Hang Ten and La Jolla

Monday was our last day away so we started off with...you guessed it, breakfast and the beach! We went back to Pipes Beach again. 

Our flight was around 5pm so we checked out of the hotel and drove south with plans to stop in La Jolla  for lunch. 

First up, we stopped to take photos with this surfing statue. Erik says that the local surfers dress him up at various times in the year. ha!

We stopped by another famous surf shop, Mitch's. They were closed but we still took a photo!

Hang Ten, Bra!

We stopped in La Jolla for lunch and went to the Karl Strauss Brewery. They had some great beers on tap and the food was delicious. 

 I had a lime, chicken, mango salad. Soooooooo good. 

 Erik had the fish tacos which he said were great

Another funky mural....

We took one last stroll to the beach...La Jolla was beautiful and the downtown area was like a Greenwich, CT. BUT, there were so many tourists there that it was packed with all of these out of towners which kind of took away from the upscaleness of it all. 

And with that, our trip was almost over. It has been one awesome year of being married. We can't believe it's been a year already. Any relationship takes work and constant care but we have so much fun together and it is all worth it. Here's to many more anniversaries!

Isn't the first year anniversary gift paper? Yay! We got it right! haha

We had a great, relaxing, fun time and cannot wait to go back. We can fly down there in 1.5 hours or drive in 7. We are already trying to see when we can go back! 

Witch Creek Winery and Carlsbad

We took 101 up to Carlsbad, about 20 min north of Encinitas. We had a beach view for most of the way which was awesome. We went up to Carlsbad so we could go to a winery called Witch Creek Winery. I purely wanted to go because of the name!

First up, another mural on our way in. There were fun murals on the side of literally every building. This one seems pretty deep though...

Witch Creek Winery was an urban tasting room so it was located downtown and not in a vineyard like you might find in Napa. 

A black cat on the menu? Too funny. 

We each had a tasting of five wines. We tried two whites and three reds. We both loved the $40 Cuvee and did not buy anything because we didn't want to ship it home. I can definitely see buying some wine for my Halloween party this year though!

After the winery, we walked by the beach. This beach was jam packed with people and hardly any surfers. 

A nice woman offered to take our photo. Please ignore my crazy hair. haha

After Carlsbad, we headed back. We wanted to try this pizza place called Pizza Port in Solana Beach but it was so packed. We ended up back at the Cardiff Beach Bar again! You can't beat window seats to watch the sunset, good food, and great beer on tap!

SD: Swami's Beach and Cafe

On Sunday, we repeated our Saturday morning by having breakfast at the hotel and heading to the beach. This time, we went to another famous surf beach called Swami's. The funny thing about Swami's is it is easily found by finding this huge temple-like building on the street called the Self Meditation & Healing Center. 

Caution: Surfer Crossing

 Check me out surfing! haha

Swear I had a bathing suit on under this coverup skirt :-)

Another gorgeous beach...

After the beach, we went to a famous surf shop called Hansen's and had lunch at Swami's Cafe. The Cafe was super chill where we ordered at the counter and grabbed a seat outside. 

We had sandwiches and smoothies for lunch. My smoothie was amazing - mango, pineapple, banana, and coconut. Deeeelish. 

After lunch, we headed to Carlsbad!

SD: Stone Brewery and Searsucker

We were hoping to go on the brewery tour of Stone Brewery but their website said you had to get passes for the tour in advance. We drove out to Escondido(about 30 min away) to go to the brewery. When we asked about passes, they said they are available for DAY OF ONLY. Since we did not want to get up super early the next day to go to the brewery, we decided to skip getting passes. We've been to enough breweries to know what goes on at them!

The good news was that Stone had a huge bar and restaurant. So, we stayed for one beer and then headed to dinner in the Gaslamp District of SD. 

Saison for me

IPA for Erik

Scary Gargoyle for everyone

For dinner, we went to Searsucker on a recommendation from a friend. Searsucker's chef is Brian Malarkey from Top Chef!

The Gaslamp District is an area downtown with tons of bars and restaurants. The Gaslamp District was paaaaacked with people this night and we later learned it was UCSD Graduation Weekend. When we got to the restaurant, we realized that it was also packed and bumpin'. 

For dinner, we shared the mushrooms + burrata + toast. 

Then, I had the salmon “skuna bay”

fried green tomato + red cabbage

Erik had the hanger “butcher’s steak”

watercress + bbq + blue fondue

The food was great and service was good. The restaurant was so loud and busy that it was hard to relax and enjoy ourselves. Servers were literally bumping into each other to get around the restaurant. The decor of this restaurant is very rustic and barn-like. However, the music they were playing was modern and so loud. We felt like we were eating in the middle of a club. It seemed to us that the restaurant was having a bit of an identity crisis. 

It was nice to see another part of San Diego and have a delicious dinner. We were happy to get back to our quiet beach town at night though. Go here if you are ready for a party-like dinner experience!

SD: Pipes Beach and Union Kitchen

 On Saturday morning, we woke up, had breakfast at the hotel, and headed to the beach. We went to a famous surfing beach called, Pipes Beach. Erik suited up and went surfing...

 I set up shop on the beach to read. Beach, sun, sand, and a funny book is a great way to start the day. 

This book was hilarious. I was laughing out loud. If you watch Bravo, you will know who Andy Cohen is and want to hear about his life & career. 

The views on this beach were amazing. It is so beautiful down here. 

After the beach, we got ready and went to a local spot called Union Kitchen and Tap. It was a great restaurant with TV's so we could watch the hockey game and have some lunch. The front windows were wide open since it was so nice out, too!

We made another stop at a surf shop called Surfy Surfy. Check out this funky mural outside the building...

After these excursions, we headed to Stone Brewery and downtown San Diego for dinner!