Continuation from Tennessee post…
The trip was gonna end after Nashville but some of us still had a few more days off so we decided to fly out to San Diego. I always considered myself a lifelong East Coast boy but I must admit San Diego won me over. Perfect weather year round, beaches and beautiful hiking spots just a short ride away, and a pretty chill vibe makes me dream of moving out there (especially when Winter comes around).
Our first stop was the world renowned San Diego Zoo & Safari Park. The zoo & safari park are separate things & are pretty expensive so we went for the safari park which was bigger and more like an animal reserve than the normal zoos we had been to. After a whole day exploring the massive park, seeing gorillas monkey around (see what I did there), basically every animal imaginable, & the highlight of the day, the cheetah run!
With the Safari Park fully explored, we moved onto some of San Diego's popular hiking spots. You can't hike in San Diego and not take a picture at the Potato Chip Rock! It was basically just walking up a paved road but it was super steep and I started wishing San Diego was a little cooler. Even with the steep hike, you can expect a line at the top to get a photo on the rock. We hiked a few more spots that led down to a beach which was a nice melding of two of San Diego's finer features.
Last stop, La Jolla (pronounced, and always my first spelling of it, Lahoya), a beautiful seaside area. The parking situation was horrible so such find a garage and get onto the good stuff. One of the most popular spots in La Jolla is the beach where you can walk right upto sea lions as they basque in the sun. After you are done watching sea lions sleep (because it seems like that's all they do), I recommend renting some bikes & riding up and down the coastline to get a good feel for La Jolla.
I was sad to leave San Diego but glad to get to my normal life after two weeks away. What was supposed to be a short trip turned into my longest vacation so far and by the end I could barely remember everything I did in Tennessee! I will definitely be going back to Nashville and hopefully San Diego.
