Trip to San Diego

Ashley and I took a much-needed vacation to San Diego last weekend. It was so much fun. Our flight left at 6:30am so we had to get to the airport early, but it was just in time to see a beautiful sunrise.





After landing, we picked up or rental car and drove to the San Diego Zoo. Some would say that the San Diego Zoo is the "Zoo of all Zoos", and it definitely didn't disappoint. We ended up spending about five hours there. Here are some photos.

























By far my absolute favorite part of the zoo was the polar bear exhibit. They were very active and swimming around and it was very cool!









 




After the zoo we drove around San Diego a little bit and came across where the San Diego Chargers play football at Qualcomm Stadium.





View of downtown San Diego from Cabrillo National Monument.



Thursday we were supposed to play golf but it rained all night Wednesday so we decided to go to the beach and walk around. We ended up walking about 4 miles at Mission Beach.





Standing at the end of Crystal Pier, Ashley noticed some birds flying around a short distance out in the water, and low and behold, several dolphins were swimming around! It was so cool to see!







We then drove over to Coronado, a small island off of San Diego. We rented some bikes and rode around the coast.



The Coronado Bridge.







Thursday night we went to the Petco Park where the San Diego Padres play to watch them play the Washington Nationals. The stadium is right in the heart of downtown and was a very cool place to watch a game.



There's a little league field right behind the wall of stadium where kids who are attending the game can come and play.







For a Thursday nigh game there were A LOT of empty seats.









A common theme throughout the trip was that it had to rain at least a little bit each day.



San Diego held on for 2-1 victory.





Friday we drove up to Los Angeles to see some friends. We met Ashley's friend Stacey in Redondo Beach and at lunch and hung out for a little bit.



It's really interesting to me to see how the houses along the beach are stacked up so it seems everyone has a nice view of the ocean.



 

Next stop was my highlight of the whole trip. My friend Julia's husband Reid works on the show How I Met Your Mother, and he was able to get us on the FOX Studios lot to walk around and see where the show is filmed. It's one of our favorite shows, so it was really exciting to see the set!





Marshall and Lily's apartment.





The kitchen to their apartment is TINY! It looks so normal on TV.



Right next to the apartment set is the MacLaren's Bar set.



Of course we had to sit where the main characters sit.



This side of the set is used solely for temporary indoor scenes they shoot on the show. Whether it's Marshall's office or Barney's girlfriend's place of employment, the sets are all built here and then taken down when they are done. The bar and the apartment are the only two permanent sets.







Most of the set was covered up because they finished filming this season back in March, but it was still very awesome to see! Thanks Reid and Julia for hooking us up with a tour!



Many of the FOX shows film on this lot and this "New York Street" is used for multiple shows that are set in New York.





These are all just fake buildings, as you can see this is shot from behind



And this is from the front. The exterior shots of MacLaren's Bar on HIMYM are filmed in front of the green rail, as seen in the bottom left corner this photo.






After driving back to San Diego, it was time to head back to Denver.



Downtown San Diego from the plane.



San Diego and Coronado.



We had such a great trip. Ashley and I are planning one more trip before July. I am still in the process of trying get a job as an officer at the Boulder Police Department, so if all goes good, this next trip would be our last one for a while.