Cell Phone Photography (3): How To Have A Fun and Inexpensive Staycation

Note: the pictures below look so pixelated. I noticed that the same pictures uploaded directly from my cell phone to Facebook have better quality than pictures uploaded directly from cell phone to Mobile Blogger. I hope Mobile Blogger will not continue reducing the resolution and quality of pictures if they want us to continue using their apps. So frustrated looking at the distorted resolution here, which is not the same if the pictures are viewed in laptop's wide screen through Photo Stream.

Cousin Doing a Resting Pose :)

What can be more fun than a staycation? :) A most fun- filled vacation does not always have to be far from home. Fun starts when family and loved ones get together. My cousin from Los Angeles joined me and hubby for a 3-day Memorial Weekend Staycation. There were no plans, no itineraries, because the most important thing for us was time spent together enjoying the activities we love to share. Here is how we spent our 3-day weekend adventure staycation in a very inexpensive way but having the most fun.

Day 1:

1. Hiking at Iron Mountain. 

@Iron Mountain Peak

I purposely chose a medium hike, 7 miles round trip, 1300 ft change in elevation. I chose this so that we would have more time and also energy to have fun rock scrambling and boulder hopping.

Cousin in a Stretching Pose

Cousin and I

My Resting Pose :)

Where is Iron Mountain? Please visit my post on my top 5 San Diego hike to learn more about Iron Mountain hike.

2. Vietnamese Lunch at Pho Ca Dao in Rancho Bernardo Road. It was all about shrimp for me. :)

Grilled Lemongrass Shrimp with rice and veggies

Shrimp Paste in Fried Tofu Skin

3. Relaxing and Chilling at home for our next activity. I and cousin met up common friend from Los Angeles who was also visiting her family in San Diego. Since our friend was at Fashion Valley, one of the upscale shopping malls in San Diego, for some shopping, we decided to meet up there. After Fashion Valley Mall, we went to have dinner at East Buffet in Miramar Road. I was craving for sea foods, and Asian sea food buffet is always the tastiest and cheapest way to go.

Oysters and Clams ( and there were more sea foods )

After dinner, we went to my ftiend's cousin's house for a dessert. We had Red Ribbon's Rocky Road Chocolate Cake. It was very yummy! Went home late, as hubby predicted. :) He understands however, that we three get together only once or twice a year, despite San Diego and LA are only 2 hours away from each other.

Day 2:

1. Hiking and Bird watching at Torrey Pines State Natural Reserve- my most favorite San Diego hike. We were entertained and awed by juvenile peregrine falcons as they celebrate their first few days of flight. This time, cell phone camera could not capture easily the fastest animals on Earth. However, I already published a post on Juvenile Peregrine Falcons from the pictures I took with my camera in my previous post. 

2. Lunch at Gliderport Cafe and then, hike to the canyon and slot South of Gluderport afterwards. We had fun watching soaring paragliders and hangliders during our hike. 

@ the top of cliffs, South of Gliderport 

Going Down The Canyon

Down The Canyon to the Beach

Hubby Dancing, Getting Bored While Waiting For me Slowly Maneuvering Down the Canyon

in between the cliffs @ the canyon

The Way Down To the Beach

Finally Down

Looking Up Where We Came From, What Went Down Must Go Back Up

On reaching the beach, we looked up where we came from. Because this was a canyon hike, went down must go back up. Thinking of having maneuvered the slot and the rope was filling my heart with excitement and joy. It was definitely a fun hike.

3. After hiking at Torrey Pines, and then, Gliderport Canyon, as if we did not have enough exercise, we continued our walking at REI for some outdoor gear shopping. Actually, it was one of REI's big sales events, so we checked if we could get ice trekker at a discount, and of course, if we could get some of the items we had been waiting to go on sale.

4. After REI, we went home to rest and relax. Instead of dining out, I made our dinner. 

Grilled Tilapia in Ginger and Turmeric

Grilled Portabella Mushroom

Monggo and Veggies Soup

First Batch of My Dinner Plate

Dessert For 3 People :)

Day 3:

1. Hiking and boogie boarding for me and cousin, while juvenile peregrine falcon watching for hubby.

The Peregrine Falcon Watchers ( they have machine gun lenses, some of them are pros, the one at the right most is trying to learn from them for free, haha! )

Cousin and I were done hiking and boogie boarding about 1 pm, while hubby was still not done peregrine falcon watching. :) The peregrine falcons are really amazing creatures though, and it is not often we get to see the juvenile actively training for survival. It is a special moment in peregrine falcon's life before they will fly away to find their new home. While they are not strong yet, their parents train them to hunt and for survival. Those interactions do not come often. I will share more of the peregrine falcons from hubby's pictures in one of my next posts.

LIFE IS GOOD! All the time! And the best things in life are FREE, such as most of what we did! Hiking, rock scrambling, boogie boarding, bird watching, cooking, eating home cooked meals, spending time with family and capturing the memories with cell phone camera, are just some of the many ways to have a fun but inexpensive staycation. 

♥♥