Coronado Beach

Sunday morning, I drove down to San Diego to meet up with old friends. I have a pact with one of them that we have to see each other every month and so I got to check February off of our list.

At first, we did some shopping (more like window shopping) at Fashion Valley, one of the most beautiful open-air shopping malls I’ve ever been to. Since we are college kids, we didn’t buy anything and moved on towards North Park. I myself had never been there but it gave me a great first impression. We visited an EXTREMELY ADORABLE home decor shop called Pigment and all I could say throughout the store was “It’s like my Pinterest and my personality exploded in here”. You could make your own little succulent arrangement and take photos in the photo booth and, if you’re like me, try on their rose gold diamond rings because oh my they are so beautiful. I could and would live there, easily. You can see more of my other-worldly experience there on my Instagram for now; hopefully I’ll go back soon and take pictures of the cuteness. A few more boutiques and a coffee shop later, we decided to head out to my favorite place in the world (okay, maybe in the United States, because Paris exists).

When I was a child, my family didn’t do the average Disneyland vacation trips; we went to the Hotel Del Coronado. That was my Disneyland. All I can do whenever I go to San Diego is think about going there and visiting my childhood paradise. It’s funny because I called my mom afterwards, explaining all of the places and fun facts I told my friends about the Hotel; we laughed because we realized I could lead tours around the area with how much I knew and babbled about. Let’s do a few of my favorite facts about the most magical place on earth.

1. The Wonderful Wizard of Oz was written there (it’s said the Emerald City is based off of the hotel), and one of my favorite movies, Some Like It Hot, starring Marilyn Monroe, was filmed there.
2. There’s an ice cream parlor near the entrance called Moo Time Creamery that makes the shops smell like their freshly made waffle cones.
3. When I was little, I was guaranteed to see a wedding happening on the lawn overlooking the beach. I even saw a bride and groom there this past Sunday!
4. The elevators are still original to the building (as far as I know) and they still have an operator working it every day.
5. There’s a cool ghost story attached to the hotel. Most likely false, but still a cool story.
6. Their Sunday brunch in the Crown Room has literally won awards because it’s so awesome.
7. I heard that the über expensive cottages extending off of the hotel each include a butler.

Okay, I’m done nerding out. But seriously, I’m obsessed with this place. My dream one day is to be able to bring my family back and enjoy a nice vacation with them there again. Maybe even reserve a cottage for use! A girl can dream.

I got to talk to one of my lifelong friends about our lives and it felt so good to sit on the sand and just have a conversation. My friends and I have a thing for sunsets, don’t ask, we just do. We watched it the sun go down behind a cliff over the horizon and then sat down at Sheerwater for dinner, the Hotel’s beachfront restaurant. I wanted so badly to get ice cream from Moo Time, but I was stuffed from dinner (next time, for sure).