Friday: worked the AM. I was actually out on time (didn’t plan for that). Then I headed to the airport and consequently arrived very early. Checked my bag and hung outdoors reading until time to go back inside. My first leg to JFK was uneventful. The big jump (6 hours) to SAN involved a screaming temper tantrum of a 3-year-old in the seat in front of me. He did not want to wear a seatbelt and let the entire plane know that. Seemed like a good time to have a drink. I wanted to buy a shot for the kid just to shut him up. Oddly or intentionally, I was never charged for my drink. I arrived at SAN on time and one hour prior to Tracy’s scheduled arrival. Unfortunately, when Randy called Tracy, she was still in Albany. She thought her flight was Saturday instead of Friday. $300 later, she was rescheduled to a Saturday night arrival.
Saturday: Randy and I did the northern loop. Breakfast at Pipes Cafe checked out the surf, usual walk up to Swami’s, walk-thru Cardiff, drove up to Carlsbad, shopped at Costco’s, went to the art show in Pacific Beach, late dinner at Rocky’s, picked up Tracy at the airport (10:30pm), went directly to Belly Up for the English Beat concert.
Sunday: Bread and cheese for breakfast, packed bread and cheese for lunch, and drove off to Temecula wine country. Very confusing directions once we got there. There were minimal signs and hard to find places. Several name changes since the brochure were printed. Most had pricey tasting fees. $10-$20 per person. The first stop was at Falkner.
Monday: today was the southern route. Into the city. We had breakfast at Bread and Cie, and then off to the San Diego Zoo for many hours. Leisurely walk thru Balboa Park. There was a gay pride thing going on. Tracy and I got our picture taken with a crossdresser. Walked thru Little Italy. Felt too underdressed for fine dining so we went to Pizza Port.
Tuesday: We started the day planning our trip today up to LA. It got very complex trying to book a hotel, so we changed the LA trip to Wednesday. Instead, we walked the beach at Del Mar. We had to visit Torrey Pines and check out the grounds and the lodge. Then off to La Jolla we went. Saw some seals trying to get to the beach. However, there were children playing in the water so the seals stayed away. Randy says it is very controversial on who, kids or seals, should use the beach. Then we cruised thru town, having lunch at “The Living Room”. Tonight was cookout #2 at Randy’s place. Randy grilled up some bacon-wrapped scallops. John was able to stop by just as the food came off the grill.
Wednesday: we planned a late morning trip to LA in order to miss rush hour traffic. The main objective was a stop at the Getty. 1:30 to 4pm. Besides the usual awesomeness, they had a special exhibit on “Paris: luxury and fashion” (I took that tour), a photographic exhibit of Cuba, and “the gods of Cambodia –“(a Buddhist and other gods sculptures).
Thursday: up at 7am. We went for a morning walk down to the pier. We had a great breakfast at a creap restaurant. 11am check out and back on the road. The next stop was at Venice Beach. The usual stuff of muscle beach, street performers, vendors selling everything, and now with the new marijuana laws there were many vendors selling marijuana for “medical use only”. The next stop was at the Wayfarer Chapel. Unfortunately, there was a wedding going on so we couldn’t get inside. Still, time well spent to see it from the outside. We left there and headed to Long Beach’s “Aquarium of the Pacific”. After a shrimp taco lunch at Bubba Gump, we only had 2 hours before the aquarium closed. At $25 per person, we blew it off and did a walk-about instead. We needed to kill time for rush hour traffic to subside before getting back into the car. We drove down to Seal Beach. That was Randy’s old stomping ground. That was also Tracy’s favorite community. She liked it due to the less hustle and bustle. As I slept, Randy drove us home with a necessary stop for more sambuca and baileys.
Friday: we spent the morning hiking around Torrey Pines.
Saturday: 4am goodbye to Tracy. 6am flight. Unfortunately for Tracy the cloudy weather finally broke and gave us a hot sunny beach day. There was a huge beach party (“BroAm”) at Moonlight Beach in Encinitas. We got to watch a dueling surf contest where they try to knock each other off their board and also a real surf competition. There were bands playing all afternoon with Switchfoot as the headliner. On the way home, stopped at Pizza Port for 2 beers. They had Pliney The Elder on tap. John joined us for the 2nd round. Then the three of us were off to Randy’s for another steak cookout. John’s stop for bread also included un-needed but tasty clam chowder and smoked fish from Fish Market. Add some bailey, wine, and sambuca and it was way too much food (a recurring theme).
Sunday: for the morning we rode up to Oceanside to check out its museum and pier. A lot of military stores. Then we began the long beach drive back to Randy’s and on to the airport. We went thru and I said my good-byes to all the various beaches. I had to stop at El Pescador for fish tacos. We made it as far as Mission Beach before time was up and headed to the airport. I had a 9pm red-eye. Amazingly, I was able to catch maybe 3 hours of sleep on the JFK leg. I tried, unsuccessfully, to sleep at JFK. The chairs were so uncomfortable and I had a 4-hour layover.
More Solana Beach Visit Pics
Monday: after arriving home at about 11am, I threw in a load of laundry, took a 1-½ hour nap, and then began my Monday rituals.
Misc:
- Should have brought more long sleeve shirts or a vest. The mornings were cloudy (June gloom) and cool, the afternoon was warm, and the evenings were cool again.
- Need/want a headset for an airplane ride.
- At layover, find a couch/bench/floor space to sleep. Those 4 hours would have made a big difference.
- $15 Getty parking
- Gas, sambuca, bailey, fish tacos, Pannikans, Pizza Port, strip bar (or was that just in my dreams)
