Babymoon San Diego!

What exactly is a 'babymoon' you may ask? Well, it's what Josh calls the little getaway we got to take last week! This was one of the last weeks that I could safely fly before entering the third trimester. We had wanted to do something fun and were trying so hard to make it work with our friends Eric and Miranda from the Great Salt Lake City. In the end though, we had to go it alone. We couldn't make this trip work for both couples :( That's ok though because it means the next time the Herds and the Fischers get together it's going to cause an explosion! Josh was told at the last minute that he needed to attend a conference in San Diego for a few days. I (amazingly) was able to take some time away from the primates and tag along! We flew out Monday February 1st at the buttcrackodawn. Our hotel was supposed to be really posh (think NYC very white with very clean lines and no clutter) but the actual amenities kinda sucked. First of all, our room overlooked the beautiful San Diego Bay...and the Dole loading dock. We got to hear banana trucks being unloaded for the first 24 hours. But I did see a cool battleship coming into the harbor (see photo). We had to hit the Cheesecake Factory while we were there because, well, it's the CHEESECAKE....FACTORY. If you've never been to one, well, I don't quite know what to say to that except that you are doing an incredible injustice to your tastebuds. Anyways, after the CF we had a few leftovers. But our room had no fridge or microwave. I can understand no microwave, but seriously? No mini fridge? At a Hilton? I knew there was something wrong with the family when Paris got her own TV show. We had to improvise a bit with a collapsible cooler, some Ziplock bags and ice, but we managed. Reheating my chicken tortillas proved to be a bit challenging but a hot water bath in the bathroom sink did the trick just fine. The next day, Josh had to head to work while I headed to the San Diego Zoo! (I happen to like visiting other zoos on my vacations thankyouverymuch). A friend of mine had a contact there who works with their primates, so Chad gave me the grand tour. It was super awesome. They have bonobos. Very few zoos exhibit these highly endangered apes. Some people call them pygmy chimps, but they are not. They are their own separate species of ape. Here's a little bonobo fact you may find interesting: Bonobos are a matriarchal society (girls rule). Whenever a fight breaks out, the girls immediately go for the male's balls...seriously they know where it hurts. This in turn means that you can usually spot a male bonobo without checking out his junk because his hands and knuckles are all scabby and cut up from protecting his man hood. There's your National Geographic Moment of the Day. Just think about how bad your life COULD be the next time you're feeling down.

On Tuesday evening, we went for a tour of San Diego. BOR-ING you may say, but not when you do it Fischer Style. Oh yes, we did our tour from the lightning fast speed of a Segway! Josh was so thrilled to do this he couldn't stop talking about it for the whole week before we left. Our guide Nico was awesome. The Segways were pretty easy to learn how to maneuver and before you knew it we were flying down the sidewalks of San Diego! It was definitely a great way to see the city in a small time frame. Plus we looked super cool with our nifty helmets. You can be jealous. It's ok.

The next day (Wednesday) Josh only had to work until noon so we hopped in a pedi cab (the little rickshaws powered by bicycles) *See photo* to go down to the USS Midway aircraft carrier. This was something I've always wanted to see...a real aircraft carrier! The way my Uncle Jay talks about the Navy had always made it sound so magical and amazing. Well let me tell you that it was! Our Armed Forces ROCK. The only thing that could have been cooler would be to have flown in an actual plane taking off from the flight deck. I couldn't imagine being slingshot off of the runway in the middle of the ocean! After the Midway, we headed to the Fish Market for lunch. I had the most amazing fish tacos EVER. Josh had the best fish sandwich he's ever eaten. Seriously, that's what he said. That night, we went up to Ocean Beach to watch the sunset and check out the local farmer's market. We love farmer's markets because you can wander around and just eat little things here and there. Pink navel oranges...who knew? DELISH! Crepes with Nutella, cinnamon and honey almonds, cream puffs...the list goes on and on. I've never seen so many gorgeous flowers either! We had hoped to see a few California sea lions near the beach, but no such luck for us that night. Oh well, there's always next time!

I had to catch my plane early Thursday morning. I landed around 430pm and went to pick up Dex from the boarding kennel. Josh was able to change his flight to come in Thursday instead of Friday (in the middle of a blizzard) so I had to run back to the airport to pick him up at 10 that night. It wasn't too bad. I'd rather have him home than stranded in California without me! By that time, we just had to hunker down to ride out Snowmaggedon 2010. But that's a story for another day...