Coronado Island

Prior to moving to Chandler all we could think about was getting away to California for a cool (as in temperature) vacation.  For those of you who don't know we moved in July to a house with a swimming pool and "Wow!" who knew summer in Arizona could be so fun?  Alas summer is nearly over (yes, it is still in the 90's even in November) and we have been working so hard (that is another blog) we decided we should go on our much needed vacation to California. 

Our California destination?  Well our first pick was Santa Monica because of its 25 miles of bike pathway along the ocean, however the drive time seemed a bit difficult to navigate with only four days off so we decided on Coronado Island instead.  We stayed at Loew's Resort which was 4 miles from downtown Coronado and connected by a very nice two lane bike path. The Loew's was a decent hotel with horrible restaurant food -- seems to be more popular with conferences than families.  We did however enjoy the kayaking offered at their dock near the popular neighborhood of Coronado Cays.

If I were to review the town of Coronado (Island) I would say it has a beautiful sandy beach in front of Hotel del Coronado, a walkable downtown with lots of shopping and dining options.  They also had a really great dog park at the beach which the entire family enjoyed.  I would definitely not recommend biking in town.  I was nearly hit by a big suv trying to cross a crosswalk while the "little white man" was showing safe to walk.  Granted you may say it was an isolated incident however the downtown area was very congested with cars, with no bike lane and no riding on the sidewalks.  I had read there is a 30 mile-plus bike path along the entire San Diego Bay shoreline which perhaps is more conducive to hardcore cyclists than a biking family.  Overall for a biking mini-vacation it was fun, relaxing and active : two and half days of riding five hours each day to the town, around the town and to the beach.

Our next holiday/vacation is in December and we are headed to what should have been my birthplace: Boston.  I can't wait and aside from not anticipating the plane flight I am absolutely ecstatic!  Having visited Boston now three times I can't think of any other place where I feel most at home.  I love the weather, in the winter of course, the transportation system, the culture, the architecture -- the list goes on. We could not go to Germany this year due to buying our house but look forward to seeing my husband's family next summer as well as northern France.  Stay tuned.....