breaking once again.

We headed down to the end of Belmont Shores and found a mostly empty parking lot on the beach. Perfect! We paid for our parking, opened our suitcases to pull out bathing suits and towels, then hit the restrooms to change. They were pretty much cement blocks with a door and typical side-of-the-road rest area toilets, but we just needed room to change. After putting our clothes back in the car we headed toward the water. I can't tell you how amazed I was at the empty beach. Granted, it was a Friday morning, and people are at work and kids are in school, but you always see photos of California's beaches with people packed like sardines on the sand. That morning, there were about 3 people walking the beach, and way up on the next hill a small group of people met for yoga on the beach. We had a mile long stretch of beach almost to ourselves. We could even look across the way and see a little of our ship we'd just left. I never mentioned this but Jordan collects sand from places we go. It started with my trip last year back east when I brought her back some sand from Hampton Beach, NH. She put it into a colored, old-fashioned bottle with a cork stopper. She said then she'd like to have sand from all over in different colored and shaped bottles - so on this trip, I brought her back sand. We gathered sand from Newport Beach, and Catalina Island, and now from Long Beach (the Mexican beaches were miles away so that didn't happen). The sand here amazed me. First of all, where the water receded after each wave came in, it left a black trace. The sand had lots of black minerals in it. When I looked closer, I realized it also had tons of shiny, gold glitter (looked like it) in it. When the wave came in then receded, it would leave a trail of gold behind on the sand. It was the most amazing thing I'd ever seen. I made a short video of it for the kids to see. I collected sand for Jordan, and also some shells to add to her someday Beach Themed room (next house where we can paint). It was a beautiful morning, by a perfect beach, with the best husband I could have asked God to give me.

Once it was around noontime, we weren't really hungry, so we just snacked on our healthy snacks we'd brought along, and went to check into our room. The home is a remodeled 1913 home with lots of space. There were at least 3 bedrooms upstairs and 2 downstairs, I think, plus the areas where the owner lives. The chair rail shelves, built-in hutches and cabinets, the stone and tile fireplace, it was very inviting and warm. There was even a hot tub and sitting area out on a back patio that was covered by trees for privacy. Our room was ready when we got there, and we were more tired than we realized. We thought we'd just take a short nap, then go sightseeing or something. Well, our nap took us from about 12:30 through to suppertime. We slept great, the room was nice and cool, the ceiling fan and open windows were perfect. There was a bit of noise from the street outside, but I grew up in the city and Tim sleeps in truck stops, so it was fine. We just enjoyed the freedom to sleep all afternoon if that's what we wanted to do. There never seems to be time for naps as an adult, too much to do. This day was ours to do as we pleased, with nothing else to do.

After our extended nap, we were hungry. Tim suggested going to George's Greek Cafe. I LOVE Greek food. I wasn't sure he liked it, but if he was okay with it, I wasn't going to argue. We got ready and drove downtown to the district where all the restaurant, bars, and entertainment seemed to be. The buildings had a historic flair to them, nice architecture, high-rise buildings. It was very different from everything else we'd done so far. We ate outside on their side patio, just as the sun was getting ready to go down. We enjoyed the special, roasted lamb, baked potatoes, Greek salad, it was better than the cruise dinner. All homemade, no artificial ingredients, just good food. For dessert we tried a warm vanilla custard with vanilla ice cream (again, I'm not a chocolate fan). It was pretty good too. What a great dining experience - yes, we were still on vacation.

After dinner, we just went back to enjoy our Bed & Breakfast, and spent the evening relaxing.