San Diego has Cupcakes!

So this is old news, but we hit some bakeries on our two trips to San Diego in the past month. First on our anniversary trip, then on our return trip to take Tad to the zoo.

Okay, if I didn't hate the way so many of the roads are set up, and it wasn't so close to Mexico, and it wasn't so far away from everyone I love... I would move there for the cupcakes. Because the one bakery we have here... well, I definitely wasn't impressed when I tried it. I'd rather put the effort into making my own.

So on our anniversary trip, we decided to hit up a bakery every day. And as soon as we checked into our hotel, we headed for our first one: Cupcakes Squared. And yes, the cupcakes are square. And the best things I have ever tasted.

We're total piggies and we got FOUR cupcakes. There was lemon (lemon cake with lemon buttercream frosting), not-so-red velvet ("red" velvet with cream cheese frosting), lemon white chocolate (white chocolate cake with a little lemon and a white chocolate ganache), and cheesecake (graham cupcake with lemon marscapone frosting).

OH. MY. LORD. We had a couple then saved the other two for later. And they were all amazing. I think they use a french buttercream (so different than your regular buttercream) which I am so learning to make. If I had one of these places near me, I would be a cow because I would get cupcakes all the time.

Saturday we hit up a place called Babycakes that's just north of downtown. They don't just have cupcakes, they have a little bit of everything. We split a couple cupcakes. We got a blood orange and a hazelnut.

The blood orange was AMAZING. You could eat it for breakfast. There was the blood orange filling and blueberries chilling on the bottom of it.

The hazelnut was awesome because it was a marble cake that wasn't heavy at all. And the frosting was pretty light too. Tasty stuff.

For our anniversary we went back to Cupcakes Squared. We wanted to try and get the same flavors we had in our wedding cake. So we got vanilla squared (vanilla/vanilla), mocha (chocolate and coffee cake with chocolate chips and chocolate ganache), and lemon.

They did not disappoint this time either. I think I died a little with the mocha one. It was super-crazy-delicious.

Then on our last day we ventured into downtown to try Heavenly Cupcakes. We got red velvet (since hubby has apparently deemed it his new favorite flavor) and a vanilla caramel (vanilla cake with vanilla bean buttercream and caramel sauce). Aren't they pretty?

The red velvet was good, but the cream cheese frosting didn't impress me as much as others. The vanilla caramel was outstanding. Add some coffee flavor and you have a frappuccino. Awesome.

Then on our last trip we made a stop, but I didn't get pictures of our cupcakes before we ate them. The place was in Encinitas and is called Elizabethan Desserts. I think my favorite part is that it's located kind of inside a nursery so you've got all these plants and flowers around when you get there.

We got a chocolate toffee, a grasshopper, and a Mr. Bean's cup o' joe. Tad loved his. Tim liked his. I liked mine, but I thought it was a little sweet. Not sure I'd stop there if I was going back, I'd just hold out for Cupcakes Squared.

Jeez, I feel like a food blogger naming off all these places. If you're headed down there and only have time for one, go to Cupcakes Squared. Hands down the best ones we had.

San Diego - Day 4

Okay, I'm FINALLY getting around to our last day of vacation. And I still owe you a cupcake blog. Which will hopefully be coming tomorrow.

So on our last day we woke up to this on our door.

Really Holiday Inn? Who paints the door frames WHILE SOMEONE IS STAYING IN THE ROOMS?! Just capped off our stay in the hotel that shall not be stayed in again.

Once we were all packed up and checked out we got some lunch. The Monday before our trip we just happened to catch an episode of Diners, Drive Ins and Dives (ya know, my favorite show ever) that featured a place in San Diego. It's a fish market and grill so of course (being San Diego) everything is fresh. So we headed there and split a sandwich and got a fish taco each. Okay, the tacos were huge. I should have taken a picture. But OH LORD this place was so good. I will totally convince hubby to go back when we take Tad to Sea World.

And on the ground outside the place making the BEST FISH TACOS EVER was this little art project...

I'm guessing he does that at every place he hits for the show? Oh, and if you can't read that, it says "Guy ate here."

Then we got our cupcakes for the day, this time at Heavenly Cupcakes downtown. From there, we decided to go look at the ships in the harbor. But having enough money left to gas up on the way home, we didn't tour any. Maybe next time. So here's the Star of India. And yes, it's that huge that I couldn't fit the whole thing in my camera without annoying people walking in front of my camera.

