San Diego, Day 3: Shopping mishaps & Lighthouses

On Monday, 25th (Memorial Day) after spending waaay too much money on an over-the-top breakfast at our hotel restaurant, I was off to go shopping. I had the time, access, a little bit of spending money and NO KIDS! This was going to be a successful day. Here's where I went. My first "outdoor mall."


Um, yeah. The outing was an exhausting waste of time and energy. I remembered painfully why I hate shopping. There was NOTHING I was looking for. And if on the off chance I found something I liked and was modest enough, there wasn't anything in my size. I couldn't believe it. I swear I've got the shopping curse. I can never find anything when I'm looking. But when I'm not looking or don't have the time or money, I always find cute things. What is UP with that??

And apparently I don't get out enough because I was at the GAP, going through the clearance rack. I saw what I thought was a pretty cute skirt. It was a neutral color and looked long enough. So I tried it on. I pulled it up to my waist and there was this extra pouch of fabric that hung off of my waist like an over-sized cummerbund. I couldn't, for the life of me, figure out what was wrong with this skirt. That's when it dawned on me. It wasn't a skirt. Oh no, that extra fabric was to be pulled over one's chest area. It was a very short, strapless dress. And that's when I decided to call it quits.

I grabbed a snack to eat on the way back to the hotel. I got about halfway there when I realized in my fashion embarrassment rush to get out of the GAP, I accidentally left my beloved running jacket Jared had just gotten me for my birthday a month previously. So I hauled my fanny back to the mall, went to every floor except for the one that the GAP was on until the very last and prayed that no one took it. Relief washed over me when I saw it sitting up by the front cashier. I thanked her and then started back to the hotel, again.

When Jared got back, we drove to the Point Loma Lighthouse. And we totally would have missed this opportunity except that one of the sisters in the ward we attended recommended we go. I was soooo excited. Anyone who knows me, knows I love lighthouses. But I didn't know there was one here, nor did I even consider there might be one nearby. Thanks for the tip, dear sister!



The thing about this lighthouse is that a few years after it was up and running, the people found that it was up too high. The fog that often came in would obscure the lamp and it didn't provide the needed light and direction. So....not too long after, they shut this one down and built a second lighthouse closer to the shore that could escape the fog and be more useful.


Pictures of the bay behind us...




With it being Memorial Day, we had the solemn privilege of walking through the military cemetery and paying our silent respect and gratitude to those who bravely fought for our freedoms.


The headstones went as far as the eye could see on those hills.


Once we got back in town, we went to


for dinner at


It was a quaint little bistro and the food was not a disappointment. There were lots of places to choose from, too. But how can you go wrong with a place called Mimmos?