We are back from a quick trip to San Diego this past weekend (Sat.-Mon.) As always, it was nice to take a break from the normal routine.
We left on Saturday morning and made a stop at the Original Pancake House in Aliso Viejo. We tried the famed apple pancake and a puffy omelet. The apple pancake actually tasted good with the side of pancakes that came with the omelet. No, we couldn’t finish it, which always makes me sad when we can’t take the leftovers home.
Our next stop was La Jolla. The last time we were there was in January 2003, when we got engaged. Ah, the memories! We were trying to imagine how those UCSD students get anything done with such beautiful surroundings.
We also visited the Children’s Pool, but there were a lot less seals than last time. I guess it’s not the “season”. 
Conflicting signage:
We stopped in at the Cheeseshop for a light lunch. D had 1/2 of a roast pork sandwich and I had 1/2 of a turkey, avocado and jack sandwich. We also shared a fresh squeezed lemonade and a flourless oatmeal cookie. (This was a Yelp find). The atmosphere was Berkeley-esque, in a good way. We took the food to a nearby beach with a grassy area.
Then we checked into the Marriott @ Gaslamp. We booked it through Priceline for $95, which was a good deal. The trick with Priceline is to wait until just a couple of weeks before your trip. We had booked a Ramada Inn room as a backup way beforehand, and just cancelled when we got the Marriott.
k loves hotel beds. I can’t believe how much roommier a king feels than a queen. We thought that k would be able to sleep with us–bad idea. The second night we requested a crib and that was much better.
After taking a rest we ventured out of our hotel. Petco Park was really close by.
There were a lot of families taking advantage of the open park and nice weather. (It was actually a bit too warm for our comfort).
We went to Horton Plaza and realized that we don’t really like it. Just the same ol’ shops, and not very stroller-friendly. The restaurant I picked out way before to go to ended up being too far to walk, so we just tried to find something in the Gaslamp that was close by. We ended up at Sushi Itto which was very mediocre. To assuage our disappointment we went to Ghiradelli for dessert. 
Yes, there is ice cream under all of that whipped cream. Initially, I was disappointed with this too, because it seemed like just ice cream with whipped cream on top. It wasn’t until we were about half way through that we realized all of the hot fudge sauce was pooled at the bottom. Live and learn–haha.
It was still light out when we turned in for the night. Apparently there’s a happening rooftop lounge at the top of the hotel on weekends, but we didn’t check it out since k was with us! This was our view, from the 16th floor:
k liked this chair in our hotel room.
k imitating my dad (“Doin’ the Baba”).