San Diego

I arrived in San Diego to another beautiful,sunny day. I am not complaining, I am really getting to like the SoCal weather, I think it might suit me. I caught the tram to the Gaslight area and checked into my hostel. I was going to meet Satoko and her husband for dinner, but until then I was free. So I caught the tram to the border. The border area is crazy, it is so strange that you can take a tram to the border and then just saunter across. Obviously going into Mexico is a lot easier than returning to the U.S. Jessie told me a funny story about her sister and a trip to Mexico. The border guard said that there were only two things that they shouldn't do on their return to the U.S.. First was not to come back across running, second, wear shoes. Apparently that's how they tell if you are an illegal immigrant, you run and have no shoes. Anyway needless to say that Jessie's sister violated both these rules and was inches away from being denied reentry back into the U.S.. You can't make this stuff up!
Satoko picked me up from the hostel and we went to a Japanese restaurant for dinner. The food was good, but it was even better to see Satoko and finally meet her husband of three years. We worked out that we had last seen each other four years ago when Satoko had come home for a visit. Michael and Satoko were in the middle of moving but said I could stay at their place before they finally left it. I said that I would show it there, Satoko was worried about how I would get there. There is a real gap between people who have cars and people who don't about how they view public transport. And I was one of those people when I had a car. When you have a car you cannot envisage another way of getting around, a car is so easy, you don't have to think about it. When you don't have a car you have to consider and use public transport. And it can often be a lot better than you expect. That's been my experience so far, but then I have only been trying to get around and between major cities. We'll see how it goes when I am in the middle of America.
After dinner with Satoko & Michael, I went to a local bar, where my U.K. drivers licence wasn't good enough i.d., I had to use my passport. Luckily I was forewarned about this. The bar had to guys playing requests on the piano,they also got people up on stage. It was cool and a few beers went down very smoothly.
Andy picked me up from the hostel the next morning, he was using a friends car. Although I have no issues with public transport, having a car really widens your horizons, it increases your options. We headed to Mission beach, one of Andy's favourite places, for brunch. Brunch was at the Wavehouse, a cool bar side bar, according to Andy it is one of only five places in the world that has a flowbarrel. This machine makes a continuous barrel wave that you can surf on. I've seen another of these things in Dubai.We started the day right with Mai Tais and a large breakfast. I'm on holiday, I can drink alcohol before noon.We drove up to La Jolla (pronounced La Hoya) and wandered around. I got to see some seals and loads of ground squirrels, I have to say that I prefer the squirrels to the seals, they are way cuter.Although they are used to being fed by people so they come right up to you. Not good.And if two beaches in one day was not enough, we went to Ocean beach to watch the sunset, unfortunately all we got was a bit of a red tinge on the clouds. Ah well, you can't have everything, but we did have some great Thai food for dinner. Andy kindly dropped me off at Satoko's and my bed for the night.
Friday and it was off to the park, Balboa park, home to San Diego zoo. Satoko dropped me off and it was time to explore. The park was built for a couple of expositions in the first half of the 19th century. The buildings are all Spanish in style, including a church. I went to the Museum of Man, but didn't go to see the Bodyworks exhibition at the Natural History Museum. I can't handle bodies in that condition. Michael said that the exhibition is excellent and the bodies just look like beef jerky. Tough if you like beef jerky.I relaxed and read in the park and then walked over to the Rose Garden. There I had my first serious accident of the trip.As I was leaning over to smell a rose, I fell and scratched my arm and chest on the thorns. I stupid did I feel. What a ridiculous thing to do.
To console myself I had Carne Asada fries for dinner. This is a SoCal/Mexican hybrid, fries covered in minced beef, Guacamole and sour cream. Heaven knows how many calories, but they taste so good. You can also get the topping in a burrito, I'll have to try that!After dinner the three of us went to a local bar and drank beer. The perfect Friday night.