Day 1-- To San Diego

Hello, again, and welcome to the Long Family Travelblog. What a year! I hope this edition finds you and your family well and healthy, and fully vaccinated. We have endured the Covid-19 pandemic without illness. Clare, our youngest, was the last in our family to get her second Pfizer shot – on her 16^th birthday, in June. So, we are all ready to get out and see the world again.

This year we will be taking 10 days to drive the Pacific Coast Highway (State Highway 1) between San Diego and San Francisco. You might know that my mom grew up in San Diego in the 1940s and ‘50s. Her sister, my aunt, stayed in California and raised her family here, and we paid them a handful of visits when I was a kid. Much later, after graduate school, Keith and I lived in Santa Monica together for a hot minute. So, over the years I have spent some time in California, and in that time, I have driven parts of the PCH. Those road trips are some of my favorite memories: the churning surf, the salty breeze, the golden light. I have always believed that that there is some Pacific coast in my DNA passed down from my mom (in the way that Chicago pizza is a part of me thanks to my dad). This place is supremely comforting to me; and the connection feels inherent and primal.

Sadly, we won’t be camping on this trip. We just don’t have the time to roll the Teardrop 5,000 miles round-trip (or the energy to schlep tents and other gear on an airplane). My challenge, instead, was to find interesting and affordable places for a family of five to stay along the California coast. (And it was quite a challenge.)

 

This afternoon we flew from Midway Airport in Chicago direct to San Diego. Like, DIRECT. The San Diego International Airport is only 3 miles west of downtown, and on final approach to the airport’s one (!) runway we pretty much trimmed the trees at Balboa Park and clipped the red-tiled tops of the downtown office buildings. Keith observed that we didn’t so much fly over downtown, as through it, and we probably ran a few red lights on our approach to runway 27.

 

We collected our baggage and piled it into the rented Toyota Siena minivan. To my great relief, we have plenty of room for five passengers, five small roller bags, five backpacks, plus a Yeti backpack cooler and a separate duffle packed with hiking boots. The trip from Lafayette to Chicago this morning was cramped, even in our seven-passenger SUV, with the luggage piled all the way to the ceiling and only a tiny space carved out for Natalie in the third row. I fretted that she would develop a severe musculoskeletal disorder if she had to fold herself like that into the back of a tightly-packed vehicle for a week and a half. And I worried that the kids would miss all the scenery along the Pacific Coast Highway, and instead would have sweeping views of the broad side of a 22-inch North Face rolling duffle. But God bless mini-vans: All of our gear fits neatly behind the back seat, with room to spare.                                                                                   

 

It was mid-afternoon when we landed; we had enough time to squeeze in some sight-seeing before dinner. So, we drove straight to Cabrillo National Monument, at the end of Point Loma, the arm that sweeps south from Mission Beach to form San Diego Bay. The monument commemorates the landing of Juan Rodriguez Cabrillo in 1542: The first European explorer to set foot on what is now the West Coast of the United States. We weren’t interested in the history so much as the view: a panoramic vista of downtown San Diego, the bay, and the landmark Hotel del Coronado, as well as the San Diego Airport and the expansive North Island Naval Air Station, where we could see fighter jets and other Navy airplanes take off and land

It was an amazing way to orient ourselves to the area: Zooming out for wide-angled perspective, before zeroing in on specific sites.

 

We drove back downtown for dinner at Harumama Noodles and Buns in the vibrant Little Italy neighborhood. I know, I know! We should have had tacos! In San Diego! But I’m sure we’ll eat plenty of tacos this week. This place popped up on an Instagram travel account I’ve been following, and I couldn’t resist going for something a little unexpected. We enjoyed noodle bowls, sushi and these clever character bao buns on an outdoor patio while Alaskan Airlines planes on final approach parted our hair down the middle. 

Bao buns filled with beef and chicken (not panda meat). Weird? Or delightful? You decide.

After dinner, we drove about 10 minutes to the Lafayette Hotel, Swim Club & Bungalows, a northside fixture since 1946, when it opened as Imig Manor and welcomed Bob Hope as its first guest. The entire place, which is now on the National Register of Historic Places, oozes retro charm and for weeks they’ve been burning up my Instagram feed with photos of the fabulous parties around the pool, which is, of course, the hotel’s centerpiece. 

 

Fun fact! – the Mississippi Ballroom in the basement was the location of the bar scene where Tom Cruise sings “You’ve Lost That Lovin’ Feeling” in “Top Gun.” 

 

The hotel takes up an entire city block and includes standard rooms, which overlook the pool, as well as suites and bungalows. I booked a three-bedroom “bungalow” – really a two-level apartment with a huge living room and a full kitchen. We have tons of room to spread out, although honestly, the bathroom that Keith and I are using could fit inside our shower at home. 

It was around 8:30 p.m. by the time we checked in – 11:30 p.m. at home. So we were crashing. But we had to check out the pool. Most of the sunbathers had packed it up for the day. Wads of damp towels and piles of empty beer cans were the only evidence of today’s poolside revelry. Even though I was exhausted, I had to take a dip. It’s California, baby!