Stephen and I love getting away to explore new places so when our friends mentioned going to San Diego for Labor Day weekend, we immediately agreed! Six couples total loaded up the puppies and babies to make the 5 hour trek from Phoenix up to Coronado Island on Friday.

We stayed in a hotel on the Navy base. It was evident that it used to be a barracks but for the price ($60/night + $20/night for the pup) we didn’t mind. The biggest downside was that there wasn’t any AC but that’s typical in the San Diego area! It was definitely unfortunate, however, considering they had record high temps that weekend. We made it work though!

Tip: If you want to spend Labor Day weekend on Coronado Island, book the hotel room well in advance! Especially if you’re going to stay off base at a hotel like Hotel Del Coronado, which is so stunning by the way!

• Friday

After we made it to the island and checked into our hotel, we took the dogs for a long walk before going to dinner at Casa de Reyes. You guys… This place was so good and the margarita was even better! The whole area is so cute and there is live music so people were dancing and having a blast.

Tip: If you plan on going to Casa de Reyes, make sure to get there at like 4:30-5:00 at the latest! We got there at the perfect time so we were seated immediately but within 20 minutes the line to get in was so long.

The rest of the night was full of laughs. We drove for over an hour to find a NEX (Navy Exchange) to get some things. After quite a few wrong turns and questionable directions, we finally made it. San Diego driving is definitely up there for one of the craziest!

• Saturday

Early Saturday morning Stephen and I got up to go to “the best donut shop in California”, Donut Bar. The shop opens at 8:00 AM and we got there right at 8:00… This was the line. It was INSANE! It took us over half an hour to get to the door. It has been featured on multiple TV networks such as the Food Network and coming up, the Travel Channel and was even voted best in the US. That Ferrari is the shop owners, in case you were wondering!

We ordered a dozen donuts so our friends could try them if they wanted. Also, my “thing” when I try donuts is to cut a bite out of each so I love getting a variety to try.

We got the blueberry with meyer lemon, Samoa, maple bacon cinnamon roll (holy cow), butter beer, coconut dream, creme brûlée, strawberry cheesecake, oh my birthday cake Oreo, Boston cream, and Nutella. I tried all of them except for the birthday cake, Boston cream, and Nutella that we got for our friends.

Now for what I thought of them… They were great! I loved how many choices they had to choose from; that was especially amazing to me. I really loved trying all of them. I think the creme brûlée was my favorite as it’s so different than any other donut I’ve had. Did I think they were the best I’ve ever had? Nope. The yeast raised (my favorite) wasn’t as fluffy and flavorful as I’ve had before. Also, I prefer donuts that are sweet of course but not one that is going to put me into shock. Donut Bar donuts were a little too sweet. Five Daughters Bakery in Nashville is still at the top of the chart for me!

With donut filled bellies, we took the dogs (Adi + our friends dogs) to the dog beach. It’s located on the island right outside of the Navy base. They had an absolute BLAST! Adi has never been to the ocean, felt the sand, or been around that many (especially big) dogs at once. She was in heaven. Up until this point she didn’t like the shower or pool but once she mustered up the courage to get into the ocean she was like, “OH MY GOSH! THIS IS AWESOME!”

We took the dogs back to the hotel to nap while we went to the “human beach” for a few hours. We had so much fun hanging out with everyone and watching the babies play in the water and sand. For dinner that night we threw on some shorts and a T-shirt and went to a restaurant called Syros Gyros which was basically a Greek version of Panera. I was so hungry that I didn’t even take a picture to prove how delicious it looked. I ordered the chicken kabob platter with double salad and it was a winner winner chicken dinner.

After dinner we were determined to get some ice cream so we went to MooTime Creamery on Orange Blvd. The line to get in was 100% justified. They had so many different sundaes and ice cream flavors. Stephen and I finally decided on sharing the flying cookie sundae with vanilla and stracciatella ice cream. He said he didn’t really want much and then ended up eating over half…

Tip: Take the least number of cars as possible! Parking on the island (and in San Diego) is very limited and you pretty much have to parallel park everywhere. If you can all stuff into one car, do it!

This post would be way too long if I included the rest of the weekend so I’m going to post part two separately. Friday Favorites #3 is coming your way tomorrow morning!

Off-the-Shoulder Navy Dress is RTR (click here for $30 off!) but here are more favorites-