San Diego 4: New Adventures

We'd been planning all along on going to the San Diego Zoo at some time during our vacation, but when it came right down to it, there were always other things we'd rather do instead. Friday was kind of a free day, but we just couldn't imagine walking around the zoo all day and then hop in the car for a 5 hour drive back to Las Vegas. So instead, we opted for a day filled with some new adventures.

First Train Ride

We packed up and checked out of the hotel fairly early and decided that instead of driving all the way downtown, only to have to pay for parking everywhere we went, we'd just catch the local commuter train that runs along the coastal cities in Southern California. Since Hazel was the only child over six, it wasn't terribly expensive, compared to gas and then parking downtown. It was cool and grey, but that was the story of our trip.

While Nels took pictures, I wrestled with four children and attempted to keep them from getting squashed by passing trains. :)

All you need is LOVE . . . ha, ha, ha!

Lilie - unsuccessfully attempting to NOT pose or be mauled by Hazel. :) 

Say Cheeeese!

The girls (and I) had never been on a train before, so this was a lot of fun.

The girls were very good, albeit REALLY excited. As we departed the train in Downtown San Diego, several people stopped us to -
first: ask, "Are these all yours?" (referring to our apparently unusual number of children),
second: "All girls?!",
and third: to tell us quite profusely that they were amazingly well-behaved! LOL!

Actually, this seemed to happen every time we went anywhere. "Wow! Are these all yours?!" Yes. *smile* "Wow! All girls?" Yes. *still smiling and starting to laugh a little* "I just have to tell you how pretty they all are. We've been watching your family from across the (insert: restaurant, train, line, boat, room, lobby, way, etc.) and I just have to tell you how impressed we were with how well behaved they all are!" LOL! Thank you. Yes, they really have been very good.

It cracked me up every time someone would talk to us about it. Living in Idaho or Utah, it seems entirely normal and commonplace to have four young children, but apparently in more urban areas we're quite the freak show. LOL! I could feel people watching us all the time. And for the record, the girls - all four of them - truly were angels the entire trip. Hallelujah.


First Boat Ride on the Ocean


Our reason for taking the train to downtown San Diego was so that we could take them to the Maritime Museum that is there on the Bay. It was a short walk from the train station to the Museum and we got there with just enough time to sign up for the Boat Tour that they take around the Bay. My kids have been on a ferry before (in the Puget Sound), but that's not quite the same as taking a smaller boat out on the not-so-open ocean (Bay).

Dancing in the "ballrooms" of a steamboat before boarding the "Pilot".

It's not a huge boat, but it was a lot of fun to see the sights from the "oceanside", especially since we weren't really going to be seeing any more of San Diego during our stay. 


We were able to see the huge aircraft carriers (and other ships) that they have docked at the Navy Base there as well, which was incredible. Next time we go, we'll have to go on the tour of the USS Midway.

I loved watching the pelicans flying over the water.

After we returned, we spent the rest of the afternoon walking through the many different ships. There was a couple of steamboats, two submarines (one US, one Soviet), several sailing ships - one built in 1863, and others. It was very cool.

 Yep. My eyes really are kind of yellow. :)

They had some great costumes on board one of the one sailing ships. :) Lots of fun. I think Nels and Lilie should have been born in the mid-1800's. They look good as voyagers. :)

My only wish was that we could break our exploring up into several days. All in one day, it starts to lose a little of the excitement by the end of the afternoon, but it was still lots of fun.

New Adventures Amid a Series of Unfortunate Events . . . 

We left downtown San Diego later than we'd planned, but luckily we were able to catch a train heading back up to Sorrento Valley (where we'd parked), just moments after we arrived. The ride back was just as enjoyable as the ride down. In fact, we sat right next to a couple who had stopped us to make the *ABOVE* comments in the restaurant where we'd eaten lunch early that day. We had a great time chatting with them. The girls told them all about our vacation, and Elsie - true to form - made immediate best friends with them. Even preferring to sit next to them as opposed to her parents. :)

As we approached our stop, we gathered up our Chicks and our bag and began herding them down the steps toward the door. Well. Just so you know, those trains are not piddling around when they stop at a station. They've got a schedule to keep and no way of opening the doors if they close in your face, just as you're about to step through them! So there we stood. Staring at the doors, watching our stop - and our van - roll past as the train started toward its next stop.

It was a very sad and stressful moment. Made even more stressful once we realized that we would miss the last train heading back down to our beloved Sorrento Valley Station for the day - by a whopping FORTY-FIVE SECONDS.  ------ So. First time missing our train stop.

We arrived at the next station about fifteen minutes later. We spoke with the station attendant - no more trains that evening going South. We asked about buses. He said he wasn't sure, but there might be a bus that heads that way arriving down the street in about 15 minutes. So we hightailed it down to the bus stop. Upon arrival, the driver told us that while he was heading South, his closest stop was about a mile and a half from the station we needed to get to and he didn't know of any connecting buses -- and he figured our chances of getting a cab from that stop would be pretty slim. So we walked the quarter mile back to the train station, with our tired children, to try to catch a cab.

After finally convincing one of the cabbies with a van to take us - even though we didn't have car seats for our kids - I realized that we'd need to pay him cash. --- He drove us to an ATM. --- Only for me to realize that I couldn't remember my PIN number. Nice. He finally agreed to take a check.  ------- My girls first cab ride.

It was an incredibly stressful evening. Violet and Elsie whimpered and cried most of the 20 minutes back to the van. But every once in a while, I'd just have to look over at Nels and laugh at the ridiculousness of the whole situation.

All because we didn't get to the train doors five seconds sooner.

We finally made it back to the van about an hour and a half after we'd seen it slip out of view earlier. --- And we still had a FIVE HOUR drive ahead of us! LOL!

Upon arriving back at our van, Elsie was once again in high spirits . . .

. . . but apparently the rest of us were slightly less enthused with the detour.

We pulled into our hotel much, much later that night. We slept in the next morning, got ready, checked out, got breakfast, and then spent about four hours at the hotel swimming pool - enjoying the Las Vegas sun. The girls practiced swimming under water - which they'd perfected throughout the week. Amazingly even after hours of swimming, they still weren't ready to stop when it came time to head home. :) We made it home - I think - at about 3 o'clock in the morning.

It was a wonderful week! So wonderful to be able to spend all of that time totally uninterrupted together as a family. I love my girls and my Nels so very much and I'm to thankful that we were able to make this happen. Hopefully, we will have many more adventures together in the coming years! :)