Southern Cal 2017 - Days 1 & 2

Time to resurrect this sad little blog.  My goal has always been to not be more than 1 year behind, but here we are, August 2018 and blogging about June 2017.  I would give up, but I'm terrible at keeping a consistent journal, so this blog is an important spot to document the fun and important goings-on of this family.  I like to imagine that someday my kids will read about these trips from when they were younger and have fun reminiscing about all of the fun that we had.

Now, back to our irregularly scheduled content:

Day 1 - SLC-SAN - June 1, 2017:

We found a good deal on flights from SLC to Long Beach so we pulled the trigger.

Isn't Long Beach the best airport to fly into?

Our first stop was at Mama D's Italian Restaurant in Newport Beach.  We were looking for a restaurant between Long Beach and San Diego with good reviews and this one fit the bill.

Ada loved her pizza and I remember that Alison and I were pretty happy with our food as well.

Day 2 - San Diego Zoo & Baseball - June 2, 2017

I'm kind of embarrassed to admit it, but we found a truck stop style breakfast diner right near old town for breakfast. It was a greasy spoon, but the girls were happy with their big cinnamon rolls.

After breakfast we made our way to the San Diego Zoo.  We have been here before, I think when Ada was little.

First stop was the skyfari to take us to the far side of the zoo.

Polar bears in the Northern Frontier.

Tigers in the Lost Forest.

Giant pandas in Panda Canyon.

After the zoo we made our way to Old Town where we stopped at the Mormon Battalion Visitor's Center.  For all of the times that we have been to San Diego, we have never stopped here.  We were really surprised.  The visitor center tour and exhibits were great.

And the girls loved panning for gold.

The real reason that were were visiting old town was to eat at Miguel's.  This is our favorite Mexican joint in San Diego.  You know how most Mexican restaurants bring out chips and salsa?  Miguel's ups the ante by bringing out queso as well.  And we love it.

We have usually visited San Diego during the winter months, when it is cold and snowy in Utah.  Sadly, this is also when baseball is not in season, so this was our first time visiting Petco Park and cheering on the Padres.

MLB ballpark #24!

Tomorrow we spend a lazy day at the pool and beach.

Park City - Memorial Day 2017

After being cooped up at home for so long we needed a short getaway.  We were away from home for less than 24 hours, but it was just what the doctor ordered.  We love being out adventuring as a family.

We visited our favorite restaurant on Main Street, Bandits' Grill and Bar.  Sadly, It has taken me so long to add this overnighter to the blog that the restaurant has since closed.

We stayed at the Marriott Summit Watch on Main street.  The girls are pretty good at sharing a bed when traveling, but as we were going to bed I was debating whether or not it was really worth spending the night 45 minutes from our own bed. Once everyone is asleep things are a lot calmer.

Breakfast was donuts from the Little Donut shop.  They were pretty good.  A little pricey, but we liked them.

Memorial Day morning we went and rode the Mountain Coaster (our first time) and the Alpine Slide.

Now back to civilization and the girls' last week of school.

Squiceland Day 13 - Iceland Encore & KEF to SLC

Day 13 - Iceland Encore & KEF to SLC - April 13, 2017

We rented a car for our one last day in Iceland.  It was cheaper than grabbing a taxi for the day.

We went to the Blue Lagoon.  It is an overpriced  geothermal hot spring pool near the airport and is quite famous in Iceland.

Is she topless?

I sure am.

The Blue Lagoon is known for its silica mud that is supposedly great for face masks. 

Right next to the Blue Lagoon was a geothermal power plant that actually feeds the excess water to the Blue Lagoon. 

After the blue lagoon we walked around the other silica hot water ponds.

Now this is awkward, we are in the middle of a public airport and this lady is slathering on her antiperspirant.

She caught me looking.  I couldn't turn away.

Getting onto the plane. 

We had our flight to Denver that arrived at 6:30 PM.  We had to go through immigration and customs and then it was too late to catch a flight home to SLC, so we stayed the night at the Westin right at the Denver airport.  This was convenient, but our flight the following morning left Denver at 6:00 AM,  which got us home just in time for the girls to go to school all nice and jet-lagged.

Such a lovely trip and excellent adventures with this beautiful traveling family of mine.  Now, off to blog about our next adventure.