As promised in Wednesday’s post where I recapped my seventh half marathon; here is the vacation portion of our San Diego trip! I promise to keep this brief, as the photos really speak for themselves. In case you couldn’t tell by now, I LOOOOOOVE taking and sharing photos. I use the heck out of Instagram; best invention ever. Mr. Zucchini Runner is impressed (shocked; whatever) that I already have 1,900 photos on the iPhone I just purchased 7 weeks ago. 🙂 Suppose they have a 12-step program called Photographers Anonymous? Enjoy our journey of yummy food – some healthy, some unhealthy and spending some quality time with our boy Rocco the amazing dog.

We stopped in Riverside, CA to see Mr. Zucchini Runner’s Grandma and Dad. We went to dinner and then got some cupcakes at an awesome bakery next door. These were as delicious as they look, according to those who ate them! I had a cookie, which I figured would have less dairy…

Then it was time to pick some California oranges from his Grandma’s trees! The BEST oranges ever, hands down. (I think I might go have one right now actually…)

On the way, I stopped for an incredible photo opp of the vibrant Jacaranda blossoms that covered the grass. My favorite flowering tree by far. 

Some serious thought went into each pick.

I got a little more than intended on this one… whoops!

After a nice little visit we made our way to downtown San Diego and didn’t arrive until late that night. This was our walk around town the next morning, near the San Diego’s Children’s Museum.

Had to stop for a picture in front of my favorite San Diego tree! It’s so cool looking with all the spirals!

So, by now it’s a whole day later, I’ve run the half marathon and we are now having brunch. It was chilly, in case you can’t tell by Mr. Zucchini Runner’s outfit! Cafe 222 even had the outdoor heaters on! 

I ordered the Peanut Butter and Banana Stuffed French Toast… and proudly ate every single bite, with the exception of the strawberry and blob of butter. (We were also told by our waiter this was featured on Food Network!)

The flowers in San Diego always amaze me. They are SO vibrant and HUGE. The desert needs to conserve it’s water, so things tend to grow much smaller.

These trees are just made for climbing!

After brunch and a walk, it was time to do some relaxing before our night on the town. I grabbed a cup of Joe and sat back to watch Game of Thrones. We also listen to the audio books and with all our road trips lately, it makes the time fly by!

After much, MUCH walking around downtown San Diego (seriously, I think we walked about 2-3 miles) we finally settled on this tiny Turkish restaurant called Cafe Istanbul. Mr. Zucchini Runner and I saw a Mediterranean style restaurant on our walk to the start line earlier that day and could NOT for the life of us remember where it was. So, we were wandering all over trying to find that exact restaurant, because we were both craving falafel. I have to say, I was ready to give up on that mission LONG before Mr. ZR was. However, he was convinced he needed the falafel from this particular restaurant. Eventually, Yelp reviews lead us to Cafe Istanbul and did not disappoint our falafel cravings.

It was among the top 3 best tasting falafel I’ve had. Perfect crunch on the outside and very moist – not dry at all – on the inside. At some point during our mindless meanderings downtown, I told Mr. Zucchini that I would continue this search with him if we could find a place with amazing chocolate cake for dessert. 

A short cab ride later (I was done walking for the day…) and boom, we are here; Extraordinary Desserts. This place had a line out the door and they only serve desserts and coffees. YES PLEASE! Talk about overwhelmed… I wanted everything! After much back and forth, we decided to split a crazy looking pastry.

Not exactly chocolate cake, BUT, we were told it had some chocolate gooeyness on the inside!

Yep, sure did. The coffee was SO STRONG, but it was perfect with this sweet treat. 

The next day, we did more walking with our furry child… and saw more cool flowers! These look very Dr. Seuss to me…

Nice legs Mr. Zucchini Runner 😉

For lunch we met up with our friends in Encinitas at the Roxy Restaurant. I ordered their Vegi Burrito with no cheese and Mr. Zucchini got their FALAFEL BURGER. Turns out, the falafel he was searching for the night before was actually at this restaurant in Encinitas. (We were looking at multiple restaurant menus online the day before and he melded the two together.)

Imagine my surprise when I sat down and saw this sign in front of me. o_O Anything? But…

After lunch we all headed further north to Carlsbad. Doesn’t this place look so quaint?

On our walk to the beach, we discovered diagonal cross walks!!!!! GENIUS. Needless to say, I was STOKED. Every cross street needs these and man would it save time for runners and commuters alike! 

Our friends getting their toes wet! That man, taking the photo, is an awesome photographer. You should check out his website, Thomas Boggan Photography.

See, he took this photo of us later in the day. 😉 (AND his wife took the photo of me in the cross walk earlier too!)

For dinner we went to Pizza Port – their whole wheat crust is delicious! 

The next morning, back in San Diego, I went for a little post-race shakeout run. These are always bittersweet because I get to enjoy another beautiful run in San Diego, but it also means the trip is coming to an end. 

This is very close to what I typically eat for breakfast – just subtract the toast and orange.

While we were loading up the car, Rocco made sure to sit by the “to-go” pile so we wouldn’t forget him. 😉

One last stop on the way out of town to Chocolat Cremerie, trying to extend our vacation just a little longer. Especially since the sun had finally come out in San Diego!

I got a little cup of peach sorbet and Mr. ZR got lemon… which we ate while we waited for more food…

We took our food order to go and went to Balboa Park to soak up some more misty air and Cali sunshine. 

Yep, we finished off our trip with a super “nutritious” crepe, stuffed with banana and walnuts and topped with caramel.

I relaxed while the boys went on a little walk.Rocco was happy the sun was shining again too. It’s always hard to say goodbye to San Diego and we typically daydream about moving there while on our drive back to the desert… who knows what the future will hold.