Friday, December 20, 2024

Our trip to San Diego was a road trip, so we had spent most of yesterday packing, and today, we took off early in the morning around 5 AM. We took the Tesla, which meant our stops would be timed by superchargers, so we also had to be careful about that. I slept for the beginning part of the ride and woke up when we took a stop at a supercharger, where we grabbed coffee from a nearby Starbucks, and breakfast from the nearby Dennys. I tried out the Dennys veggie skillet with eggs, which was delicious, and after that, I took over driving from my dad. I enjoy driving, even long distances since I don’t have a car at college, so it was nice to settle into the seat and drive from like 2-3 hours down I-5. The drive was relatively uneventful, with me just listening to music and driving, and we stopped in downtown LA at an outlet mall to charge the car a second time. We didn’t do much shopping since it was quite busy right before Christmas, but I grabbed a Subway sandwich for myself, while the rest of the family got Mediterranean food (which I’m allergic to) at a separate restaurant. We went to Mediterranean after the car charged, which hardly took half an hour—the time necessary for us to use the bathroom and me to grab my sandwich. We kept driving after that and stopped at Sunset Beach on our way down the coast to watch the sunset, but unfortunately, something in the Subway did not suit me and I was not feeling well, so I stayed in the car and watched from there with my mom, while my dad and sister walked to the beach. From there it was about an hour to the hotel we stayed at, the Springhill Marriot in San Diego, and after dropping our bags in the hotel room, we picked up Thai takeout from a nearby restaurant called AAHARN, which was delicious. Their drunken noodles smashed, and after dinner, it was shower and to bed.

Saturday, December 21, 2024

We slept in after our long drive the day before and ate breakfast at the hotel around 9, right before it closed. It wasn’t great for my allergic reactions due to many things having dairy, but I was able to have eggs, toast, oatmeal, and fruit, which was enough. Today we visited La Jolla, a famous area of San Diego. An unfortunate part about visiting in the winter that I do not recommend is that it can be too cold or foggy for most activities. A spring or early summer visit would have been better, and we might return at a later date. It was too cold for kayaking and there was not enough wind for paragliding, so we walked to the Children’s Pool to see the seals, who were parked along the beach. We thought it might be mating season based on their activities, but were not sure. We also grabbed a small snack at a cafe called Girard in downtown La Jolla—a sandwich for my sister and a pasta salad for me. After that we drove to Torrey Pines and hiked the Torrey Pines State Reserve, which took us about an hour and a half. It wasn’t too bad of a loop, with a short uphill and then a winding downhill until we walked right along the beach all the way to the parking lot in a big loop. I spent most of it talking with my mom. It was a gorgeous hike, with amazing views of the coast, which we all enjoyed. After the hike we were starving, and grabbed a late lunch around 4 at a cafe called Trilogy Sanctuary. They had amazing vegan and gluten free options, which I appreciated, and I had their enchiladas and a London Fog made with oatmilk. It also offered yoga classes, funnily enough, and a rooftop view. We stopped near the restaurant to watch the sunset, and then charged the car at a nearby parking garage where we rested for half an hour, chatted, and used the bathroom at an nearby hotel. Afterwards, my sister and mom took the car back, while my dad and I wandered the famous Gaslamp area of San Diego for a bit. We ultimately ordered some vegan tacos from a Mexican restaurant called Mr. Tempo with a lively atmosphere and live pulsing music. Unfortunately, they had terrible service. They didn’t get any part of our order right when accommodating for allergies, and their online and paper menus differed, meaning that they put stuff in the tacos not specified on the paper menu. We didn’t realize the mistake until after we walked twenty minutes back to the hotel, and it had us angry and grumpy. When we called, they would not even admit that they had messed up despite the proof in front of us, and it took my mom fifteen minutes until they remade the food free of cost as originally ordered so that I had something to eat. I didn’t end up eating until 9:30, and it was overall a bad experience.

