San Diego

We had been thinking about going to San Diego for a while now and then Southwest had a sale and we were able to score $35 tickets so that sealed it. It was just a short trip, fly in on a Saturday and leave the Monday night.

When we arrived we didn't really have much of a plan so headed up to Encinitas and went to the beach there and then wandered around the town. During a stop for coffee my husband was told "cool look bro" as he exited the bathroom. We aren't sure why. For dinner we went to Pokez Mexican food. They had some good veg and vegan options. I had some great mushroom and tofu enchiladas but my husband strangely went for the chimichanga and wasn't really into it.

We checked into out hotel and noticed there was some swank hotel and bar across the street called the Pearl so we headed over there and had a drink.

The next day we took it easy in the morning then went to Ocean Beach for food. My husband had the acai bowl at an outdoor drive thru coffee place called Tiki Ports and I had some seitan and tempeh tacos from a liquor store for a $1 called Liticker's. They were damn good and we need to go back there.



We walked out to the beach and around the town.



After some lukewarm coffee and hot chocolate we then went to the Maritime Museum but didn't realize it was the parade of christmas lights on boats so parking was a challenge and the area was way more crowded then it should of been.  We got to go on 3 different boats and saw the Captain Cook/Gauguin/ Melville exhibit which was full of great stuff.

By now it was time for our dinner reservation at the Bali Hai. It has bee there since the 1950's. We got a good table with a view of the water. Loved all the tiki carvings and neat lamps around the place. We each got drinks in the Mr. Bali Hai and Goof mug which we brought home with us. The food was good and I would love to go back. Here is a great blog post about 2 artists who worked on the restoration of Mr. Bali Hai.





Near the Bali Hai is another tiki hot spot called Trader Mort's which is a liquor store with tikis in and in front of it.



The next day we woke up to pouring rain and loud upstairs neighbors (just like home) so we weren't off to a good start. Then lunch at a vegan fast food place was "difficult" due to various reasons I care not to recall. Then we went in search of an umbrella and once we paid our $10 for it, it stopped raining. We got some free parking in Balboa Park and tried to restart our day. Went to the Museum of Man which is a neat old building. Saw lots of skulls and mummies and old things. We then wandered around the park a bit and saw the cactus garden and the botanical garden for about 1 min before they closed.







Our flight was soonish and we wanted dinner sort of close so went to a swank Mexican place where my husband had a well needed drink and I had some great tortilla soup.

Made it back home without fuss. I would go back to San Diego but maybe when the weather is better so we could get more beach time in more.

View the photos here.