Sunny San Diego Weekend!

SMS and I are in San Diego!  Yay!  As much as I try to pretend that there's no difference in the weather, it's definitely warmer here.  All Winters are not alike!

We came down Thursday night and were picked up by his parents.  It was pouring rain!  Apparently, it had been raining for almost four days straight.  There was some flooding earlier in the week, made worse by people thinking their cars were amphibious.  This was incorrect.

If you have a Amphicar, though, it's ok!

Friday was our errand/"work" day since we were in town for SMS to photograph our friends' wedding.  SMS went to the camera store to pick up his expensive Nikon rental.  Then we went to Miramar so I could pick up a medal for my dress uniform.   For some reason, I was unable to mount my medals well, sliced open my thumb on the bracket and bled on three of the medals.  That's about $25 down the drain, whah.  At least I didn't get it on the uniform.  After my year's quota of F-bombs, it turns out I wasn't even needed since one of the Marines backed out last minute (as happy as I was to get out of it, who does that the day of the wedding?!?!) and a Navy person had to volunteer to drop out.  I beat another guy to the punch and I got to change out of my uniform.  Yay!!!

The wedding was really nice and SMS got some great pictures.  I was his trusty assistant and it was a lot of fun!  I got to mingle a little bit but since we didn't know anyone at the wedding apart from whom we met that night, it was fun to have something else to do, too.

Saturday was our Fun in San Diego Day!  We got up and had a delicious breakfast of avocado sourdough toast and poached egg, made by Rip.  Yum!!!  Then we were off on adventures.

First, we went to Cafe Calabria.  It's my favorite coffee shop in San Diego and I was so glad to go again.  We each tried something new.  I tried a Bicerin, espresso+ steamed milk+ Nutella and SMS got a Caffe Vienesse, espresso, steamed milk, honey and cinnamon.  Both drinks were great and I also got a small coffee to-go.  Also, there is now a seating area in their roasting room so it was pretty cool to see the equipment up close.  Then we walked down the street to Pigment and looked at all of the super cute, on trend housing goods, cards and other awesome stuff-I-didn't-know-I-needed-until-I-see-it!

Farmer's Market

After North Park, we drove through South Park on our way to the Little Italy's Farmer's Market.  It wasn't the most direct way, but I wanted to see more of the two neighborhoods.  We were pretty lucky with Little Italy parking.  We walked through the entire Farmer's Market.  It was a beautiful day and a lot of fun.  We ran into a friend of mine from Yokosuka, which was pretty awesome.  He's currently at NMCSD so it's not as random as it sounds.

Beautiful view of Coronado from Cabrillo National Monument

Our lunch was from the Farmer's Market- two samosas, one butter chicken and one saag paneer.  Then we went to Point Loma and toured an Open House.  Someday...

So happy!

One of my favorite places in San Diego

After our Open House dreamfest, we headed to Cabrillo National Monument.  There was a slight backup getting in but parking was pretty easy.  We enjoyed the view and then headed down the road to the tidepools.  We walked down since the parking lots were full.  It was a lot of fun to take in the view by walking, even though it's slightly hazardous without a shoulder or sidewalk.

Although SMS is a great photographer, he is meditating on how his wife is able to take such amazing shots.  Is the
shoe there on purpose or by accident?  Is the rock the same size as his head?  How many drops of
water are in the ocean?  Imponderables...

The tidepools were beautiful and we walked around, looking in the pools and trying not to fall in.  We headed back up the hill and headed downtown to Zymology 21, a bar that specializes in shrub and bitters drinks.  The coolest thing is the Shrub Sampler, which is 5 test tubes of shrubs to mix into one spirit of choice.  Since the spirit is about 5 shots worth, we passed but we did enjoy the "Fire and Ice" show that accompanies the presentation when other tables ordered it.  The server lights 151 liquor on fire, swirls it, waits about 30 seconds and then pours it into the beaker holding the test tubes.  The beaker contains dry ice which causes a cloud waterfall-like effect while the fire goes down the poured out liquor stream.  It was pretty cool!

After Zymology, we headed to my favorite restaurant, Banker's Hill Bar and Restaurant!  Although there are so many amazing places in San Diego and new ones I should explore, I like going back to old haunts.  We had the potato chips, salad (a little yin/yang action there), charred brussel sprouts and roasted parrotfish in a cioppino-type sauce with calamari, tomato and sausage.  The chef was a little heavy with the salt but we will still go back!

Finally, it was time to go home.  It was a great San Diego day!