- As we were leaving, I checked the mail, inside was a happy anniversary card with some money in it from my very generous parents (and I thank them too). It turned out that the check was just enough to allow us enjoy our trip.
- I was hoping we could take a scenic route to our destination rather than going through a big city. We were able to do so and it make the trip much more enjoyable.
- A smaller highway we were traveling on ended up being completely blocked, and it would have cost us at least an hour to back track and go a different route. But some quick thinking by my wife she asked a construction worker if there were any dirt roads we could take. He kind of looked at us. I said we were from the Midwest and had plenty of experience on dirt roads. He slyly told us about a dirt road down a side street. Hour saved. I thank him as well.
- We found a very unique hotel room and a great place to eat on the beach.
- We didn't have a lot of money, but we picked two things to do on the first day that ended up being much more fun than more expensive items.
- The weather on the harbor, previously foggy, magically cleared for us like in our honeymoon trip in Chicago when we did a boat architectural tour. The harbor tour was awesome, perfect weather.
- We checked out the Midway carrier museum, and we got lost inside reading about all the placards about how the crews lived on the ship. We didn't even make it to the top deck which was where I wanted to go, but the time we spent below was well worth it and very enjoyable. We have a reason to go back too. Great museum.
- When we got to our second hotel, a room my wife and I spent a trip in before we got married (don't ask about that), we had gotten a great room but it was big and had a kitchenette. We ended up downgrading to the original room we had our trip in, very romantic. We even saw a sea lion (or another that looked like the original) camped out at the hotel like the last time we were there.
- We has an excellent anniversary dinner at a casual place that had excellent food for relatively cheap.
- The next day we ended up finding a tide pool on a naval base / national park and had a great time splashing around with a bunch of other tourist and kids for a few hours. We also were able to tour a monument that was fun and free.
- We made it both to San Diego and back with no problems, just enough money to bail out our dogs, and have a very blessed time.
Thank you Jesus! I know your finger tips were all over the trip, as they have been in passed trips. Thank you for being so generous to my wife and me. We appreciate the gift.
