Adventures by Holly -San Diego. A PTR About This Page:

[HollyH]

Welcome to my first Trip Report! First, let me explain the title. I really, really, really wanted to take an Adventures by Disney trip to the Grand Canyon, but alas it was not in our budget (sigh ). I solicited my DSis and DBiL to travel to the Grand Canyon with our family and wrote up a proposed itinerary and cost analysis following some of the ABD itinerary. To be funny, I labeled it "Adventures by Holly". Well, as we looked at possible dates for our trip, it turned out that no one wanted to travel to AZ in the summer. The heat concerned some (but it's a dry heat! ). We held a family meeting (my parents were on board at this point) and came up with San Diego as a good location for a summer trip. Adventures by Holly-San Diego was born!!

The Adventurers: Me, Holly 42; DH, Ted 44; DS, Josh 8; DSis, Janet 36; DBiL, Aaron 34; DM, Barbara 72; DF, Jim 72. I am the only one in the group who has been to the SD area before, and that was in 1984.
Dates: July 27- August 4, 2009
Hotel: The Westin Gaslamp Quarter (got a fantastic rate for this -$89 a night! )
On Our To Do List: Old Town Trolley Tour, Sea World, San Diego Zoo, Old Town State Park, La Jolla -7 Caves Kayak Tour, Birch Aquarium at Scripps and the beach, ballgame at Petco Park, Legoland, San Diego Harbor Tour, USS Midway Museum.

We each have a 7 day GO San Diego Card which will cover admission to many of the attractions we want to see. We have tickets to the Padres' game on Aug. 1. I think we purchased "All You Can Eat" seats, which I find funny and intriguing at the same time. Ted, Josh and I have Sea World Fun Cards which will get us into Sea World as many times as we want during the week. We also have reservations for a guided kayak tour in La Jolla. They claim "no experience necessary" and I hope they mean it because I have NO experience at all . We have booked one double kayak and one triple kayak (DM and DF are sitting this out). Josh will be riding with his Aunt and Uncle as those 3 will make the 400lb weight limit in the triple kayak. Josh isn't thrilled to be riding in a different boat from his Dad, but I am keeping my fingers crossed that this will be fine. It has to be because no other combination of 3 will make the weight limit!!!

Meals we're going to play by ear. I think Hash House a Go Go sounds like a fun spot. DSis wants to go to Kansas City BBQ (hello, we'll be in California) because of the Top Gun scene that was filmed there. And who could pass up a place called Extraordinary Desserts ? Horton Plaza (right near our hotel) has a place called Cup Of Corn at their food court. I'm very curious about this one, too. I mean, what is it? Just a cup of corn? I think we'll have to have some authentic California Pizza, and some Mexican too.

We will only rent a car for 2 days (to go to Legoland and La Jolla) due to the high cost of keeping a car at our hotel. We could have rented 2 cars for the week for $300, but it would have cost us almost $600 to park them !! Or we could have rented a van for close to $600 and paid $300 to park it. The long and short of it is we will be using a variety of public transportation options. A big THANK YOU to Bill (WSteele) for advice and tips on public transportation . Passporters are great!

Well, I'm not completely packed yet, and I'm still tweaking our itinerary. Tomorrow I have to sign in for our flight and simultaneously walk DM through the same. (We're flying Southwest. DSis and DBiL are flying American). The flight looks to be full, so we want to get A boarding passes. Then again, not sitting together on the plane wouldn't be the worst thing. Maybe I can get Josh to sit with Nana and Gramps for the 7hrs35mins we will be in transit . Hey, a girl can dream, can't she?

That's it for now! I'll check in when I get back!

[chezp]

Great start - you're brining back some great memories with the list of things you want to see out there. We saw much of that on our trip to San Diego in 2006.

[shellybelly72]

Great start!

[CinderAbby]

Great start and I like your title.

[Colexis Mom]

Have a great time Holly! Can't wait to hear all about it!

[hall0731]

Great Start! My MIL says the San Diego zoo is a great place. San Diego area is also on my bucket list to visit.

[ilovedisney0_0]

Well you are there now, hopefully having a fantastic time!

I laughed at the 'dry heat', because although AZ is notoriously way less muggy than most places, it is our monsoon season and has been quite humid - for us.

The San Diego Harbor cruise is FABULOUS. We just did one in June through Hornblower... who are you using?