My first real vacation in a year

I really love vacations. I love sleeping in, working out at the hotel fitness center, taking long naps on beaches, eating crazy local food, buying worthless junk that ends up in a landfill the following year, taking walks in new places, etc. But for the last year my life has been filled with stress, school, too much work, a family wedding and a horrible breakup.

A year ago my family went to Aruba for a week which was AMAZING. But waking up at 4:00 am and finding out on the hotel internet that $500 had been taken from my bank account by a certain boy who was a jobless druggie was definitely a downer. I was a little stressed out on that vacation. (Especially given that I was in school 40 hours a week and$500 was a month's worth of money!)

Okay, you know what... I'm really sorry for all this history. I just wanted to give a little background to fully express how much I enjoyed my recent vacation to San Diego. Justin's family took me to San Diego for 3 days to go to Sea World, San Diego Zoo and Mission Beach.
Honestly, I really can't stand theme parks/zoos. But getting away from everyday life and spending time with him and his family was totally worth it.

Day 1 we went to Sea World. I love dolphins (my fave animal since I was 6) so I didn't mind it too much. Justin and I spent most of our time near tanks and indoors since it was so bloody hot. I think the funniest thing that happened was when we went to do a ride at the Arctic exhibit and they brought us in to load. The doors opened and the operator walked through to check before we were seated. Just then he realized someone had thrown up all over the back row. So while we stood there for 15 minutes the janitors cleaned up the mess. Justin and I looked at each other and said, "Glad we're not in that row!"

Day 2 we went to the San Diego Zoo. I think everyone was pretty tired from the day before. I was just glad I got to hold Justin's niece, Oakley. She's really adorable at only 18 months old and it's rare that I get to hold babies. She fell asleep in 3 minutes while I held her. The rest of the time we just wandered around looking at all the animals in cages. My favorite was the reptile house. I also made friends with a baby goat at the petting zoo. I think he liked me because I massaged him. I've learned that I really have no idea how to pet animals anymore. I only massage them.

The last day was the best. Justin and I rented a sea kayak and paddled out through Mission Bay around Vacation Island for an hour. We really sucked at getting it to go straight. But the best part of the trip was when we saw an unanchored sailboat get blown away by the wind. So someone in San Diego, an hour later, was probably flipping out that their sailboat was no where in sight. I guess Justin and I could have jumped in after it to try and save it. However, neither of us can sail. Oh well! We also spent three hours on Mission Beach. (Which was a really crappy beach compared to the last three I've been to in Costa Rica, Hawaii and Aruba... but hey! it was a beach nonetheless!) Justin's back and chest haven't seen the sun since before his mission to Brazil (which was over 3 years ago) so he blended in with the sand. I've seen a little more sun than him, but I'm still pretty white!

After the trip I have realized two things:

1. I am so lucky to have Justin. I love him more than ever. And I think he's way hot. :)
2. I need another vacation.