San Diego - Vacation Time
The workshop was over Wednesday afternoon. Matt, my friend from U of A who now works in San Diego, picked me up from the hotel. I dropped my stuff off at his place, then we went out to eat at Islands restaurant, where I had a very tasty burger. We went from there to downtown San Diego, called the Gaslamp district, to meet up with Teemu, Wolfgang, Alessio, and Daniel. It was a pain to hear from them (I couldn't call Teemu since his number is international, so he had to call me), and it was a pain to find parking downtown, but eventually we met them at the cramped bar of a Brazilian restaurant.
Downtown San Diego is pretty cool. There are bars and restaurants everywhere, stretching for many blocks in all directions. We had a really great time hanging out one last time before everybody went their separate ways. I realized I'd actually miss those guys, even though I had only met them a couple days earlier. Crazy. I think Matt had a great time meeting and hanging out with them, too.
Thursday, Matt worked, but he was kind enough to lend me the keys to his Jeep Wrangler. I drove it up to La Jolla (~20 minutes up I-5), because Alessio told me I had left a binder in my room. On the way back, I stopped at Crown Books and found some dirt-cheap ($5!) hardcover books. I bought 2 copies each of "Ilium" and "Olympos" by Dan Simmons--one for me, and one to thank Matt for letting me crash at his place. I still can't believe I found them that cheap!
Thursday night, Matt took me to Lefty's, a hole-in-the-wall Chicago-style pizzeria. It was delicious, just like he said it would be. After being stuffed by just 2 slices, we walked down the street to the Bluefoot Bar. They had the NCAA basketball tournament on, and I got to catch a few minutes of UNC's first-round win vs. Eastern Kentucky. Go Tarheels!
Friday, Matt and his good buddy Eric were off work. They work 9 hour days so that they can take alternate Fridays off. We had some tasty breakfast at Maria's Diner. That place was straight out of the 50's.
Friday afternoon was the highlight of my trip. I got to go surfing! We rented a board and wetsuit for only $10 from the naval base (where Matt and Eric work), and then drove up to Del Mar. The waves weren't too big, but they were mostly big enough that I could have ridden them--if I was any good! Paddling out there and then paddling forward to catch a wave plumb wore out my puny shoulders! I did manage to ride one wave on my knees for a few seconds, but then the front of the board caught under the water and I was kicked forward to let the wave have its way with me. But dude! I surfed! I wish I had pictures to share with you, but I don't.
Friday night, we were famished from surfing. Matt and Eric took me to Baja Betty's for Mexican food. It was in the Hillcrest district, which is apparently the gay district of San Diego. Hillcrest ain't got nothing on San Francisco's Castro district, though! While at Baja Betty's, we saw a group of 4 sequinned girls walk in. They soon started doing some serious Irish dancing. It was impressive! They were hitting like 32nd beats in there--all synchronized! And their tightly curled hair was really bouncy.
Eric was tired and went home after that, but Matt and I stayed up and watched Jackass: Number 2 at his place. Saturday morning, I woke up, we went to the airport, and I came home. (Well, the trip home wasn't nearly that simple, but that deserves its own blog post...)
Downtown San Diego is pretty cool. There are bars and restaurants everywhere, stretching for many blocks in all directions. We had a really great time hanging out one last time before everybody went their separate ways. I realized I'd actually miss those guys, even though I had only met them a couple days earlier. Crazy. I think Matt had a great time meeting and hanging out with them, too.
Thursday, Matt worked, but he was kind enough to lend me the keys to his Jeep Wrangler. I drove it up to La Jolla (~20 minutes up I-5), because Alessio told me I had left a binder in my room. On the way back, I stopped at Crown Books and found some dirt-cheap ($5!) hardcover books. I bought 2 copies each of "Ilium" and "Olympos" by Dan Simmons--one for me, and one to thank Matt for letting me crash at his place. I still can't believe I found them that cheap!
Thursday night, Matt took me to Lefty's, a hole-in-the-wall Chicago-style pizzeria. It was delicious, just like he said it would be. After being stuffed by just 2 slices, we walked down the street to the Bluefoot Bar. They had the NCAA basketball tournament on, and I got to catch a few minutes of UNC's first-round win vs. Eastern Kentucky. Go Tarheels!
Friday, Matt and his good buddy Eric were off work. They work 9 hour days so that they can take alternate Fridays off. We had some tasty breakfast at Maria's Diner. That place was straight out of the 50's.
Friday afternoon was the highlight of my trip. I got to go surfing! We rented a board and wetsuit for only $10 from the naval base (where Matt and Eric work), and then drove up to Del Mar. The waves weren't too big, but they were mostly big enough that I could have ridden them--if I was any good! Paddling out there and then paddling forward to catch a wave plumb wore out my puny shoulders! I did manage to ride one wave on my knees for a few seconds, but then the front of the board caught under the water and I was kicked forward to let the wave have its way with me. But dude! I surfed! I wish I had pictures to share with you, but I don't.
Friday night, we were famished from surfing. Matt and Eric took me to Baja Betty's for Mexican food. It was in the Hillcrest district, which is apparently the gay district of San Diego. Hillcrest ain't got nothing on San Francisco's Castro district, though! While at Baja Betty's, we saw a group of 4 sequinned girls walk in. They soon started doing some serious Irish dancing. It was impressive! They were hitting like 32nd beats in there--all synchronized! And their tightly curled hair was really bouncy.
Eric was tired and went home after that, but Matt and I stayed up and watched Jackass: Number 2 at his place. Saturday morning, I woke up, we went to the airport, and I came home. (Well, the trip home wasn't nearly that simple, but that deserves its own blog post...)