Travel Journal

Day 1 – July 10, 2023

Today was the start of our San Diego adventure. We kicked things off super early, leaving our house around 3:30 am to catch a flight from Indianapolis. The trip had a pit stop in Kansas City before finally landing us in San Diego. The cool part about landing here is the mountain range on the right side of the plane – quite a sight!

Guess what? San Diego’s airport is known for being a bit tricky to land at, but our pilot totally nailed it. Everything went smooth as butter, at least from my point of view.

We touched down at 10:30 am, giving us a whole day to get the lay of the land. After sorting out a rental car, we headed straight to Seaport Village. It’s this really nice spot by the bay with a bunch of shops and places to eat. Oh, and the Midway Museum is there too. You know that famous picture of the sailor and nurse smooching during WWII? They’ve got a statue of that right there. Funny thing is, the woman in the picture wasn’t actually a nurse but a dental hygienist who got the day off because her dentist thought people would be too busy celebrating the end of the war to worry about teeth. The sailor and the woman didn’t even know each other – just got caught up in the moment and boom, history.

We hung out there, had a good lunch, and then hopped over a bridge to get to Coronado Beach. It’s this island sandwiched between the bay and the Pacific Ocean. Found a spot to park and made our way to the water. We weren’t exactly dressed for the beach, but we still soaked in the vibes. There’s this old-timey Hotel Coronado that adds some charm to the place.

After leaving the beach, we swung by a grocery store before settling into our spot. Becky worked her magic and found us this cozy cottage in North Park. We lounged on the patio, munched on chips and salsa, and eventually called it a night.

This is an example post, originally published as part of Blogging University. Enroll in one of our ten programs, and start your blog right.

You’re going to publish a post today. Don’t worry about how your blog looks. Don’t worry if you haven’t given it a name yet, or you’re feeling overwhelmed. Just click the “New Post” button, and tell us why you’re here.

Why do this?

Because it gives new readers context. What are you about? Why should they read your blog?
Because it will help you focus you own ideas about your blog and what you’d like to do with it.

The post can be short or long, a personal intro to your life or a bloggy mission statement, a manifesto for the future or a simple outline of your the types of things you hope to publish.

To help you get started, here are a few questions:

Why are you blogging publicly, rather than keeping a personal journal?
What topics do you think you’ll write about?
Who would you love to connect with via your blog?
If you blog successfully throughout the next year, what would you hope to have accomplished?

You’re not locked into any of this; one of the wonderful things about blogs is how they constantly evolve as we learn, grow, and interact with one another — but it’s good to know where and why you started, and articulating your goals may just give you a few other post ideas.

Can’t think how to get started? Just write the first thing that pops into your head. Anne Lamott, author of a book on writing we love, says that you need to give yourself permission to write a “crappy first draft”. Anne makes a great point — just start writing, and worry about editing it later.

When you’re ready to publish, give your post three to five tags that describe your blog’s focus — writing, photography, fiction, parenting, food, cars, movies, sports, whatever. These tags will help others who care about your topics find you in the Reader. Make sure one of the tags is “zerotohero,” so other new bloggers can find you, too.

San Diego July 10-15, 2023

Introduce Yourself (Example Post)