Old Town San Diego/ 30th Anniversary Trip Part Two

"We're really going to want to take pictures and my camera is broken and, since neither of us has ever been to San Diego, we could really use a GPS." That was my unsuccessful plea for Don to buy an iPhone for me before our vacation. Instead, we ended up with a new Nikon Coolpix and several pages of directions printed from Google Maps. (For the record, I'm not giving up on the iPhone thing. Christmas is just around the corner.)

 Don and I arrived in San Diego shortly before one o’clock. Realizing we had a few hours to kill before the hotel would allow us to check in, we made our first destination Old Town.

 Don found a place to park our car that was not only free, a huge deal in San Diego where you pay through the nose to park, but the doors wouldn't get dinged...a subject that could take up an entire blog post. Don is that anal about it.

 The two of us wandered around until we came across a quaint little Mexican restaurant. We stopped to glance at a menu posted near the entrance, when a server approached us, assuring that their food was not only delicious but authentic. With the exception of snacking on Chex Mix and Licorice in the car, Don and I had eaten nothing all morning, so it didn’t take much to convince us to stay.

 We dined on the patio…

Then we shopped for souvenirs...

And toured some museums....

The Wells Fargo Stagecoach

Don and I particularly enjoyed the Mormon Battalion Historic Site. We learned about the Mormon Battalion being enlisted by the U.S military in 1846 and marching 2,000 miles from Iowa to San Diego. The tour is free and has interactive displays that remind me of those magical photographs in Harry Potter where people have the ability to move and talk. Our tour guide, who was dressed in character, asked Don to put on some items that men would have worn on the trek...

At the end of the tour, Don and I had an opportunity to pose for a photo and have it sent to our email free of charge...

Here is a little tip. If you ever tour Old Town San Diego, the Mormon Battalion Museum has by far the cleanest bathrooms. (Don has his issues with the car, mine involve toilets.)

Don and I enjoyed Old Town so much, we went back two days later and were lucky enough to catch an evening tour of the Whaley House, one of the Most Terrifying Places in America according to the travel channel. I will fill you in on our experience at the Whaley House in a future post.

30th Anniversary Trip Part One

As of September 4th, Don and I have been married 30 years. We knew we wanted to celebrate this milestone in our lives, but had a hard time agreeing how. Soooo...we compromised between dinner and a movie (Don's idea) and traveling to Barbados (my idea) and went on a trip to San Diego.

Planning the vacation kept me sane. I am a happier person when I have something to look forward to and having an opportunity to spend more than three nights (Cody's limit) alone with my husband was long over due. Many an hour was spent on the computer researching places to visit, hotel deals, google maps, etc. I even printed a few road games that I found on Pinterest. Don enjoyed the license plate game and was much better at it than I. Of course, Don looks at vehicle license plates every time we get in the car. He's either figuring out what personalized plates are trying to say (IM JSAYN, HIOFCER, IFRTD) or discovering vehicles with registrations that have expired.

Along with games, I also printed a road trip questionnaire. I had two motives in mind: 
1) Answering questions about each other would make for good conversation and 2) some of the questions and answers were bound to trigger memories of why Don and I married each other in the first place.

Here are a few of the questions we both got right:

What is your favorite dessert?
Don- Banana Pudding
DeeAnn- Peanut Buster Parfait

If you could go anywhere in the world on vacation, where would it be?
Don- Myrtle Beach
DeeAnn- Barbados

What do you consider your biggest achievement to date?
Don- 30 years of marriage
DeeAnn- 30 years of marriage

What was your first impression of your spouse?
Don- beautiful hair color, wore Levi 501 jeans and a sweater
DeeAnn- straight teeth, nice hair and ears

Here are some questions we both missed:

What is your least favorite household chore?
When was the last time you felt really proud of yourself?
What is your biggest fear?
What is your favorite childhood memory?


And here are questions Don gave rated R answers to:

What is your favorite memory you have of us?
What was the best part about your wedding?
What is your favorite physical feature on your spouse?
What is your idea of a perfect date?
How do you like to celebrate your birthday?


My aforementioned motives proved to be correct. The games and questionnaire broke the monotony of a long drive as well as set a good tone for the remainder of our trip.

"97X. BAM. The Future of Rock and Roll."

The Price is Right airs at a new time. After all the years of coming on at 9:00 a.m., CBS has decided to move the game show to 11:00 and for the record, I am not one bit happy about the change.

If you have ever watched the movie Rain Man, you probably recall when Raymond and Charlie Babbitt were on the road and 5 o' clock began to approach. Charlie realized if he didn't find someone that would let his brother watch People's Court on their television, Raymond was going to throw a fit. After all, Ray followed a rigid schedule and had to watch certain programs at the same time every day, no matter what.

Cody is like that with The Price is Right and Survivor.

If you haven't seen Rain Man, I would recommend that you do so. It really is a good film and very educational for those who know little about autism.

I found the following clip on YouTube. I must forewarn that the F word is thrown around a couple of times, so view at your own discretion.

What Makes It All Worthwhile?

After work this afternoon, I came home to find this surprise waiting for me in the refrigerator...

Although she was long gone, Katelyn was thoughtful enough to pick me up a Diet Coke with crushed ice.

It's small and simple things like this that make me feel I've done something right in the parenting department.

Chase and Talitha's Wedding

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