San Diego with the Ladies

My friend Tracey Cannon owns a condo in LaJolla, an upscale suburb of San Diego.  Every year she invites a few friends to join her for a "girls weekend."  I spent from Thursday through Monday, October 27-30, 2017, sightseeing, eating, and talking, talking, talking with neighborhood pals (left to right) Pam Cole, Robyn Petty, Bobby Casper, Pam Johnson, Robin Kimball, and Tracey.

 The early birds took a walk to LaJolla Beach on Friday morning.

 Surfers were out with their wet suits, as we strolled along the sand.

"I want to just soak myself in views of the ocean," I said.  Utah has stunning mountains, deserts, and Alpine lakes, but nothing can substitute for the ocean.

On our walk back to the condo, we checked out the stores on our way, including this shop filled with English candy bars.  Cadbury fruit and nut, anyone?

We spent several hours shopping at Seaport Village, near the harbor.  One adventure was testing the spa treatments for hands and feet.  "Our hands have never felt this smooth," Pam, Robin, and I agreed, after scrubbing them with a rough, grapefruit-scented paste, washing them, and them spraying them with scented oil.

We finished the day at the pier in LaJolla Cove, watching the sun set and searching in vain for the hordes of seals that used to hang out there.

We finally found three seals, basking on a rock.

 It was then home for dinner, made stylish and delicious by seven good cooks (and the staff at Costco).  After dinner, we watched the first of the weekend's three chick flicks, "Made of Honor," "No Reservations", and "Beauty and the Beast."  We lounged in Tracey's leather, home theater chairs with raised foot rests!

Saturday was a great day for a session at the elegant San Diego Temple.  We took time to explore the two-story Celestial Room, including peaking up through the atrium at the statue of Angel Moroni on the very top spire.

We spent the afternoon at the San Diego Botanical Garden.  A juried cactus and succulent show was in progress, and we voted for our favorites.  Robin Kimball is getting a hip replacement soon, and she hobbled a bit, but she was a great sport.

 This was my vote for most interesting plant in show.

We rode about the grounds in our own shuttle, with a guide who told us about the huge agaves, like this one, and the other plants from around the world.

We finished Saturday with some great shopping in the Cedros Avenue Design District of Solano Beach, with both funky and exclusive shops. We have a favorite consignment store there.  Last year we posed in furry animal masks, and this year in flamboyant hair bows.

On Sunday morning we attended Church in a  combination resident ward and deaf branch.  The songs and talks were signed, as well as sung.  We then broke into groups.  Tracey, Pam Cole, and I had never visited the USS Midway Museum, so we spent several hours there, as the rest of the group toured Old Town.  The USS Midway is an aircraft carrier which was commissioned in 1945, right after WWII, was named for the WWII Pacific battle which turned the tide of the war, and was finally decommissioned in 1992.

We watched a film about the WWII Battle of Midway, traipsed through the enlisted men's and officers' bunk rooms, checked out the control room and pilots' lounges, and then spent most of our time on the top deck, studying the thirty airplanes and helicopters from America's many wars.

A saxophonist played jazz as the sun set over the harbor.  We hurried back to Tracey's condo for supper, a last movie, and cleaning the condo before heading for home Monday morning.  A perfect weekend!