San Diego Days, Part 1

Monday, May 2, 2022

Woke-up feeling pretty good. My sore throat was still here, but it’s waning, and the coughing fits are getting fewer and far between. After getting set-up to work, I had a production meeting to go over a new project I have to work on this week, then I talked to a friend in San Diego for a bit about getting together while I’m in the city, before getting into work.

Once I was done working, my aunt and I drove up to Liberty Station and took a long walk before picking-up dinner in the market area. The empanadas and tacos I chose were some of the blandest food I’d ever eaten and had me doubting the negative result of my covid test from two days earlier. We picked-up some food and beer on the way home and spent the rest of the evening hanging-out on her patio talking.

Tuesday, May 3, 2022

Today was a bit of a lazy day when it comes to doing things. Put in quite a few hours of work, though, in-order to make sure the project that’s due on Monday can get done by Thursday, so I’m not trying to finish things up on Saturday and/or Sunday when I AM doing things. Afterwards, go for a walk with my aunt, so she can show me the neighborhood. Then, we both did the Top Chef viewing with my mom and watched a bit more TV before bed.

Wednesday, May 4, 2022

Got a good morning of work in before heading to La Jolla to visit friends. My friendship with Shon goes all the way back to my sophomore year in high school. He lived in Virginia for years and I loved driving to his place for over a decade to hang-out and hike around Shenandoah National Park and the Blue Ridge Parkway. He and his family moved to La Jolla about three years ago, and this was my first time visiting him here.

Upon arriving, he took me for a walk along the beach and then we went out for tacos at The Taco Stand. When we got back, his wife (Tara) and son (Harry) had returned, and we spent a couple of hours catching-up and talking, before driving to a Japanese restaurant they like for dinner. After driving home through a dark San Diego, which is equally as beautiful, I spent a while hanging out with my aunt before bed.

Thursday, May 5, 2022

Woke-up in a bit of a bad mood this morning. Not sure of the cause. Perhaps a combination of being out of my element for two weeks and just wanting to be by myself, but there isn’t much of a chance of alleviating either of those, so I have to suck it up. On a good note, I essentially complete the project that’s due on Monday, so I have a full day tomorrow to make modifications and a little time over the weekend for final tweaks and what not.

After I finish working, my aunt and I go bowling. The last time I bowled was about eight years ago when I was in a league with a friend. During my time in that league, I’m sure I managed to break 100 a few times and remember hitting 135 once. Today, I managed to break 120 twice in three games. Not bad.

On the way back from bowling, we had lunch at Alforon, which is an amazing Lebanese restaurant that she took me to when I arrived in San Diego in 2019, the first time I drove across the country and back. That day marked the end of Ramadan, and, arriving at sundown, we found the place packed to the gills and absolutely bananas. The server, who I think was one of the owners, entertained us the entire time, apologizing for the long wait to get our food, but I didn’t really mind. Since then, I’ve wanted to go back and it didn’t disappoint. Lebanese cuisine is my favorite Alforon does it better than any other place I’ve ever visited.

Friday, May 6, 2022

Woke-up in another bit of a bad mood today. Not sure what’s up with that. Maybe it’s the introvert wanting alone time or something. Anyway, after finishing-up some work, my aunt and I head up to Cabrillo National Monument, which we visited together the last time I was here, but I wanted to get my passport(s) stamped and take a few pictures with the Bronica. Speaking of which, when I broke it out, a few guys started asking me questions about it, and I wasn’t sure if they understood the concept of film vs digital photography. The Bronica tends to draw interest from people.

On the way back from Cabrillo, I took us to a place for a hike/walk near the ocean, but the area the GPS took us to was actually on a college campus and it wasn’t all that clear as to where the trails were. It was also excessively hilly and I didn’t want to get my aunt into a situation that she couldn’t get out of easily, so we just headed back to her place, where I booked a campground in Joshua Tree National Park for next Thursday before I headed to my friend’s place in La Jolla.

Shon and Tara were both hanging-out when I arrived. We walked over to a bar near their place to have a drink and a little something to eat. After returning, Shon drove me out to Black’s Beach to take a walk, but I wasn’t digging the beach and we cut it short. For dinner, we headed back to Kearny Mesa to eat at a Korean BBQ that they liked, and after that topped it off with my first experience with bubble tea.

Saturday, May 7, 2022

Today, I really just wanted to take it easy and not really get into anything or eat anything extravagant. My aunt and I are headed-up to Yosemite tomorrow, which involves a six hour drive, so I kind of wanted to put myself back into road trip mode, gastronomically speaking. For a change, I had no work to do, so I spent the morning getting my itinerary up-to-date and planning the return portion of my trip. From the looks of it, I’m only going to cut the trip short by two days, arriving home on the 27th instead of the 29th. My intention was to camp in Capitol Reef or Canyonlands National Parks, but I’m heading through Utah on a Friday. in late May, so everything is booked. Instead, I’ll just have to settle on a motel in that area and explore what I can along the way.

Around noon, I headed back to La Jolla so Shon and I could go visit his friend Mike in Carlsbad. Mike is one of my favorite friends of Shon’s, having spent a couple of weekends in cabins with him in the past. We spent a few hours just hanging-out at his place with his two dogs and got something to eat. It was a good time.

After that, I headed back to my aunt’s to get serious about packing for the next two days. Ironically, I found it tougher to pack for two days, rather than just throwing everything into the car. My primary concern was just making sure I had my passport(s), a few roaming stones to hide along the way and that all of my batteries were recharged. Then I got to wrapping-up this blog post and calling it a handful of days.