sf7307

We were in San Diego this weekend for a family event (my dad's 90th birthday). He lives "east" so almost all of us (about 20 in all) stayed "locally" at a Holiday Inn on Parkway Drive. They're redone the rooms, and it was actually quite nice -- and even though the pool is tiny (not small, TINY), those who used it (including a couple of babies) really enjoyed it. I just wanted to post this to say that I've never had more spectacular weather in San Diego....after our morning/lunch "event" on Saturday, a bunch of us went to the Del, wandered around the hotel, then the beach, then had a drink at one of the terrace bars. We couldn't stop raving about how beautiful it was. Next day, after breakfast, some of us went to La Jolla -- another sensational day (yesterday)....watched the kayakers and swimmers in the cove, ate lunch at Jose's (very good "dive" Mexican place on Prospect), shopped, listened to live music in the park ("Concerts by the Sea"). Then we left and went to the Gaslamp District for a couple of hours of shopping and ice cream (Ghirardelli, which was very crowded, probably because ComicCon had just ended), before we headed home. All in all, it was glorious!

MomDDTravel

SF so glad you enjoyed the weekend! I happened to spend the day in Rancho Bernardo yesterday at the Rancho Bernardo Inn after leaving Laguna Beach in the am... (I stayed in Laguna for the night on Sat with my Mom who was in town).

Where "east" does your Dad live?

yk

Hi sf7307, I agree. Of the several times I visited San Diego, the weather was always incredible. I told DH that if we had to move to the wrong coast , it would have to be SD and nowhere else.

Recently, we stayed at a Holiday Inn Express in CA. It is fairly new (just a year old), and I was very impressed with it. It was nice, contemporary, great staff, big rooms, decent free breakfast. I used to dislike HI but I need to give that chain (HI & HIExpress) another chance.

How did the Olive Garden dinner turn out? Did you eat anything? Inquiring minds want to know...

ksucat

sf..you were in my hood this weekend!!
It was spectacular as usual but more so this weekend.
Glad you had fun..we like Jose's for sitting next to the open air windows and eating Mex and a marg.
Hotel Del is always lovely..big waves in LJ this weekend..water temp was 74 degrees!
Isn't La Jolla one of the prettiest places in the world..

sf7307

yk, dinner turned out fine. The funny thing is I told everyone (I think there were 21 of us) about my "nutritional information research", and then there were booklets ON THE TABLES with the nutritional information, so they got passed around and everyone was flabbergasted!! I ended up having minestrone soup (heavy salt, but very tasty....as my brother the chef said, "salt and fat, what could be bad?") and cappelini pomodoro. None of us ate dessert that night. The night before, I ate a couple of bites of home-baked cookies (to be polite) but no more. All in all, I did okay, certainly better than I would have in the past.

sf7307

ksucat, yes La Jolla is gorgeous!!

sf7307

Oh, and MomDD, he lives in La Mesa (up off Navajo Road somewhere). I'd say where, except....we went from the hotel to his synagogue on Saturday morning. Leaving the synagogue, I told my two cousins I'd go with them, because I could retrace the route back to the hotel. Ha! We were hopelessly lost for a good half-hour!!

ksucat

Glad you had a great time sf!
We welcome you back anytime!!

yk

You know, I love the fact that CA is mandating chain restaurants to provide nutritional information for their foods. I wish this practice were more widespread.

We ate breakfast one morning at a Marie Callendar (?sp) next to the aforementioned HI Express. My brother said he would order an omelette plus a muffin (free choice of toast OR muffin with the omelette). I told him a muffin has at least 500 calories. He didn't believe me. So I got up to get the nutritional information sheet and showed it to him. Every muffin choice has 500+ calories the minimum, some over 700 calories. He decided to order the bran muffin (least calories and little sat fat), but of course, the restaurant didn't have bran muffin that morning! Just the order of omelette + muffin alone has close to 1600 calories - and this is just BREAKFAST!

MomDDTravel

Sf I know exactly where La Mesa is Glad you had a good trip and happy birthday to your sweet Dad!

The waves were HUGE! As I mentioned I was staying in Laguna Beach and the waves were to the top of the Surf and Sand Splashes restaurant.

sf7307

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yk, at Ghirardelli in the Gaslamp yesterday, they were out of chocolate ice cream!! How can Ghirardelli be out of chocolate????

DebitNM

oh, next time go to the gelato shop at 509 5th Ave - it is amazing and they have lots of variations on chocolate.

http://www.chocolatsandiego.com/

Deb

MomDDTravel

I LOVE that place Deb!!!!!