Sunday, December 22, 2024

I slept really well last night and woke up a bit earlier today, since we wanted to do more. After breakfast, we all got ready and headed to Balboa Park. It’s another famous part of San Diego, larger than both New York’s Central Park and Chicago’s Millenium Park. After getting information at the Visitor’s center and some chex mix to snack on, we walked to the Japanese Tea Garden, which was gorgeous. I had only ever been to the Japanese Tea Garden in San Francisco before, and this was larger than that, with more features, like a small museum, koi fish, bonsai trees, and bamboo. There was a small restaurant right outside the tea garden and my sister and I grabbed a veggie sandwich to snack on after we were done with the tea garden. They had to remake it though, because the cashier had no idea what she was talking about and told us that the mayo was dairy free when it wasn’t, and the chef confirmed that the mayo had dairy and remade it. It’s so frustrating when people don’t know the answer but don’t want to ask and just lie to your face about allergies, honestly. We wandered a bit more before grabbing a sold lunch from the Cafe Around the World—I had a delicious acai bowl and avocado toast with tomatoes on it. There weren’t the most options for someone with my restrictions, but that stuff I could eat. It was sunny and lively outside where we ate; people were doing face painting, henna, balloon animals, and performing. After lunch, we went to the Fleet Center, which is a science center, and after some wandering of the exhibits, watched a really interesting IMAX movie called Deep Space about the Webb Telescope’s building, launch, and aftermath. Afterwards, we left Balboa Park and drove to Sunset Cliffs, which is a famous spot towatch the sunset next to the ocean. It was really gorgeous, with an amazing view. We grabbed dinner at this eclectic gothic vegan restaurant called Kindred that I highly recommend; it was my favorite restaurant in the entire trip. They had a really interesting aesthetic with red lamps, dim lighting, and photos of cats and skulls. Even with my many allergies, I was able to eat this delicious vegan carbonara and vegan grilled cheese sandwich that had bechamel in it. I was stuffed after dinner, and we all headed to bed after.

Monday, December 23, 2024

Today was a busy day, since we woke up even earlier than yesterday to have breakfast—they had tater tots today! Afterwards, we all got dressed and headed up to hike Cowle’s Mountain, the tallest mountain in San Diego. It gives an amazing view of the city and its surroundings, uphill one way but then downhill the way back. It took us about two hours to go there and back, though we spent lots of time at the top enjoying the view and the sunlight. My sister and I hiked ahead of our parents, chatting and listening to my gym playlist on our airpods. I got a bit dizzy around the middle, but my parents had an electrolyte drink that helped me since I’m deficient. The entire hike was done by around 12:20, and we went back to the hotel to quickly shower and clean up so we weren’t sweaty. From there, we went to Old Town, another famous historic part of San Diego. We got lunch around 2 at Flor’s Farm to Table, which had delicious Mexican food and good vegetarian/vegan options. However, they did not have any free water or available napkins (you had to ask for those and they only gave you like three at a time) and none of the vegetarian food had beans, only potatoes, which meant to protein. I was glad I had had eggs that morning, so that I at least at some protein in the day. The food was deliciously spicy, and I had two vegan potato tacos and a vegan sopa. My mom gave them a Yelp Review after that mentioned the lack of beans and napkins, and the owner even responded, saying that he always gets those two same complaints and doesn’t understand why, which I found hilarious. If everyone is saying it, they might have a point! My dad and sister took a nap in the car after lunch while my mom and I explored Old Town and shopped a bit. We passed through these hilarious shops that had ceramics in the shapes of genitalia and naked bodies, and I’m not sure why. I got a necklace with my name as the pendant, and after, we drove to the Lighthouse to see the sunset. Unfortunately, it was in Cabrillo National Park, which closed at 5, and the sunset was after 5. We ended up just driving down the road to random spot to watch the sunset from the car, and then went back to Old Town for more shopping and dinner. I took a small nap on the way to Old Town because I was pretty tired by then, and then went with my dad after he parked to meet my sister and mom at Temecula Olive Oil, where they were doing a tasting. We ultimately bought a pomegranate balsamic and an herb blend olive oil. They had a lot of unique balsamics that were different and delicious, and I would definitely recommend trying a tasting there. We also stopped at Nibble, a vegan chocolate store. Their truffles were made with nuts, which meant I unfortunately could not eat them, but I got a delicious jar of Brazilian chocolate nibbles which I could eat, and a hot cocoa with oatmilk and a dash of sea salt. Neither my dad or sister was a fan of the sea salt, which I didn’t understand, but it meant that I had the drink to myself. We browsed some more but didn’t buy anything except for a snack pack of honey cinnamon glazed peanuts for the rest of my family, and then drove to a vegan Japanese restaurant called the Yasai for dinner. We went to the wrong Yasai location by accident, which was closed, and as a result didn’t get to the right Yasai until 7:30, by which time the wait was 30-40 minutes. We ended up just going to a restaurant in the same complex called Noodle House and getting takeout. They had huge servings, so we accidentally got too much food—dumplings, scallion pancakes, chow mein, and fried rice, all vegetarian—and ate it at the hotel before going to bed.

