Continuing on from part one of our San Diego trip, part two is filled with delicious food, seals, and the best part, donuts.

Sunday:

Sunday morning we went to breakfast with our friends and their sweet little baby, Lorelei. I love that little girl so much. Anyway, on Orange Blvd in Coronado there are so many options to choose from! We stopped at Clayton’s Coffee Shop first but the wait was a little bit too long for us because we had plans to meet up with all of our friends after breakfast. Clayton’s also has a window on the side of the restaurant where you can order food to-go. The menu looked so good at both the inside and to-go spots! Our friends went there the next morning and said it was amazing. The place was bumpin’ which is usually a good indicator that it’s good!

We ended up going to Leroy’s Kitchen & Lounge for breakfast. They use local ingredients so the menu changes daily. I think that’s really fun because you could go there multiple times and have different options to choose from each time. It was really difficult for all of us to decide what to order. My meal was slow cooked beef over potatoes (I don’t remember what they called it) and Stephen and Laura both got chilaquiles. It was so delicious that I ate every single bite, despite how much food it was. The people next to us ordered the fruit platter and it also looked so good (yes, I creeped on their food)! If we ever go back to Coronado Island I’ll definitely go there again! I’d love to see what they offer on their menu for dinner.

After we finished breakfast we ventured out to Seal Beach with our entire group of friends. It was really cool to see all of the seals but I have to say, traffic and parking are the biggest pain in the butt out there. Unless you plan on staying in the area to go shopping/eat after seeing the seals, I don’t know if I would suggest dealing with it. It’s the kind of thing where you watch the seals for 10 minutes, mind you, they barely move, and then think, “Okay, what do we do now?” Maybe that’s just me though… Just my two cents!

That night, Virginia Tech (HOKIES!!!) was playing their first game of the season against WVU. Stephen found a bar, Bub’s Beach Bar & Grill, in San Diego that favors VT and Pittsburgh teams. It had Stephen’s name written all over it. We met up there with our friend, Joe, and ended up running into so many other friends that we went to school with. We had a BLAST! We were amazed but not surprised one bit that so many Hokies would gather in one place on the other side of the country. It sure did make me miss Blacksburg. Thankfully, after a nerve-racking fourth quarter, we walked away with the win!

Monday:

Stephen and I got up pretty early to make sure we could try another donut shop before heading home. After a lot of debate, we decided to try Nomad Donuts. I’m so glad that we did.

We ordered a dirty chai, pistachio custard pomegranate rose, blood orange malasada, and vegan strawberry pineapple jam key lime coconut.

I’ve never tasted such interesting donuts in my life. I mean that in the best way possible. They were so packed with flavor that we had to stop and think about it after every bite. We thought they were all fantastic but if I had to rank them it would be: 4. Dirty Chai 3. Pistachio Custard, 2. Blood Orange Malasada 1. VEGAN Strawberry pineapple jam with key lime coconut. That donut… It’s at the top of my list for one of my favorites, ever. I can’t even describe all of the different flavors that they packed into that one fluffy pastry. I could eat the jam on the inside by the spoonful. It also wasn’t too sweet which I actually prefer in donuts!

On our way home we stopped in Dateland, Arizona at a truck stop and store that is full of dates. I’m not kidding… It’s dates galore. Since we completely missed the exit on the way to San Diego, Stephen had been looking forward to it all weekend. He was like a kid in a candy store. He ended up leaving with NINE pounds of dates. NINE! Look at his smile! It makes me laugh. He also got a date shake and two jars of date shake mix. It was a (naturally) sweet and perfect way to end our San Diego Labor Day adventure.