The beginning of San Diego

There's all these wonderful bike rides that I've been wanting to do in San Diego and Jason & I completed one of them at the end of March.  It was only twenty-something miles, but has some stunning views of the city.  We started by going through Hillcrest and Bankers Hill to Harbor Dr.  Even though I'm usually anti-riding-on-sidewalks, we quickly learned that since Harbor Dr is mainly used to get to the airport, it was either sidewalk peddling or death trap in the road.  But much of that path ends up turning into a pretty urban park along San Diego Bay, so the ride was quite nice.  Up into Pt Loma we went and after a naturesque climb up Canon, we were greeted w/ this view.

We rode on Catalina Blvd until we reach Cabrillo National Monument, the place where the first Europeans landed on the West Coast.  Whatever your feelings regarding that, the views are simply the best in the city.  Below in a pano-montage.  

I'm so glad we biked; it was the weekend and we passed a long line of cars (maybe 30?) to get in.  We walked over to the brick perch area and munched on our peanut butter and jellys.

They also have a couple light houses there.  The old one behind me which can be toured.  And there's a new one down a path about a hundred or so feet below.  Apparently the old one wasn't very easily seen through the fog because it was so high up.  

One of my favorite things about the old light houses are the antique fresnel lenses.

We just thought this sign was funny.  The mens room was about a 100 feet away, so it took us a moment to realize what MEN were supposed to be doing. 

We headed back through Sunset Cliffs, which are just lovely.



A nice reward of margaritas & quesadillas greeted us in Ocean Beach. Then we called it a day, threw our bikes on the front of a bus & went home.

Le Monde de la Mer

Be forewarned...I try not to make these posts bring back boring memories family slide shows, but I do geek out a bit w/ the animal photographs. Apologies ahead of time. I was bummed to find out that they had closed the SeaWorld in Ohio and there was now one in San Antonio. What decade did that happen in? What I like so much about SeaWorld is not just the chance to see animals I normally don't get to see, but they do a lot of education out reach and animal rescue and then release.

My cohorts for the day.

And of course there's no SeaWorld without Shamu...or maybe this is the great great great grand kid of Shamu? I don't recall which number they're on.

We were in the splash zone and this lady in front of us had a Walmart bag on her head. Innovative to say the least.

10 points for a perfect arch there!

I forgot how huge eels were. To give a sense of scale, my head is probably just a little bigger than theirs. I think they're neat, but still creepy in how they just stare.

The folks I was with were kind enough to get me a container of fish to feed to the spoiled seals. This dude was my best friend for all of 45 seconds. Watch out for the seagulls; they mean business in trying to steal those fishies away. Totally saw them pistol whip this kid and take his fish. Really.

I'm not sure what my obsession is w/ flamingos since I was a kid, but they've always fascinated me.

And our little swimming penguins.

The one behind the log looked all ready to say, "Good evening Ma'am, may I take your jacket and perhaps interest you in the buffet tonight. I suggest the Talapia."

Cute lil' seagull bottom!

I'm supposedly protected by a thick glass tube from the scary shark. This is a close as I ever plan to get.

The poor sea turtle is a tired as we were at this point. Don't forget, you can click on any pictures and a larger version will pop up.

March 15th, 2009

Is it proper to spend St. Patrick's day at an English Pub?  Well, we went to Shakespeare's anyway.  Crowded as any fermented swilling establishment was, but still good people watching.  When not a holiday, they also have a fun trivia night the last Sunday of every month.  But get there at least an hour and half early, because it completely fills up.  

http://www.shakespearepub.com/

Melissa and April.  April's been working out...

  

They have a decent shepherd's pie.  

And a great tardis outside too.  Or at least I'm  pretending it's a tardis and not a phone booth.  All I need is a trench coat and a big long scarf.  And if you know what I'm talking about, I'll get you a beer or tea! :)  (Looking it up doesn't count.)

