SoCal; San Diego, La Jolla & Dana Point

Today the entire family shuttled down to San Diego to hang-out while Ron did some work.  We got off to an early start with Owen helping out on the plane.  Originally we had hoped to tack on a good number of days to the work portion of our travels but the engagement dates changed and ended up being bookended by Ron's golf trip to Myrtle Beach and Owen's baptism.

Since we're now carting around a household worth of items we're cruising in the rental SUV.  Definitely roomier than anything we have back home.  After landing in San Diego we headed over to the Gaslamp Quarter to grab some lunch.  The area is littered with bars and restaurants and even had some mid-day Halloween parties going on.  Unfortunately the first few places we hit up were between lunch and dinner.  Finally we found a craft beer joint that was still serving lunch.  Food was great, although the fish tacos the city is known for were a bit fishy, and Ron opted for an Allagash that we first discovered in Boston.

Ron tried to give him a fish taco but all he wanted was rice cereal.

Without a plan and a day and a half of free time we ditched San Diego and headed North up the Pacific Coast Highway to La Jolla.  This affluent portion of San Diego county has the highest home prices in the US.  In 2009 the average price of a 4-bedroom was over 2 million beans.  Crazy. That trivial fact aside, La Jolla Cove and the Children's Pool, name of the beach area, offers great views of the basking sea lions.

Walking in La Jolla

Sea lions basking in the sun (middle of the picture) 

Landmark from 1902.

After La Jolla we decided to continue heading North to Dana Point for the night.  En route we drove into a massive Halloween festival with kids and parents everywhere.  This was obviously Julie's dream come true and we pulled over and dressed Owen.

What up dog.

Julie, Owen and the Halloween Princess.

At the end of a long day we decided to check in at the Marriott Laguna Cliffs in Dana Point.  Not my first choice but it was late and we were plan-less -- and when the sun came back up, it turned out to be a decent choice with a great breakfast.

Owen shut it down early.