Started the next day with a short drive to San Diego over the Coronado bridge. Our first stop was at Seaport Wharf where we all started to get to know each other over some deli reuben sandwiches. We then stopped off at this huge mall for some shopping. It was a bit overwhelmingly big and a lot of the stores were actually closed that day so we all kind of just wandered around aimlessly until we could leave. After some research I have found out that Contiki have changed this first day in San Diego on the LA to the Bay tour. Which is great because it was a bit of a nothing day.
feels..
We then spent the afternoon at Belmont Park in Mission Beach. Unfortunately I have lost all my photos from my hard drive and all I have left are certain photos off my phone. That is why there will be a lot of photo gaps in these USA blog posts, but I will do my best to explain my time on my Contiki trips with the limited amount of photos I have to work with.
After we had spent a few hours having free time at Mission Beach which I mostly spent hanging with Maddie, we then had the option to go back to the hotel or get dropped off a bit more in town to check out some local stores. I am pretty upset I lost these photos as I went to this amazing rave store that I wanted to post about. It's called Aphrodite's Closet and it's got some pretty amazing costumes and general festival wear if you are ever up that way. I also went to the local Buffalo Exchange where I picked up this super cute backpack that looks straight out of a cartoon.
After getting back to the Days Inn San Diego Hotel Circle we all got dressed up for our first proper family night out together. We hit up Double Deuce for some good ol' fashioned bull riding and karaoke all in the one bar! I know we partied more that night but I couldn't for the life of me remember what other bars we went to. Double Deuce was the highlight of the night hands down.
The next day Maddie and I had a full day of running around the San Diego Zoo that I have no photos from except for these cute giraffes. I actually went here when I was a kid but the zoo had upgraded so much! This is a definite must if you are to visit San Diego. Make sure you wear comfy shoes and stay hydrated because it's a LOT of walking.
How good! You can just get giant pickles at food stalls in the States. Love that for me, the pickle queen.
After the zoo we went to the San Diego Natural History Museum to kill some time and to be inside for a bit because it was so hot outside. We saw some bones, watched a documentary about angry Walruses and basically just chilled out for a bit.
The afternoon was spent in Old Town where we listened to live music, tasted some local specialties and explored the cute local stores. We then all met up for a family dinner at a pretty well known joint called Fred's. The food was decent but the decor, cocktails and company were better.
The next day we drove to Phoenix Arizona where we checked into Ramada by Wyndham Tempe near ASU. It seems a lot of our hotels liked to have long and complicated names, which is always fun. After a long day of driving we all spent the afternoon by the pool. This is still one of my favourite afternoons. We were all together and just relaxing in the sun with some bevvies.
That night we went out to a really fun dive bar that had live music, strong drinks and giant Jenga. We all had such a good night and then we came back to the hotel and continued to drink until stupid hours of the night. Which is hindsight was the worst idea possible because the next morning was a 5am wake up for hot air ballooning over Arizona.
This is a very hungover Erica just after throwing up behind a bush trying to keep it together for one of the coolest experiences I had on this whole trip!
Hands down one of the most terrifying and uncomfortable experiences I have ever had but it was incredible and I cannot recommend it enough. Unfortunately I was in one of those squares in the basket with two people, one of which was very overweight so I could barely breath the whole time. Everyone else only had two people in their basket so they could actually move around and look at all directions. I could basically only stand in one position the whole time, it was great. We flew with Hot Air Expeditions and our guide was really great while we were in the air.
After our flight we had a champagne breakfast, I stuck to plain oj. While we were in the air the company had set up tables and chairs in the middle of the desert. It was such a unique and wonderful experience, I just wish I wasn't so painfully hung over for it all, but hey that's contiki!
After we took photos in front of giant cacti we drove to Sedona, one of my absolute favourite places!
erica
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