Then we continued down to the USS Midway. There were some cool statues and memorials along the way, but I didn't want to bore you with every single picture I took.

But I had to post the picture of this one. I should have made Tim dip me like that for a totally cheesy picture. But it was hot, and somehow there was no one around to help me out with that.

So you get one of the classic self-taken ones. Sorry about the glare on the car behind us.

And then we headed home. When we hit Burbank there was an issue with traffic. And Arthur (my car) wanted to start overheating. But we were fine. A little bit burnt, a lot tired, but we had fun.

San Diego - Day 3

Sunday was our anniversary. And I told hubby we aren't spending anniversaries at crowded theme parks anymore.

Not that it wasn't fun, but I think I would have been happier wandering around on that particular day. We got a little burnt, got ran into, hit with strollers... ya know, theme park hazards.

But it's Sea World! And there's cute animals! So we still had fun. And I had to post this particular picture because it reminded me of Finding Nemo... "Look I'm a flippy little dolphin!" Haha...

And this picture reminds you that you do NOT want to sit in the first six rows or so at the shows. I had to laugh at the parents carrying screaming children up the stairs. Really mom and dad? You thought your children would LIKE being doused with seriously cold salt water? Good call.


We also saw the sea lion show. They try to entertain you while you're waiting, and I'm such a dork I actually enjoyed this guy. He was doing different theme songs from television and movies. So of course when he did High School Musical (he totally knew the choreography) I was singing while hubby looked at me like I was nuts.

Then we went to the tide pools where I had the highlight of my afternoon... they're tide pools so you can touch the things in there. But they ask you to leave the things UNDER the water, seeing as how that's how they breathe and all. Well I spotted two little turds picking them up and throwing them across the pool. They were maybe seven and thought they were totally sneaky. So after they did it and were laughing I did the most obnoxious fake laugh I could muster then shot the good glare I was blessed with (thanks mom!) and said, "Yeah, NOT funny." They froze and I swear I thought they were going to wet their pants. Hubby almost wet his just laughing at their expressions. Good times...

Oh, and at the sea lion show they brought out a walrus at the end who was still in the process of training. She decided she wanted to get out of the tank and say hello to everyone. They cleared the first couple rows, but everyone was pretty much laughing about it. I guess nobody really thinks about the training process and the fact that you have to teach them the CAN'T go out and visit the people.

And you can pet the dolphins! Well, you're guaranteed some quality time with them for the bargain price of $40! Excuse me while I scoff... but if you wait a bit you can go in the same little area (for no extra charge) and wait for them to come by and let you pet them. This guy just got a nose bump.

Oh, and they have a depressed-looking polar bear. He looked bored out of his mind.

So we didn't stay until closing because it's kind of ridiculously expensive to eat there, and there was a big gap before the last show and we had seen the other exhibits. So we left and thought we'd go have an anniversary dinner. Thanks to a weirdly placed half-wall in the hotel I was able to use the timer on my camera. Just ignore the ugly hotel curtains and such.

We totally didn't go anywhere fancy, we went to a barbecue place. But it was SO AWESOME. I could eat there a few times a week if we had one here.

Then we went back to the hotel and had our cupcakes (which I'll show you a picture of this time). We tried to get flavors that would be close to the same as our wedding cake. So we got vanilla, mocha, and lemon.

And if you didn't know it by now, I'm a fan of champagne. So we got the same stuff we had at our wedding (it's my absolute favorite). And drank it out of classy Holiday Inn plastic.

And that was Sunday. We were kinda burnt, and super tired from the amount of sun. But it did end up being a fun day.

San Diego - Day 2

I totally skipped blogging yesterday. Oops. I don't even have a good excuse for you. I'm lame. Sorry.

So Saturday we totally slept in. As well as we could anyway. Because the people in the room above us were not people. They were elephants. Very active elephants. It was actually quite annoying... but back to our day...

So since we slept in we decided to just have a slightly early lunch. We ended up at a place called The Boat House. And this was our view there...

The food was pretty good. The service not so much. But oh well. From there we headed to Balboa Park. We didn't hit the zoo (sadly funds did not allow), but if you've been to San Diego you know how much stuff there is to do in Balboa Park.

I took pictures of lots of random things. The cool buildings, the random gardens...

And I glared at hubby (or tried to) when he made smart remarks about taking our picture.

