Wednesday was an intentional lazy day: our last full day in California before I started dictating when alarms would be set for the road trip section of the holiday! A lazy morning meant the perfect time to do a little laundry before being on the move. However, we discovered that things don't dry on the Californian coast. You can leave things hanging on the balcony in 75 degree heat and when you get home it's still damp due to the humidity in the air!

For our day trip we headed for Coronado Island (technically a peninsula - but I thought it'd be rude to correct them as a mere visitor). Coronado Island is (according to wiki) one of the most expensive places to live in the USA. And it shows. Lots of fancy big homes, extravagant hotels, and posh shops and eateries. We first stopped at the quieter east side of the 'island' facing into the San Diego harbour and skyline. It was here we tried some authentic hand made American burgers (monsters!!) and they were fantastic - nothing like that fast food nonsense normally associated with burgers. This was the real deal!

After lunch we drove to the west side of the 'island' and the white sands of Ocean Boulevard. It was much busier on the ocean side, but the beach was huge so we enjoyed a nice walk in sinking sands and then followed the boardwalk into the shops of the famous Hotel del Coronado (where we may have indulged in some fancy ice cream and sorbet - hey, the sun was out and it was scorching ok!).

Our lazy day finished with packing up the car with stocks and supplies ahead of our venture into the mountains and desserts beyond. But only after one last dip in the apartment complex pool before the sun went down.