Coronado Island

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On Thursday I drove a few miles south and took the big bridge over to Coronado, California.

Technically just a few miles south of San Diego, but in all senses of the word, world’s apart. It has a very beachy island feel and I always feel like I’ve gone on vacation even though I’ve only gone a few miles.

Coronado Island path and ocean

Not that all of San Diego isn’t lovely, but Coronado is truly the loveliest of the lovely. It would sure be lovely if I could stumble into 5 or 10 million and buy something there. I’ll keep dreaming or start playing the lottery.

But for now, I  just walk on the sidewalk and use the parks. Those are still free and lovely.

Coronado island path with grass and palm trees

Skylar’s school chose a park on Coronado to have their last day of school picnic. Marvelous choice.

Need I even write it, but the weather was picture perfect. 74F and sunny, light breeze, not a cloud in the sky.

Palm trees and blue sky

All pictures were taken with my iPhone and then enhanced a bit in Lightroom 4 to bring out the blues in the sky. It was so bright out, I literally couldn’t even see my phone screen and what the resulting image looked like.

I held the phone to the bridge, pressed the button, and hoped the image showed how huge the bridge is.

Long bridge with ships underneath and ocean

The kids had a great day. Talk about little energizer bunnies. There was a big inflatable jumpee with a slide, parachute games, face painting, a huge catered food spread, playground equipment and wide open spaces, and adrenaline. There was more high energy and craziness in one minute at the park than I think I’ve had in all of 2012 combined. It was fun to see the kids soaking it all in and loving it and vastly different than the last day of school celebrations I had when I was growing up.

Those involved hot and stuffy gymnasiums with no A/C, calling kids up on stage to accept an award as the fourth runner up in the spelling bee contest and other thrilling bits of news. There were no palm trees at the parks in rural Minnesota either, but we had plenty of mosquitoes the size of golf balls.

It felt like just yesterday it was her first day at school. Until I had a child, I didn’t fully comprehend the they grow up so fast sentiment, and it’s cliche but so true.

Coronado Island beach shore with rocks

A beautiful place and a beautiful day.

Sunny days at the park and time with my child and husband, who was able to join us, are worth their weight in gold.

Path with grass and palm trees

Now if you’ll excuse me, a bite of this Cinnamon Bun Pie is worth it’s weight in gold, too. Weekends are the perfect time to make one, which is what I did this morning.

Cinnamon Bun Pie

Are you celebrating being out of school for the year or do you have kids out of school now? 

Any fun summer plans?

The winner of the Ani Phyo Cookbooks Giveaway – Set of Two is Caralyn @ glutenfreehappytummy

Enjoy your weekend!

About the Author

Welcome to AverieCooks! Here you’ll find fast and easy recipes that taste amazing and are geared for real life. Nothing fussy or complicated, just awesome tasting dishes everyone loves!

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Comments

  1. Have u been to the church thrift store in Coronado? It’s across from the antique store close to Orange Ave. Also, there’s a great juice bar there too.

    1. No I haven’t but now I will check it out (and wonder what they have!!)…thanks for the tip!

  2. I’ve never been there, but I’ve heard nothing but great things. I miss the ocean and palm trees! I am only a couple blocks from the lake, but it isn’t the same. It was 90 today though! I enjoyed far too much indoor time -antique/vintage shopping and some household item sewing.

    Tomorrow I am planning on weeding my garden/yard. I brought my camera to a greenhouse taking pictures of things that I have, so I can tell a difference between a weed and a floer. I’m sure I’ll pull up some flowers though.

  3. Ahh I love Coronado! I went there for a Christmas vacation when I was young and still remember playing in the sand and hanging out at the gorgeous hotel there!

  4. Beautiful pictures of Coronado. The weather looked just perfect and the palm trees are so pretty. That cinnamon bun pie looks and sounds delish.

  5. What a beautiful place for the last day of school outing. I know what you mean about “they grow up so fast.” It is so true and so bittersweet, as each stage is a beautiful one but the one prior to it is gone forever. Ah…if only our children could stay with us forever. Seraphim is now officially a senior and Simeon an eighth grader. My heart aches a bit when I think of the days when we built sandcastles together at the beach and played indians and cowboys with all their little figurines. Still, they are delightful young men and I wouldn’t trade them for an entire world full of gold.

    Btw…the twinkies were a hit! We sprayed a little whipped cream out of the can into some mouths to wash them down, too! :-)

    1. Glad the Twinkies were a hit and yes, you have young men on your hands now. Gulp. :)

  6. Thank you so much Averie! I’m so excited to use my new cookbooks! I’m especially looking forward to Raw Food Essentials! I appreciate you doing such a generous giveaway! Coronado Island looks like paradise! That sky!! Thanks again! Have a great weekend!

  7. I always wanted to go to Coronado. I was in San Diego once for work and only was there for two days. I was by myself and young so I was afraid to venture off. I went to the local mall, exciting huh? I do remember how beautiful I thought San Diego was and I remember seeing that bridge from my hotel and wondering what was on the other side. Now that I have lived longer in CA I know what Coronado Island is and I would just love to go there one day. I know I will too!!

    Thank you for sharing this with us and the photos are great. Your iPhone takes great pics!

    1. My iphone had some help from LR4 as mentioned, but thank you :)

      And you’d love Coronado and hope you can come back one day!

  8. What gorgeous pictures!!!
    I have never been to Coronado Island, but I loved my visit to San Diego a few years ago. This summer, we have a few lake house weeknds in Wisconsin planned and our third annual trip to Door County. I can’t wait!

    1. I used to go to Door County! My parents went there EVERY summer as the parents getaway and my sister and I would stay with our grandma. Memories!

  9. What a picturesque location! Such beautiful weather, too. Wishing we were so lucky in FL – it’s been nothing but thunderstorms and rain for the last 5 days, until today when the sun finally showed up! :) Have a great weekend!

  10. I wish we had palm trees in Chicago. People out here buy mini palm trees for about $100 and put them in their back yard for the summer. Winter comes and the tree dies. I would love to vacation in California just to get my fill of seeing palm trees.

  11. I never made it to Coronado when I was in San Diego but it looks incredibly beautiful! My stepdaughter graduated from high school last night–and I remember when she was Skylar’s age, so it does go by very fast! Loved the chocolate Mounds bar cookies ( so did my husband)! I also made the roasted grapes with balsamic reduction. It is great w/ cheese and crackers and then I also put the grapes and balsamic on my salad. Yummy both ways!!

    1. Thanks for the reports! I put the grapes/balsamic on salads, too. And in leftover cooked rice or white beans; so versatile. And the cookies – yay! Glad the hubs loved them, too!

  12. Oh Averie! Coronado looks spectacular! What a treat to live so close to it. I absolutely looove palm trees. I live so far from the ocean or palm trees, but fortunately have easy access to private beaches and lakes.

    1. I am so glad you saw this one! I was thinking of you the whole time! I love it when you do the “corner of your world” posts…still thinking about that last one about a week ago of yours…truly spectacular photos!

  13. I Love coronado! Everytime we go I just want to ride my bike around the whole city! And I agree with you, that Cinnamon Bun Pie is a PERFECT weekend treat! :)

    1. I want to ride my bike and eat ice cream cones and run thru the sprinklers and feel like I’m 8 years old all over:)