Monthly Archives: November 2012

Started the day with a refreshing surf sesh, can’t think of a better way to start the day! The water sure is a lot colder than in Florida, so we warmed up in the hot tub, then had some lunch in the condo. Something about surfing that really works up an appetite! Afterwards, we headed to Balboa Park to check out the San Diego vegetarian festival and walked around balboa park for a while. Then we found an outdoors store so that Chris could purchase a pair of hiking shoes for New Zealand and were helped by Rick and his dog, a very friendly and interesting employee. We were recommended by a friend to check out a little mining town in the mountains called Julian, which is known for growing apples and famous for having the best apple pie. The town was quaint and the apple pie didn’t disappoint! Since we had a couple more hours of daylight left, we decided to continue on another 45 minutes to the desert, which was the first time I have ever seen one. Amazing how quiet it was, and we even saw a few coyotes! Headed back to pacific beach with a stop in Old Town for some local Mexican food. Talk about seeing it all!

Woke up early on friday morning as we are still getting into this west coast timezone change.  Decided to meander around the pacific beach neighborhood since we got in so late on Thursday.  It seems to be a nice neighborhood with a large accumulation of bars and tattoo parlors on one street.  Nice and quiet walking around at 9am.  Grabbed a tasty breakfast sandwich near crystal pier (hold the bacon, extra avocado).  Located a nice grocery store and stocked up on some items to make meals back at the condo instead of eating out a lot.

Got back to the condo and served up some snacks and a glass of wine for lunch.  A couple beach cruisers came with the condo, so we took off on them towards la jolla cove.  Its a very nice area of san diego between PB and LJ, quiet neighborhoods overlooking a few beaches and cliffs.  Parked the bikes when we got to the cove and explored further by foot.  Chatted with a lifeguard down near the childrens pool, which is a beach area where snorkelers and divers can get into the ocean.  The area around the cove is a marine sanctuary so no boats, fishing or spearing are allowed.  He mentioned a few places to check out during our stay in the area.  Walked up to the top of the hill to grab a frosty beverage at an overlook restaurant before our ride back to PB.  Quite a ritzy neighborhood.  Lots of birds and seals hanging out on the rocky shoreline, but the bird dookie leads to some gagging smells up above with an onshore breeze.

Leisurely ride back to pacific beach, just in time to make it over to rent a couple surfboards for a few days.  Lots of surfers in the water, so we joined em for about an hour trying to pick off some leftovers from the locals.  Hard to beat sunset surfing on the west coast.  Caught a few nice lefts to get back into the surf rhythm.

Chatted with some new England folks back in the hot tub before showering up.  Met up with a friend at a nearby bar, enjoyed some tasty brews and food, then called it a night around 11 since we’re planning to get up for an AM surf sesh.

Note: Californians appear to have acronyms for just about everything and say “the” in front of all numerical roads.  “Take the 405 to the 5, get off on garnett avv and urr in PB”

Beautiful view this morning just outside our condo in pacific beach.
  Exploring the area today and looking forward to some possible surfing.

Was riding my bike on a florida beach on a beautiful sunny afternoon and now we’re enjoying a rare meat meal on the west coast.

last time we ate here was our honeymoon in 2006

Had a smooth, direct flight on virgin america; great airline if u ever fly out to the west coast or nyc.