Hi friends! As you know, I was out in San Diego over the weekend having a little mini reunion with a few of my grad school friends!
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I’m totally exhausted from all the travel, time changes, and adventures, but it was worth it. What a fun weekend – SO good to see these beautiful ladies again! I miss them already. <3
Here are the trip highlights – we packed a TON into the long weekend, so settle in with a cup of tea and enjoy. 🙂
Hiking at Torrey Pines State Reserve
This was a gorgeous spot – it reminded me of some of the hikes I’ve done in northern California before! Beautiful views of the ocean.
We did about a 5 mile loop, which was perfect, and it ended on the beach! 🙂
Swimming in La Jolla Cove
Ever since my friend Lauren moved to San Diego she’s been talking about the amazing open water swims she does in the ocean off of La Jolla Cove. She knows I love swimming, so she said this was a must-do during the trip! Sounded great to me. 🙂 The water was warmer than usual and we had a beautiful morning for a swim.
La Jolla Cove is really popular with snorkelers, scuba divers, swimmers… and sea lions! 🙂
Libby and Elle hung out on the beach while Lauren and I ventured out for our swim.
There are little buoys out in the water that mark different mileage for the swimmers; we decided to swim out to the 1/4 mile one and see how we felt. I brought my waterproof camera (<—expensive but SO worth the investment) along for the adventure in a SPIbelt, which worked perfectly. Also, treading water while trying to take photos ended up being a nice added workout. 😉
Nerdy caps and goggles FTW.
What a GORGEOUS swim!
Made it to the 1/4 mile buoy! Loved the little American flag attached to it. 🙂
We were feeling good so we swam on to another buoy a little farther (about 0.1 miles away).
And then we made our way back! We estimated we swam about 3/4 of a mile. Felt great – so refreshing!
Biking Mission Bay
On Saturday afternoon, we all decided it would be fun to rent cruisers and check out the nice path along Mission Bay.
We had the bikes for an hour and loved leisurely tooling around the area. So beautiful, and there were a ton of people out doing the same thing!
Lunch at The Naked Café in Solana Beach
On Sunday we had a late lunch at Naked Café, an adorable, healthy café that is definitely worth a stop if you’re in the area. They even have kombucha! 🙂
I had the Sesame Ginger Chicken Soft Tacos which were enormous and amazing.
Juice + a Snack at Trilogy Sanctuary in La Jolla
On Sunday afternoon, I slipped away to meet up with my blogger buddy Gina for a quick snack break at an AMAZING spot called Trilogy that she recommended.
It was so great to see her! <3 Also, hi to the blog reader that we ran into! 🙂
Not only is the rooftop café area gorgeous, but the food options were amazing (think: fresh green juice, healthy eats, almond flour cookies). I snagged an “awaken” juice (cucumber, apple, mint, lime, and cayenne) and an almond flour oatmeal raisin cookie, both of which rocked my world. Must recreate at home!
ALSO – Trilogy has a trapeze and an aerial yoga area where they do classes! This place was clearly made for me – I was obsessed. Wish I could have stayed long enough to take a class!
Night Stand Up Paddleboarding in Coronado
On Sunday night, after Libby and Elle headed out (sniff, sniff), Lauren and I had a fun adventure planned: a stand up paddleboarding (SUP) nighttime tour!
Our tour left at 8 p.m. out of Coronado, and we were really excited for the adventure! The tour guides attached little glow sticks to our paddles and life vests, and we each had a really cool bright LED light under our paddleboards – neat! By the time we set off, the sun was just going to sleep.
We paddled down to the bridge, then back, and stopped once at the turn around point on a tiny beach to check out the view of the bridge. In this picture you can really see the LED lights under the boards – so cool!
The way back was even more stunning with the city lights in front of us and the boards glowing. Magical! I would jump at the chance to do this again – it was so unique and cool.
I was really impressed that none of us ended up falling in! Apparently people usually do since there are some waves out there. The water was warm, though, so it would have been fine if we had. 🙂
If you’re ever in San Diego and up for an adventure, you have to do this tour. It was $49 so not super cheap but totally worth it. It’s so peaceful and the views were incredible!
Running on the Beach in Del Mar
I had to get the airport by 9 or so this morning and Lauren had to get to work, but we decided to get up early for one last adventure before I had to leave: a run!
We drove over to Del Mar and did 2 miles out on a path just above the beach, then two miles back along the beach.
The marine layer (the morning fog/clouds) kept it nice and cool – perfect for running – and even though I was tired, I knew getting some movement in before sitting on various planes/in airports for a thousand hours would be worth it. Getting to see the beach one last time was a win, too. 🙂
What a fun weekend – writing this post was a nice way to relive it! I hope you guys enjoyed the recap, too. 🙂 I’m on the first of my two plane rides right now and will land in DC around 10 tonight. I’ll be using the rest of the plane time to catch up on emails and work so it’s a little easier to hit the ground running tomorrow morning!
Have a great day/evening, everyone!
Have you ever been to San Diego? What was your favorite thing that you did/place you ate?
