The five of us arrived in SD within minutes of Mike's landing, so were were all together before we'd even picked up our luggage. The first photo shows 2/3 of our little band in the rental-car shuttle at the airport. Cute, yeah?There we were, in San Diego as full-on tourists. So funny. Tom had rented a minivan--a Grand Caravan, actually, somewhat updated from the exact same model we'd driven around for 12 years when the kids were younger. I must say the double automatic side doors and back windows that open all the way are wonderful improvements in the intervening, uh, 22 years since we'd bought ours. Still with Dad at the wheel and the kids in back, we experienced just a bit of de ja vu, I must say.
Online, Rachel had found this big, vacation-y house rental with lots of windows on Mission Bay, smack in the middle between the Belmont Park and PB. Great location! We occupied the top two of three levels. But who wants to stay inside? It had been 10 degrees when Mike left Chicago earlier that day, so 62 with a little onshore breeze must have seemed rather balmy.
We took a long stroll up the boardwalk toward PB, watching the waves and dodging cyclists, on the hunt for some classic SD eats. We ended up at El Gringo near the pier, on Mission Blvd--a little more upscale Mexican than the taco stands we'd passed on the way, and with a pretty patio, fire ring and giant margaritas. Doesn't everyone look happy?
The time spent indoors was fun, too, though. Besides just hanging out, talking and laughing and eating ice cream and popcorn, there were Tom's crossword puzzles and the Skymall catalog I'd snagged from the plane.
Check out the funny article about the Skymall from last Monday's Divine Caroline, the online mag for which Emi works, at http://www.divinecaroline.com/22270/92145-wtf--fourteen-odd-products-buy#1 It highlights some of the products we found so amusing as we leafed through it over the weekend. Who buys this stuff?
Next day, we rented cruiser bikes to ride up into PB, down to South Mission (where we took this picture of ourselves) and all over Mission Bay. Did we do any of these things during the 31 years we actually lived a few miles away? The answer is too embarrassing. Along the way, Tom and I spied some friends from Rachel's high school volleyball days and caught up a little bit along the shore.
Hang in there for one more posting to cram in a few more pictures...
