I spent the first weekend of June (plus half of the first week of June) in San Diego for Rock ‘n’ Roll San Diego and work, and it was amazing. It took me all of about two waking hours in San Diego to want to move there immediately and question why on earth anyone would choose to live in Chicago when places like San Diego exist!

I mean, for goodness sake, they have PURPLE TREES. If that’s not heavenly, I don’t know what is. (I realize they’re only purple during part of the year, but still.)

For the first few nights of my trip to San Diego, I stayed in Little Italy, since that made the most sense for Rock ‘n’ Roll. I’ve spent time in Chicago’s Little Italy, and while I find that neighborhood delightful, it doesn’t hold a candle to San Diego’s Little Italy, in my opinion. There were so many Italian restaurants on India Street (super convenient for pre-race carb loading), and even though it wasn’t Chicago’s Little Italy, there was a nice little reminder of Chicago on a lamppost:

Rizzo! ❤ (And right outside Davanti Enoteca of all places: a Chicago-based restaurant!).

While I enjoyed Little Italy, my favorite part of being in San Diego was walking along the Embarcadero. This is how I got from my hotel to the expo on Saturday, and pretty much the only way I wanted to get around from that point forward.

The U.S.S. Midway is much more impressive in person than this picture suggests.

In an effort to stay on my feet after the race on Sunday to stave off as much post-race soreness as possible, I went to the Maritime Museum of San Diego, which is just a little bit north of the U.S.S. Midway. The museum has close to a dozen historic ships that you can tour, including the main ship, the Berkeley, the inside of which features all sorts of exhibits on everything you can think of related to boats.

The Berkeley was originally a ferry on the San Francisco Bay, and the upper deck still looks like a ferry boat. It was beautiful inside!

Other highlights of the museum’s fleet included the Medea, a steam yacht that built initially as a private yacht for a British Army officer and later as part of the French Navy (and, later yet, the Royal Navy as well).

The museum also had a replica of the San Salvador, the ship Juan Rodriguez Cabrillo used when he discovered San Diego Bay.

I was particularly fascinated by the museum’s submarine collection. In what I cannot imagine would come as a surprise to any of you, I’ve never been on a submarine before, so the chance to go on two different ones–the U.S.S. Dolphin and the former Soviet Union’s B-39 was really something.

I didn’t have any work-related duties on Monday until the evening, so I spent the day in Coronado, taking a ferry across the bay and a free shuttle bus (since it’s summer) across the peninsula to get to the Pacific Ocean!

Having dipped my toes in the Atlantic while in Punta Cana in April, I wanted to make sure I put my feet in the Pacific as well so I could say I’ve been in both the Pacific and Atlantic in one year. Important things, obviously 😛 It was really nice to walk along the water hunting for sand dollars and other pretty shells along the water’s edge. I also saw some crabs in tide pools, which was a first for me.

Due to my work obligations, I didn’t get to see much of the city for the remainder of my stay, but I’m so glad I came out early and got some sightseeing in. I absolutely loved San Diego and can’t wait to go back.