Conference in San Diego

I had a conference a couple weeks ago in San Diego.  Brian was able to tag along for a few days and it was a blast.  The kids stayed with Grammie and Granddad and were super excited to be on a little vacation themselves!

We did a TON of walking while we were there, right along the bay.

Lots of cool things to see and places to eat - we had so much fun just the 2 of us -of course, while missing the kids, but knowing they were having fun, too.

There were so many cool ships that we saw while walking around - pretty amazing!

We even happened to stumble upon a bunch of museum ships that were having free admission all weekend for Earth day on the Bay!

It was really neat to go through the ships and hear about the history

Captain Brian!

Standing in front of a submarine ship.  We went inside to tour this one too, but I only made it a little ways before I got pretty claustrophobic and had to make a chicken exit.

Didn't realize it bothered me that much, but I guess it does.  

I could never make it on one of those ships for months at a time - guess I had better stick with working at the hospital :)

There was a really cool whale statue (the signs say "do not climb on the whale")

We hit up a brewery tour that was right by the Petco park baseball stadium.  

Brian got to drink twice as much - lucky him!

We took a ferry over to Coronado Island to check out the beach, shops, and famous hotel.

Once again, tons of walking, but really cool to see!

The hotel on Coronado Island.  It was pretty much like a huge resort.  Tons of famous people have stayed there.  We just walked around and did some sight-seeing.

On Coronado Island beach - one of the top 5 public beaches in the U.S.

The water was pretty chilly, but lots of kids were playing in it.

Brian on the beach

We went to another brewery on the island.  This was probably my favorite - we got a sampler and I had a sip or two of the 5 we picked.  I liked them all (minus the coffee stout, yuck!)

A huge Navy ship we saw while on the island.  These things are massive!

We also hit up a barbecue restaurant right across the street from our hotel - guess what it's name was - KC Barbeque!

They were made famous because apparently there were a couple of scenes shot there for the movie Top Gun back in 1985.  The restaurant was a total dump and the food was not good.  But I guess it gets a lot of tourists, so good for them!

My evaluation of the KC Barbeque spot in San Diego - thumbs down!

After the BBQ dinner - we made it to a Padres baseball game

They ended up losing the game, but we got to see Shields pitch and sat beside some really nice San Diego residents.  Everyone was very friendly there.

So even though I didn't get any pictures, I did have a poster to present at the conference and that went really well.  I had ton of people asking questions and a lot of interest in the subject.

I will return, once more, to San Diego in a few weeks for another conference.  Now I will know my way around - and to bring an extra pair of tennis shoes for all the walking!