2/3's of a league over the sea

I did finally get to do my tandem jump just a couple weeks later.  All nervousness left when we arrived and I saw a slew of jumpers gently gliding to the ground.  This place is really good; not only do they do training for civilians, but they also train the Navy.  Which was at first a bummer, because my scheduled jump got pushed back 3 hours while I had to wait for them to finish.  But then I got to do the last jump of the day, which is also the sunset jump.

http://www.skydivesandiego.com/

All suited up and stylin'.

   

That's little ol' me falling down.

Perfect landing? But of course!  No tumble weed impressions here.

And the video: http://tiny.cc/ewETv

Friday the 13th, aka. my birthday!

I was supposed to start off my day w/ a tandem sky dive, but the cloud cover decided against it. The hard thing about having a birthday in February is that the weather is always a wild card. But at least here it might only be 50's and rainy. In Michigan, there was alway the worry of blizzard starting up.

My next stop was a pretty neat workshop on how to make holograms at UCSD, put together by the student optic society. It's an exact process involving exposing film w/ three lasers. Video of it here:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pOxey3n3rs8&feature=player_embedded

After that was a very windy and chilly (though still lovely) walk on Torrey Pines Beach. Those cliffs behind me are fantastic, but you have beware not to get too close...they'll crumble down at a moments notice. (I'm actually not unhappy in this photograph, it was just so cold and gloomy.)

And what better way to wrap up a birthday than at the drag club...and LIPS is an ab fab one, too. Our table right at the front of the show room. The MC was so funny and could do a spot on Cher impersonation. We plan to go back for Bitchy Bingo some night.

And of course at the end of the night when you've had your dinner and are all bloated, so you can't possibly look better then any of the girls, they take all the special occasion folks (b-day, bachelorette party, etc.) onto the stage and crown you and tell fantastic jokes. This isn't a place for someone who's easily offended...no one is spared from the sharp wit of a drag queen. Oh, but it's so much fun and the mixed drinks are some of the best I've ever had.

Guy (on the left) was awesome enough to fly out to visit me.

And Jason was awesome enough to make one of the best cakes I ever had; a chocolate cake w/ gooey homemade whiskey truffles in the center and fresh whipped cream w/ an almond essence. He made them all individual cupcake size, which is good, because this is the kind of dessert that makes fork wars.

Pre-Birthday or Very Happy UnBirthday to Me

The weekend before my birthday, the lovely Moe's came on down and took me out to one of the best places for any kid to go on their birthday in San Diego: the Corvette Diner!  Used to be fashionably in Hillcrest, but was snubbed out by its sister restaurants in the Cohn group and now resides in touristy & historic Old Town: 

http://www.cohnrestaurants.com/restaurants/corvettediner/

When you arrive, you get a large handful of straws thrown at you (great for hair decorations as seen below) and when you leave you get a large handful of bazooka gum thrown at you.  Were the comics always so bad? Aw, nostalgia.

  

The place is covered in real nostalgia and tons of fantastic neon signs.

     

The other fab thing that stands out is the waitresses.  Some of the best old bee hive wigs can be found here, it's almost like being in a John Waters film.  And of course every so often they put on a floor show.

Most nights they try to have a live magician or someone making ballon animals.  Becca & Rolin got me a balloon animal hat.  The one on the left is a cute little mermaid that the little girl next to us was wearing.  I, of course got a Tigger.

  

Close up of Tigger!

Yes, we're bitches.

Becca and the Snark.  Becca is the only one that Snark will let rub his belly.

The fun continued the next morn when we went to Baja Betty's for brunch.  They do this awesome bottomless Sangria or Mimosa buffet.  If you want something more savory, they have a bloody mary bar.  It was also the birthday of one of the people sitting next to us.  He got a female & male appropriate gender balloons.  I'm glad no one said it was my birthday there.  http://www.bajabettyssd.com/

And even though the glasses are always full, they try to help you be a little responsible by having a breath-a-lizer by the bathroom.   Put in a dollar and out pops a straw.  Though I'm not sure how accurate it was because I had a lot of Sangria and was just barely under the legal limit.  We were walking anyhow.  Thanks for the fun weekend, Becca & Rolin!

Night Rider spotted in Ocean Beach

Kit's "Michael" is the dude in the leather jacket paying for his gas.