SEAPORT VILLAGE

Ahh...Seaport Village. It's one of my favorite places in San Diego. Almost every time my family and I decide to go to SD, it's a trip to Seaport Village. Now that I've been there so many times and have spent so many hours there, there's nothing really new for me to see (but it's especially worth a couple of hours of your time if you've never been there before). Even so, what I think is so great about this place is just the fact that you're there. Every time I'm in Seaport Village, I feel like I'm surrounded with such positive energy. It's a great place to walk around, shop, and dine on the waterfront. My two favorite places to eat are the Greek Island Cafe and Seaport Grill. As for a break from walking around, I love sitting on a wooden bench placed in front of the little ponds, watching the ducks swim while feeling the cool sea breeze on my skin. There is also an antique carousel, built in 1895, that I find interesting and you can ride for $3. I don't like to ride it, I just like to look at it...is that weird?  You may also see people dressed up walking along the waterfront and will probably see someone balancing stacked rocks in such a bizarre way...I don't know how they do it.

Seaport Village at night is really pretty. I love how the restaurants and shops are all lit up at night with little light bulbs that remind me so much like Christmas lights. Sometime during the day we got cheesecake at The Cheesecake Factory. A few cheesecakes were ordered to split, but since I don't eat cheesecake, I just sat and enjoyed myself, although the oreo one did look good. It was once on my bucket list to try every single flavor of cheesecake on their menu, but ironically enough, it was there that I discovered I don't like cheesecake, so I gave up on that. Too sweet maybe? I don't know. Cheesecake just isn't my thing.

CORONADO ISLAND

San Diego is always a pleasure to visit, yet it is a place I feel I don't get to visit enough. And even after as many times as I've been there, I still have not been able to see half of what San Diego has to offer. We usually only drive down there to visit Seaport Village, the San Diego Zoo, or on the rare occasions when we fly out of the San Diego airport (we normally choose LAX but sometimes San Diego is just so much cheaper). This past Sunday, however, some family members from Tennessee came down to visit, and so the only logical thing to do was to head down to San Diego to catch up and show them around the area! For years now, and especially after seeing Billy Wilder's Some Like It Hot, I have wanted to visit Coronado Island, specifically Hotel del Coronado. So I was thrilled that that was the very first thing we did!

San Diego is one of those places where you can spend all day doing one activity. When we go to Seaport Village, my family will literally be there all day and we'll wind up running out of time and not being able to do anything else. When we go to Balboa Park, we're there all day. So Sunday, when we went to the beautiful Hotel Coronado, we had to keep track of time so we could take our Tennesseans to more than just one neat place in San Diego...or you know, we would have been in Coronado all day. As I wasn't actually vacationing there, (but let's face it that would have been nice), I cannot give a full review, however from what I have seen, it is safe to say that the hotel was one of the nicest I have ever been to. The interior is decorated with chandeliers, Victorian-themed furnishing, and filled with luxury shops, spas, bakery, restaurants, and more. I also love how the hotel is on the beach. Perfect for a summer vacation! I would love to stay the weekend at this hotel one day: relax on the beach, visit the spa, drive down around the island and nearby San Diego attractions, have my own little getaway.

Oh and apparently it's haunted? Spooky.

 

LAST DAYS IN TENNESSEE

Being in Tennessee was so much fun. The last couple of days were mainly spent at the house, just watching tv, playing cards, chatting, watching movies, maybe going out to eat every now and then, that sort of thing. The whole purpose of the trip was to spend time with family, and we did just that.

Wednesday was pretty basic. My siblings and I met up with our sister who lives in Tennessee and our grandmother from our mom's side. We had lunch at the Cheesecake Factory, walked around the mall for about an hour, and later went to a park.

Thursday we spent half the day in Alabama. First, we went to the U.S. Space and Rocket Center in Huntsville. There we saw Miss Baker's spaceship. It's funny imagining a monkey going to space. Anything's possible though. After looking around a bit, we went and visited my great uncle and aunt in Athens. I hadn't seen them since I was a baby, so it was nice seeing them now that I'm older. We talked and looked through old photographs and when it was time for lunch, we found ourselves at Shoney's. Shoney's is pretty much just a regular restaurant, but it's one of those things where whenever we're in the south, it's a must go. Same with Cracker Barrel. Maybe because we don't have them in California?

Friday, our last day, we did nothing but pack and play a game of Skip-Bo before we left to get breakfast at Cracker Barrel and then head to the airport back in Nashville. It was such a fun trip, I already can't wait until the next time we see each other. There were definitely tears at the airport. It's always hard to leave family when you live so far away. But I know one thing's for sure...it won't be another 10 years until we visit that part of Tennessee again.

The top part of the last picture from left to right is me, my sister Brianna, cousin Ryan, other cousin Hilary, and my brother Alphonse. The bottom part of the picture is what my grandmother's room looks like now. Same bed frame, bed sheets, everything. That was probably the most comforting thing, coming back after so long and everything is the same - just how I last saw it.

I hope whoever read my posts from Tennessee enjoyed them. Have a beautiful day everyone!

Love,

Mickey