Don't worry… I'm not boring you with all 803 photos from our trip to San Diego… but that's how many I took!  Surprisingly that was actually a really low number for me for a week, but I was really also trying to really live each moment on the trip and not live it through the camera lens.  My fellow photographers will get what I mean. 🙂

November 2015 San Diego Bennett Family Adventures:

So our amazing trip consisted of several days of wonderful sight seeing, a day at the Stampin' Up! OnStage event (like a one-day mini-convention), a 2 hour drive to visit with my family in Pasadena, and lots and lots of walking around downtown San Diego.

Highlights were visits to:  The Hotel del Coronado, walking around and eating at Seaport Village, all day at the USS Midway aircraft carrier museum, several hours visiting museums and gardens at Balboa Park, and Eric and Jason joining me for my Million Dollars in sales recognition at the OnStage event at the convention center!

Day 1:

Flying Southwest Airlines from home (San Francisco Bay Area) to San Diego. 

I never tire of taking photos of the San Francisco bay from the plane.. we are blessed to live in a beautiful state!!!  The flight home was "quick" since I had my new Occasions catalog and Sale a Bration brochure with me from the OnStage event!! eeks!!  wait til you see it!! 🙂

We enjoyed the week at the Embassy Suites San Diego Bay Downtown.. lovely, accommodating staff and upgraded corner suite room!  whohoo!  We walked across the street from our hotel to the Seaport Village area to shop and eat dinner.  We had not been there for about 18 years, so it was fun to revisit such a delightful area!  We had dinner with our friends Cindee and Dave!

Day 2:

We could not have asked for better weather while in San Diego.. it hovered around 72 degrees, blue skies, and gorgeous!! yay!! 

Day 2 began with our wonderful free Embassy Suites breakfast (nothing like having someone make you an omelette, cut up your fruit and brew your coffee every morning!) :)  THEN.. I got to do something that's been on my bucket list FOREVER..

The Hotel del Coronado!  What a stunning place.. magical, and HUGE!

Our rental car was a dreamy sports car – Dodge Challenger… let's just say it goes plenty fast (no, I didn't get a ticket). :) 

The Hotel del Coronado is an amazing place, built in the 1880's and added on to as the years went on.  I could have probably spent 3 days there just exploring it all!  With my background in architecture and engineering, places like this are really fascinating to me!  And to think of all the history and all the people who have been through those halls, shops, restaurants, walked on the same beach… amazing!

Day 3:

We walked the 2 blocks from our downtown hotel to the USS Midway aircraft carrier museum.  What a super fascinating experience!! The docents there have hundreds and thousands of volunteer hours, and they are so happy to tell you all about the planes they flew, the wars they were in, and the ships they served on.  I was so thankful for each and every one of them!

My favorite parts were the 2 presentations on deck telling all about the launching of the planes off the deck and the landings.. we heard all the details right down to the hand signals from the men on deck.  I could have stayed there another entire day! 

We were really struck by the cramped quarters, the small bunks, the low ceilings and of course the lack of windows.  What a sacrifice the men and women make when they serve on a ship like that!

By the way.. .none of these photos have been edited.. .yes, the sky WAS that blue and the weather was that amazing! 🙂

Day 4:

We drove our sporty Charger a couple miles to Balboa Park where there are dozens of museums, gardens, exhibits, and miles of trails to walk.  I had done a little research ahead of time and wanted to be sure to stop in the Botanical building!
 

It was mostly ferns and palms, but I did manage to find several gorgeous orchids and tropical flowers to photograph!  We found a nice lady who took our photo, too!  She was actually from our area up here and had just moved to San Diego.. small world!

We toured a few of the museums.. we found it pretty pricey – $12 to $19 per museum per person.. if you go, just plan to buy the 1 day pass.  We enjoyed the Air and Space museum, where exhibits go from Kitty Hawk all the way to the Blue Angels and everything in between. I especially loved the Pan Am stewardess models.. sure brought back memories of the 60's and 70's!

Do you think I should enlist?  I am not sure if those fatigues are a good look for me…

We spent several hours walking around the grounds and taking photos of the beautiful Spanish architecture.  And yes, the sky was that blue!!

That evening, there was a Stampin' Up! event for the leaders in the company.  Wendy and Cindee (Leaders from my Luv 2 Stamp Group) were there with me, and my upline Sandy was there as well.

The meal was amazing.. wonderful pear salad, chicken and rice entree and a YUMMO chocolate dessert!

Day 5:

OnStage event/San Diego

Stampin' Up! tried out something new this year.. they had a big 3 day event live in Brussels and then they had 1-day local events all over the world for local demonstrators to attend.  We opted for the San Diego event, (thus our week in San Diego) and I knew ahead of time that they were going to be recognizing my recent $1 million in sales achievement, so they invited my hubby and son to come in for that portion of the morning.  Jason and Eric are on stage with me here as Chad announced my accomplishment!  That moment meant the world to me to have them by my side!!!!!

The rest of the day consisted of lots of information and samples showcasing the upcoming 2016 Occasions catalog and Sale a Bration event, both going live for customers on Jan. 5, 2016.  You can see lots of sneak peeks here as well as one on my blog last Sunday (here).

Members of my Luv 2 Stamp Group who attended this event in San Diego: ChrisAnn, Kim, Cindee, Carrie, Bonnie, Wendy, Holly, Darlene, Diann, Lorita, and Marlene.  After the event, 16 of us (included some spouses) went to dinner in Seaport Village.. it was a fabulous day… oh.. did I mention they gave us a copy of the Occasions and Sale a Bration catalog!?  EEEEEKKKK!!!! 🙂

Day 6:

Since we were only 2+ hours south of Pasadena where I was born and raised, we made a quick trip up there in our fun Charger rental car to see my daddy and his wife Joan.  My brother, his wife, 3 of their kids and their 2 grandkids came up too and we had a great day of visiting and meals out.

You may know from my previous blog posts that my dad is an amazing watercolor artist.. the painting above is one of his recent masterpieces!

OK, whew.. I told you I wasn't going to bore you with 803 pix, but that WAS a lot.. thanks for sticking with me!  Hope you enjoyed the travel log of our San Diego adventures!

 

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