Days 8 & 9

We left Tucson on Friday morning in route to Alpine to attend Leah’s Sul Ross State University Rodeo Exes Reunion. The three of us, along with Leah's parents, spent Saturday morning visiting our property at Sierra La Rana and the Sul Ross campus. We enjoyed dinner at the original Reata on Saturday evening. Alpine was a nice transition from California back to DFW, where it was 103 degrees when we arrived back home to Rockwall. Harper was a rock star traveler during this entire trip!

Click here to view a video summary of this final leg of our trip.

Day 7

We had to head back east on Thursday, but not before spending the morning on the beach in Coronado. After lunch, we headed east down I-8 and I-10 where we stopped for the night in Tucson (the exact same hotel room where we stayed a few days earlier). We are looking forward to Alpine on Friday.

Click here to view Harper's morning beach walk. I have also provided videos for Days 4, 5, and 6 that you can access via those respective blog entries.

Day 6

Wednesday was another great day. After we ate breakfast at the Breakfast Club Diner in Oceanside, we headed to the San Diego Zoo Safari Park, which was our favorite park that we visited this week. Our fun included a safari ride, drinking local beer in 75 degree weather, and basically just enjoying a very well designed, non-crowded park. Once we returned back to Oceanside, the three of us walked to Davina’s Cabo Grill & Cantina where we enjoyed dinner on the rooftop overlooking the ocean. Afterwards, we headed to the beach where we viewed a great west coast sunset.

Click here to view a video recap from the safari park to sunset.

Day 5

Tuesday was another action packed day as we headed to Legoland California, which was pretty amazing - Harper had a blast playing in the splash park there! It's a good thing we brought an extra set of clothes! We also went to the Sea Life aquarium that is part of Legoland and saw all sorts of fish and sharks. Harper loved the tiger sharks and got a small stuffed animal of one. We spent the early evening enjoying pizza and beer at the Breakwater Brewing Company, not far from the Oceanside Municipal Fishing Pier. We had to cut our post-dinner, sunset beach walk short after Harper fell in the water. Mommy was not happy with Daddy. :)

Click here to view a video recap from Legoland to how Daddy got in trouble by Mommy.

Day 4

Wow, what a day. Monday was zoo day. Prior to going to the San Diego Zoo, we stopped in La Jolla for breakfast and to visit the seals. Leah and I used breakfast to check our eCollege course shells. The three of us then headed south down I-5 to the zoo, where it took us about 6-hours to see everything. Harper fell asleep immediately after we drove out of the zoo parking lot and stayed asleep through our happy hour at the Hotel de Coronado and finally woke up as we arrived at our dinner destination, Tent City Restaurant. We concluded the day by catching a west coast sunset before heading back north to Oceanside. What a day! I now need to try to stay awake and knock out some grading.

Click here to view a video recap from La Jolla to zoo to sunset.

Day 3

We spent Sunday traveling from Tucson to Oceanside. Harper has now visited every state along the southern Continental U.S. We stopped for lunch in the little California mountain town of Julian where we ate at Apple Alley Bakery Pies & Lunch and had a slice of fabulous apple pie for dessert. Afterwards, we headed further westward on the winding road to the Pacific Ocean. We received good news the night before we left Texas a few days ago that there was a last minute cancelation at Aquamarine Villas where we originally wanted to stay. This place is fantastic! Leah keeps wondering if they made a mistake on the price – it’s only a dollar more a day than the La Quinta where we were going to stay! After having dinner at the Oceanside Pier, we enjoyed the west coast sunset on the walk back to our place.

Day 2

Today, we traveled from Van Horn to Tucson via Guadalupe Mountains National Park. We stopped for lunch at La Posta De Mesilla in Las Cruces, the same place where Leah and I stopped on the way back from our “Sideways” West Coast trip back in 2007. Tucson greeted us to temperatures in the mid-80s and drizzle. Harper has been an exceptional traveler. Next stop – Oceanside, CA!

Day 1

We have been anticipating a trip back to the west coast for a while. Our destination - the cooler weather of San Diego. We are spending the first night of our journey in Van Horn, as we are excited to visit Guadalupe National Park tomorrow in route to Tucson.