We also hit up the Museum of Man at the park. Mostly because I saw that they had an exhibit on Mayans. Why do I care about the Mayans? Because my mom thinks that's what my dad's side (I'm only half-Mexican) is. Because we're short. And I had some birthmark that Mayan babies were born with. But back to the museum... here's part of the exhibit taken from upstairs.

The museum actually killed some time. We left and wandered over to the Spanish Art Village. It was way cute. And I just wanted a mojito so I could sit at this cute red table...

Do you love it? I want one just like this. It's adorable. Oh, and the ground is like that all through the little village. Way cute.

On our way back to the car we just kind of wandered. And happened to find this cactus garden-thing. It was pretty cool. There were some seriously weird plants.

And once we left there we passed a rose garden. Which I also loved. There was just about every color imaginable.

There was a wedding party taking pictures, which made me all reminiscent. So I snuck a picture of them. They were super fabulous and her bridesmaids looked amazing.

And I got a picture taken by someone else. Yay! A non-self-portrait! What was cute was that the lady took like, five or six of us. Portrait and landscape layout (or hot dog and hamburger for my fellow teachers). Zoomed in, zoomed out. She was so cute.

And from there we went to bakery number two of the trip: Babycakes in downtown. And downtown was an adventure in itself. I didn't know that every single street is one way down there. Add to that the fact that downtown San Diego is THE LAND OF NO LEFT-HAND TURNS and we had to make some extra turns before we found the place. But it was well worth it. They were tasty. But Cupcakes Squared still wins. You'll have to wait for those cupcake pics still... they so deserve their own blog.

And that was Saturday. We got pizza for dinner and vegged. And tomorrow, if I don't get busy or lazy, you'll see what was up Sunday.

San Diego

So I'm still not feeling totally motivated to write, but I need to just do it already. Since I was gone for four days I'm going to milk it and get several blog posts out of it. So here's Friday!

Note: I'm really bad at getting pictures of hubby and me. Most of them end up being a quick one taken by us. So sorry there aren't more of us. If I had my own personal photographer to follow me around, I totally would.

So we actually left on time (shock surprise!) and were on the road by six that morning. The drive was pretty uneventful. Until we stopped for gas.

We had to go to San Marcos first to take care of something and we stopped at some random gas station before we got there. We're sitting there and I totally smelled pot. It was STRONG. I almost said something to hubby but then I looked over at the guy who had just pulled up next to us and it was obvious it was him. I didn't want the guy to freak out if I shouted something about the smell, so I shut up. Then the guy asks hubby for a buck because he left his wallet at home and his change in the car won't be enough for a decent amount of gas. I'm laughing because he even talks like your cliched stoner. Hubby gave him a dollar and the guy thanks him forever. Then asks, "Do you blaze?" I died. Hubby said no of course, but I just laughed while the guy said he would totally give him some for helping him out. Pot for a buck, what a deal. So we got a good laugh out of that for the rest of the day. Hubby also laughed and said, "He forgot his wallet, but he remembered the important stuff."

So we go to San Marcos, take care of what needs to get done, and headed to San Diego. Got to our hotel, checked in, and tried to figure out what we wanted to do. Part of my plan for the trip was to hit some cupcake bakeries, so we figured we could do that first. We went to a place called Cupcakes Squared, and all I'll say is that I was in HEAVEN. I'll review the cupcakes in a totally separate blog.

We took our cupcakes to our hotel, ate two of them, and then decided to go visit the Whaley House. If you have no clue what that is, it's apparently the most haunted house in the state. Go look it up if you want some history. Hubby and I expected it to be bigger so we were surprised when we got there. I took lots of pictures, but we didn't see anything. Bummer. After that we decided we would just bum around.

Sign outside the Whaley House

We stopped for dinner at this Mexican place (where they had homemade tortillas!). Ate too much and laughed at the size of their tequila menu. And uttered a word at the price of the shot at the bottom. I took a picture for my dad (the tequila guy around here).

After dinner we decided to keep walking around. And here's the first self-taken picture of the trip... in Old Town.

Old Town was nice. It wasn't crazy busy, there are some fun shops, lots of stuff to take pictures of. We walked off dinner and just enjoyed the slowness of it all.

Of course I had to take a picture of the first public schoolhouse in San Diego.

From there we just headed back to the hotel and ate our last two cupcakes. (Yes, we're cows and bought FOUR that day). And planned the next day, which you'll hear about tomorrow.