Tuesday, August 14, 2007

San Diego - 2007 edition

Revisited. Two weeks ago.

The yumm moment
Cafe 222 is alive and well. I re-realized all over again why I love that place so much. The coffee was very nice. The 30 minute wait did not seem unreasonable at all. The pecan waffle was wow. As were the eggs benedict and the french toast (yes, two of us ordered three main dishes. The waiter automatically closed his note-pad after writing down the first two orders. It was rather embarrassing to tell him we were not done ordering yet). BTW, Cafe 222's french toasts taste good as a cold leftover too :-)!

The patriotic moment
Balboa park has a bunch of international "houses" - each representing a country from the Pacific Relations alliance. Try as we might, we could not locate the "House of India". However, C spotted her country's house and had a patel picture taken there. As a consolation, I got a picture taken in front of a rose-bush with huge roses instead. Don't ask me how roses are related to India - when it comes to posing for pictures, something is better than nothing, no :-D?

The ah-ha moment
Happened when I walked into the sea at Mission Beach. When the first wave lapped at my feet, I felt like I had attained nirvana. I could feel myself grinning from ear to ear, euphoric and ready to burst with joy. Five minutes later, I still couldn't stop grinning.

In my head, I was jumping around like these kids:


In reality though, I managed to maintain a more dignified stance. But for the broad smile which remained etched on my face :-)!

The nostalgic moment
La Jolla - Same place, same beauty, same take-my-breath-away vistas.



This time around, the weather was awesome - quite unlike the clouds and rains of last year. Still, as I stood on the jetty, I terribly missed both S and A - my companions of last year's San Diego travel edition. We three make an unbeatable traveling trio. Their presence would have made San Diego even more awesome.



The self-appreciation moment
By the time we left San Diego, I had a pretty decent idea about where each place we went to was located w.r.t. the hotel/airport and the general direction to take to get there. I read maps with the confidence of a pro and I re-routed with the expertise of a Magellan. Go explorer :-D!

The funny moment
"The red bus goes to the various terminals". C and me read that sign and stood at the bus shelter in the San Diego airport, waiting for the arrival of the red bus. A red and blue colored bus appeared. But it was not going to the terminals. Ours was supposed to be a red bus. Then a completely white-colored bus appeared. "White? Naaah - our bus is supposed to be red in color". We both were about to turn away when we noticed the bold lettering on top of the bus: "RED BUS". We both collapsed into laughter as we boarded the bus. The next time my favorite white top is in the wash, I am going to wear another top and put a post-it note on it stating "Favorite white top." You reckon it would work :-P?

Yes folks, San Diego continues to rock. As always :-).

****
Happy 60th Independence Day :-)))!

6 comments:

rads said...

happy id-d day too archana.

In my head, I was jumping around like these kids:
In reality though, I managed to maintain a more dignified stance.


See, beach, water, happiness - there's no place for dignity. Unless of course you're on a 1st date with a guy who makes ur heart go faster or worse with your in-laws who are sizing u up :D

SK said...

Hey, wishes to you too. :--)
Nice pictures. ;--)
Food always first, for us isnt it. ;--)

Anonymous said...

I saw the "Mission Beach" photo in your profile earlier this week and I was wondering about the beautiful location. Now I know where it was taken.

Anonymous said...

Hey SD was awesome. I still have fond memories of how 3 of us decided to ditch site seeing and instead waited for over an hour to eat the waffles! :)

The discount at the end only made it sweeter.

Archana Bahuguna said...

You brought back my memories of San Diego a couple of years ago ... Its just amazing ...Happy Independence Day to you too!

Archana said...

Rads - hehehe, I know :-)! I guess I was just so happy to be in the water that I was okay with not adding even more value :-)1

SK - of course, food first. Always :-D!

K2k - SD has such beautiful spots!!

Anon - ah, of course :-D!

Archana - thank you :-))!