Widow Gone Wild: Vacation pictures

Well it's been a few weeks but I finally have a chance to show you some of my pictures from my San Diego vacation. By the way, the calmness and spirit of that vacation has stayed with me. I am trying remember the relaxed feelings I had during the week and how I achieved it. And I am enjoying my days off more. I try to mimic the style of the days I had in S.D. I normally would use the weekends and days off to catch up on things, but now I spend only a small amount of time on it. I watch less TV and use the internet less frequently. I put my feet up more.

This is the Andaz Hotel in the Gaslamp District. I couldn't have picked a better location, I was right in the heart of everything and could walk to fine restaurants, fun shops, the bay and Little Italy. Andaz is a new boutique hotel by Hyatt, which is the hotel chain I usually use. It was the old Ivy Hotel and has been completely remodeled. I stayed on the 3rd floor and if look at the corner pointing closest to us, I had the window to the right and the two to the left. I think the room was about 700 sq. ft. The other nice thing about a boutique hotel is that the staff get to know you and it gave me an extra sense of security since they would know when I came and went. I would definitely stay there again.

This is the cool roof top pool. On weekdays there was hardly anyone there so I felt like I had the place to myself. To the left of the pool is a nice quite patio area where I sometimes read. At night it was a wild and crazy nightclub. Of course I usually went to bed at 9pm. I had a fabulous hamburger by the pool. Many thanks to the waiters who kept my Diet Coke all afternoon.

Whenever I go to a city I am unfamiliar with, I try to take a tour. San Diego has a couple of options. I took a grey line tour which took us to Olde Towne, the Bay and the Midway, the Coronado hotel and beach, through the park and then a boat tour to Point Loma. It was a lovely morning and I got my bearings so that I could easily walk around the rest of the week. There was also a trolley that you could get off and visit and area as long as you wanted and pick up the next trolley when it came by. But I liked my tour because it was just in the morning, the trolley tour takes most of the day and it got quite warm by afternoon so I headed for the pool.