Tuesday, December 24, 2024

My mom and dad went out early for a walk, but my sister and I slept in, exhausted after yesterday, and had to turn away room service until a later time. After getting ready, I had some of the leftover fried rice from last night’s breakfast since we had missed the hotel breakfast, and then got ready. My sister was driving, and we drove to Coronado Island to check out the famous Hotel del Coronado. We had been considering spending one night there despite the exorbitant price, but decided against it. Unfortunately, the weather foiled our plans; it was rainy and gloomy, and we had originally planned to bike along the beach. Again, San Diego is probably better explored in spring or fall, when it isn’t burning hot like the summer, but not winter weather either. We drove down Silver Strand Boulevard, which is a narrow strip of land connecting Coronado to San Diego, and checked out all the gorgeous houses and beaches along the way. At 12:30 we got lunch at Calypso Cafe, which was open until 3 despite it being Christmas Eve. They had delicious brunch food—I had huevos rancheros, my sister got a garden scramble omelette, and my dad got a veggie sandwich. After lunch we drove back to the hotel, and spontaneously decided to check out and head back home a day early. The weather meant that there was not much more we could do, and that way we would be home a day early instead of by the end of Christmas Day. The drive would also be easier since more stuff would be open. We checked that it was possible at the front desk, packed our things, and were out of the door by 2:30. We stopped at a Target for some coffee, to use the bathroom, and to grab me some Vaseline for my skin, and then my sister, who was still driving with me in the front seat, took us all the way to LA, where we stopped for dinner at an Indian restaurant called Badmaash. They had decent food and good service, but despite having all of my allergies double and triple checked by the waiter, the kitchen still messed up and cross contaminated something, giving me a mild allergic reaction I noticed quickly. My lips swelled up and I had to take a claritin, and they still took a while to depuff. The restaurant was super apologetic, and comped our meal and everything, but it didn’t really fix the reaction. We left quickly, not wanting to stay after that, but 30 minutes into our drive, realized that my mom had left her bag including her wallet at the restaurant. It was good luck that she had called the restaurant to explain that my reaction had gone down, since it gave the restaurant owner an opportunity to tell her about the bag. We ended up driving back to get it, along with some free mango lassi for the inconvenience, before continuing. I was driving for all of this, since I needed a distraction after my reaction. It was dark as we drove, but not too bad, and at one point we ended up in a crazy wind tunnel on the I-5. Us and all the other cars were going at 40-50 mph, and at one point I had to indicate and swerve rapidly before we got hit by an honest to god tumbleweed. They were giant, and going down the highway. It was scary, and the wind was so strong I had to be careful or the car would literally get shoved a bit. We got out of it though, and I’m proud to say it was my best driving in a crisis. From there it was pretty smooth; my dad and I switched at a supercharger where we used the bathroom and I devoured the leftover noodles from the Noodle House, and then I fell asleep in the front seat. At our last charging stop I switched with my mom so she took the front seat, and we were home by 2 AM on Christmas Day. Later than anticipated, but we did leave pretty late in the day and have a 1 hour delay due to the missing bag. It was overall a great trip, and a nice way to explore a new part of my state I had not been to before.