Hola!  Bienvendios a San Diego.  After the Christmas and birthday festivities, Lea and I took a few days to reacquaint ourselves with one another down in SoCal.  It was Lea’s first time, and I hadn’t been since I was a kid, so there was a lot to see.  Our trip was from Tuesday, 12/29/09 to Friday 1/1/10, and was heavily focused on the coast, with a lot of breaks for Mexican food.

 

When we first got in, we checked into our hotel and out of our cold winter clothes that we had put on when we woke up in Iowa.  We went straight to Coronado Island and made it just in time for the sunset.  That night we took a friend’s recommendation, a La Jolla native, and tried Su Casa’s Mexican specialties.  The margarita happy hour was asi asi, but the refried beans were the most amazing I’ve ever tasted.  Even Lea ate them, and that girl does not do beans.

 

Thanks to the time change between Iowa and California, we were bright-eyed and bushy-tailed come Wednesday morning.  We drove up the coast to Torrey Pines State Natural Reserve – the last place that these trees still grow.  It was super easy to get to, and beautiful, as you can see.

 

Check out my new binoc’s!  Those were a Christmas present from the in-laws.  They always do good work.

 

 

 

 

 

The weather was starting to turn, and the skies were putting on a very cool show.

 

 

 

 

 

 

After our morning hike, we had a hankering for more Mexican, and got a super satisfying tip from another friend (wife of the first tipster mentioned above).  El Pescador had the most beautiful display of fresh seafood I’ve ever seen.  This picture is just a glimpse.  While they’re known for the cioppino, we had our favorite…fish tacos!

 

 

Oooo, yummy!  The avocado was optional, but I highly recommend.  Whopping huge chunks…so satisfying.

 

 

By the time we were done with lunch, I had some uncontrollable urge to take a dip in the ocean.  The black dot in the middle of the picture below is me drowning.  Not really, but the water was so cold (I didn’t have a wetsuit), that it sucked the air from my lungs.  I begged Lea to let me come back ashore, but she wouldn’t let me until I body surfed at least one wave.  (Something about a lesson for not shutting up about wanting to surf, or something…).

 

 

That night we got gussied up and hit the Gaslamp Quarter.  Apparently this area was only recently developed, but you wouldn’t know it.  It’s packed with restaurants and has some shopping.  My friend, Andrew, invited us (OK, we invited ourselves) to have a drink at Syrah.  I don’t mean to spoil the fun for anyone who hasn’t been, but the front door is not only unmarked, it’s disguised.  And there’s a hidden camera linked to a big screen TV above the bar that films people like us who can’t figure out how to get in.  I’m sure it’s much funnier when the joke isn’t on you. 🙂

 

 

For dinner we opted for small plates at Confidential.  It was good, not great.

 

 

Our favorite dish with the Deconstructed Pizza.  It’s served with warm goat cheese, diced tomatoes, roasted garlic and basil, which you layer onto pita bread however you like. Voila!  Personalized gourmet pizza!

 

 

That’s pretty much it for Wednesday.  We’ll continue this story tomorrow.

 

Cheers!