First off, many congrats to Beth ~ sounds like your new job is awesome!
Danica, Glad to see your mom pulled through ~ I'll continue to send good thoughts your way.
We had a fantastic time in San Diego. It was a bit crazy initially with everything going on with the fires. And some things were closed. We did get to stay at our original hotel for the last 1/2 of the trip. There was just so much to see and do, Josh didn't want to come back.
Some highlights were :
Visiting Pasadena, showing Josh were I used to live and work. Showing him the Santa Monica Pier. Touring the ships and Maritime Museum as well as the 1st lighthouse along the coast. Of course, driving along the coast, seeing people surf and going to the beach. And by far the best was the sunrise hot air balloon ride over wine country! It was breath-taking and not scary at all! we did also see quite a bit of the burned homes and land in the area, which was just heartbreaking. On one of the reservations in particular, there was some pretty run down places (but still these were people's homes and all they had.) and they were burned to the ground on either side and in front of a large hotel/casino that remained totally untouched. It's amazing (and sad) what money and fire-retardant materials can do.
Thanks again to everyone that was thinking of us. It ended up working out well ~ thankfully!
Re: We're back from vacation!