San Diego Report, the Destination (not the Journey)
Sep 29th, 2010, 06:14 PM
#1
Original Poster
Join Date: Aug 2010
Posts: 166
Likes: 0
Received 0 Likes
on
0 Posts
San Diego Report, the Destination (not the Journey)
Part 3, San Diego and Escondido
Biggest plus was spending time with our dear friend Mary (Jake’s Godmother and a friend since 1977) .
9/8
Jeff and I rented the car (convertible!! It is California) and drove into Old Town while Mary was at work. We’d each been there alone on respective trips, but never together. It was great fun. We spent an inordinate amount of time picking out Guatemalan table runners and even longer finding painted tile house numbers. Then drove to Escondido to move in with Mary
9/9 Queen Califa’s Garden . Kit Carson Park (Escondido). One of Jeff’s colleagues, upon learning that I am taking a mosaic tile class, suggested that we go to Queen Califa’s Garden there to see AMAZING mosaic statues. We all loved it. Spent a couple of hours there. It was fantastic and we all loved it.
After we all ate the delicious dinner we made--seared swordfish with horseradish butter (just google the recipe and make it. It was wonderful.) we took Jeff to La Jolla to the chi chi hotel for his conference.
Then back to Mary’s for some time in the hot tub counting stars before bed.
I could get used to this.
9/10 Wild Animal Park in Escondido. How convenient that Mary lives close to these wonderful attractions. We spent a few hours here and it was exhausting, but worth it. Then back to La Jolla to see my cousin Madeline, her husband and their adorable babies -- and get the rental car key that Jeff took with him by accident. A mediocre dinner in downtown La Jolla followed by the relaxing hot tub at home.
9/11 Balboa Park What a beautiful place! One of Jeff’s colleagues recommended the Desert Garden there which we loved. It looked like the inspiration for Dr. Seuss. I could almost see the head of Mazie the Lazy Bird in a tree and could see the palm where Horton hatched the egg.
We also spent some time (not enough) in the Spanish Village (?) there. The beautiful studios housing the Southwest Artist Guild. Wish we had more time there. Kind of like the Torpedo Factory, but unlike the TF, all of the studios were open and the buildings were cheery and beautiful (especially if you are a sucker for Spanish Colonial architecture like I am).
After a brief visit with friends' charming, adorable and smart grandchild ( I hope the family is saving for Harvard), we went back to Escondido where I packed up and attempted to drive the rental car back to La Jolla. By myself. With no GPS. Just directions. Take two lefts then get on “the” 15--take that to “the”5 to whatever. In California all of the highways have modifiers.
I only got moderately lost.
Joined Jeff and his colleagues for dinner at Wolfgang Puck’s Jai. A bit overrated food wise, but the service was flawless. And afterward we had drinks with his colleagues back at the Estancia
9/12 After breakfast at the hotel we headed for LA. But that will be another report.
Biggest plus was spending time with our dear friend Mary (Jake’s Godmother and a friend since 1977) .
9/8
Jeff and I rented the car (convertible!! It is California) and drove into Old Town while Mary was at work. We’d each been there alone on respective trips, but never together. It was great fun. We spent an inordinate amount of time picking out Guatemalan table runners and even longer finding painted tile house numbers. Then drove to Escondido to move in with Mary
9/9 Queen Califa’s Garden . Kit Carson Park (Escondido). One of Jeff’s colleagues, upon learning that I am taking a mosaic tile class, suggested that we go to Queen Califa’s Garden there to see AMAZING mosaic statues. We all loved it. Spent a couple of hours there. It was fantastic and we all loved it.
After we all ate the delicious dinner we made--seared swordfish with horseradish butter (just google the recipe and make it. It was wonderful.) we took Jeff to La Jolla to the chi chi hotel for his conference.
Then back to Mary’s for some time in the hot tub counting stars before bed.
I could get used to this.
9/10 Wild Animal Park in Escondido. How convenient that Mary lives close to these wonderful attractions. We spent a few hours here and it was exhausting, but worth it. Then back to La Jolla to see my cousin Madeline, her husband and their adorable babies -- and get the rental car key that Jeff took with him by accident. A mediocre dinner in downtown La Jolla followed by the relaxing hot tub at home.
9/11 Balboa Park What a beautiful place! One of Jeff’s colleagues recommended the Desert Garden there which we loved. It looked like the inspiration for Dr. Seuss. I could almost see the head of Mazie the Lazy Bird in a tree and could see the palm where Horton hatched the egg.
We also spent some time (not enough) in the Spanish Village (?) there. The beautiful studios housing the Southwest Artist Guild. Wish we had more time there. Kind of like the Torpedo Factory, but unlike the TF, all of the studios were open and the buildings were cheery and beautiful (especially if you are a sucker for Spanish Colonial architecture like I am).
After a brief visit with friends' charming, adorable and smart grandchild ( I hope the family is saving for Harvard), we went back to Escondido where I packed up and attempted to drive the rental car back to La Jolla. By myself. With no GPS. Just directions. Take two lefts then get on “the” 15--take that to “the”5 to whatever. In California all of the highways have modifiers.
I only got moderately lost.
Joined Jeff and his colleagues for dinner at Wolfgang Puck’s Jai. A bit overrated food wise, but the service was flawless. And afterward we had drinks with his colleagues back at the Estancia
9/12 After breakfast at the hotel we headed for LA. But that will be another report.
Sep 29th, 2010, 07:15 PM
#3
Original Poster
Join Date: Aug 2010
Posts: 166
Likes: 0
Received 0 Likes
on
0 Posts
It was absolutely great! Even the weather was perfect (we left before Santa Ana). I'll post more soon about the trip up the coast to Carmel (when it was the destination AND the journey). And then I'll check out all of the canada threads to plan the Rocky Mountain train trip next summer!
Sep 30th, 2010, 08:50 AM
#4
Glad you enjoyed San Diego. One very minor correction, it's Queen Califia's Magic Circle and it's found in Kit Carson Park.
http://www.ci.escondido.ca.us/events/califia/index.html
http://www.ci.escondido.ca.us/events/califia/index.html
Sep 30th, 2010, 01:40 PM
#5
Join Date: Sep 2009
Posts: 584
Likes: 0
Received 0 Likes
on
0 Posts
>>
Only in southern California!
__________________________________________________ ___________
LOL
Is it THAT noticeable? I'll have to do a test highway question in SF. I've never really noticed this before.
Looking forward to reading more fun times con_brio!
Only in southern California!
__________________________________________________ ___________
LOL
Is it THAT noticeable? I'll have to do a test highway question in SF. I've never really noticed this before.
Looking forward to reading more fun times con_brio!
Oct 1st, 2010, 05:59 AM
#6
Original Poster
Join Date: Aug 2010
Posts: 166
Likes: 0
Received 0 Likes
on
0 Posts
Sf3707 just posted that it was only in southern Ca, but I seem to remember hearing about a jam on " the" 101 when we were in Half Moon Bay. Here we only use a modifier for " the" Beltway ( as opposed to the adjectives that could never be repeated on a traffic report...)
Oct 1st, 2010, 02:52 PM
#8
Original Poster
Join Date: Aug 2010
Posts: 166
Likes: 0
Received 0 Likes
on
0 Posts
We were indeed listening to Satellite Radio-- but it may have been us since we got such a kick out of it in SoCal that we started modifying all of the roads. ( but they really do say it in San Diego!)
