San Diego!

In SD, I stayed at the apartment of one of my oldest friends, Nicole Kofman. She was actually out of town at the time, but I hung out with her partner and contentedly spent a lot of time by myself (lounging in her pajamas — on this trip I brought one outfit for hiking and wore one "city" outfit on the plane). After sleeping on the ground and on a couch, Nicole's guest bed felt incredibly comfortable, and her *guest bathroom* incredibly luxurious. I even got to do laundry! Which I especially appreciated because my city/airplane clothes were particularly grimy after not one but two hikes up LA's steep hills to Griffith Observatory.

After a slow morning drinking fresh coffee, I drove to a beachside cafe and sat at an outdoor table to eat brunch, journal, and people-watch. I walked along the beach before settling down to read in the sand for awhile. 

Eventually I found a longer beach on which to go running, and very happily showered afterwards back at the apartment. Later I found a delicious dinner at a tiny taco shack near a different beach.

 

I then went on yet another beach stroll, savoring the gorgeous sunset (we don't have beach sunsets on the East Coast!).

My flight home was early the following morning. What a spectacular trip!