One of my favourite places in San Diego has to be Torrey Pines Natural Reserve. What a beautiful park! It’s filled with easy to medium trails that all lead to an amazing view. The desert landscape was a nice change to what Chris and I usually see on our hikes… tall cedars and pines, and that rugged Westcoast coast line. The trails were sandy and wind beaten. The sound of the ocean is something that doesn’t change though… 🙂
We stayed at the Bahia Resort in the Mission beach area and Torrey Pines Natural Reserve was about 15 minutes from where we were staying. MK has learned to love car rides so she doesn’t fuss much anymore on short trips – THANK GOD. When she wails in the car it makes me uncomfortable! We brought her car seat on the trip with us so it would be familiar to her and just like that she fell asleep almost instantly.
It’s $12 to enter the park and it closes at 5. So we had plenty of time to explore. We drove all the way to the top of the hill, parked and got ready for our hike. I love using our Ergo Baby carrier for hikes like this. I feel safer with MK strapped on me and the padded backpack-like straps are comfy. I also like how it’s a soft canvas carrier and not the harder ones with more structure. It’s easier for MK to look around and adjust herself. When we first got this carrier it took a while to get used to because we played around with the strap adjustments every time and had NO IDEA what it was supposed to feel like. I remember the first time Chris wore her, the carrier looked so tight on him you could barely see a newborn MK, who was sleeping and we were so paranoid that she couldn’t breathe. Now I know as long as she’s at a kissable height, her mouth and nose aren’t blocked and your gut tells you that your comfortable with it then the baby is good. Trust your gut.
If I were to buy another carrier, I would get the Ergo Baby 360. Now that MK is awake more and she’s strong enough to hold her head up, she wants to face outward. She’ll twist her body and get her arm out of the carrier so she can see where we’re going. I also have the Baby K’tan wrap carrier and I like it cus I can wear her facing out. But I’ve never worn my wrap carrier on a hike, my shoulders would probably kill after wearing it for a while.
It doesn’t take long for us to get MK in her carrier now. So once she was in we headed for a park map and planned out our route. Originally I had a cute little hat for MK but she kept twisting around to look at everything her hat kept covering her eyes. Luckily it wasn’t too hot, so she was comfortable with it coming off.
When we’re hiking, I’m like a kid in a candy store. “Look at those trees!” “There’s a beach down there, let’s go!” “Look at that!” “Look at this!!”. I always forget that every hill we go down, I have to come up later… And coming up with a 17 pound baby strapped to you is a work out! But I STILL HAVE NO ASS!! WTF?! 🙂
Amanda is a writer, photographer, videographer and a content creator with a passion for sharing stories. With her family of 5, they share experiences, tips and ideas that empower Moms to make memories with their families right here in British Columbia.
haha love the “no ass WTF” part! looks like it was a fun area to explore!
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It was so fun 🙂 We loved San Diego. Can’t wait to go back.