Since my friend Amy had no luck fixing her camera yesterday, she decided to just buy a new one, so it was off to Horton Plaza. It's an outdoor mall that was relatively close to our hotel...and when I say outdoor mall, I don't mean a shopping center or a glorified strip mall...no, no. I mean a full on mall with escalators and everything, but not indoors.
Five levels. All of them full of anything you could want (at way higher prices than you'd find them in Illinois...but such is the way of vacation). I can hear you asking me already, "But what if it rains?"
It doesn't. They get 7 to 10 inches of rain A YEAR there. Yeah...paradise. Just like I said.
So, we were off to Ritz camera, where we also had no luck. Amy ended up buying some disposable cameras from a drugstore and we were on our way, but not before passing this thing on the way out:
Yes, my friends...it's a vending machine for Proactive Solution, the skincare drug regimen...and here I thought the iPod vending machines in Reno were odd...they've got nothing on this one...
We also tried Office Depot, but...why bore you with an hour and a half of sitting around an office store...blah. After that, though, we were off! Finally!
Earlier, we had bought tickets for a two hour harbor tour...and it was the best $20 I spent the whole trip. No exaggeration at all!
We went South first, seeing the skyline,
The Coronado Bay Bridge,
There's a 90 degree turn in there, folks. Or so they say. They had to build it that way to make the bridge long enough to get federal grant money to build it. Before, the only way to get there was by ferry, or by driving up the Silver Strand highway...but that's about 40 miles out of the way. Gorgeous!
They also took us by the Naval shipyards, where they build aircraft carriers and battleships from the ground up.
Your tax dollars hard at work...
Along the way, they were telling us all about everything that could be seen. Seriously. It was like, information overload...but it was all so interesting! f you're in the area, splurge and take the tour. It's so worth it.
On our way back in from the first leg of the tour, I got a great view of our hotel:
There we are...coral and teal, just like Pearl's diner uniform...Our room was on the back side of the leftmost tower. Still a great view.
We stopped to pick up more people, and then we were off again to the north half of the tour. I thought this half was way more exciting, but we were there on a day where they were having boat races in the harbor, so...
After they led us by the sea lions and pelicans...
...it was mostly boats...
...boats...
...boats...
...and one boat full of homos that totally waved at me when I took their photo...
If you're ever curious whether or not a boatfull of guys is a gay boatfull of guys...just wave. *flaps wrist in the wind*
They told us all about the military end of Coronado island, and they took us past the naval submarine yards, which they said they weren't allowed to tell us much about. That's so secretive and cool...but it didn't make for great photos...as you might have guessed from all my photos of boats.
And then it was back to the harbor for a great skyline view:
You can see our little hotel all the way on the left of that photo...just let of the boat.
When we got back, we were greeted by hordes of these:
Pedicabs, rickshaws...call them what you will...the drivers were still all foreign and hot. Seriously...the only reason we never rode one is that we never had cash on us. But...eye candy, for sure.
Since Amy was sunburnt on the tops of her feet and in some bad pain, complete with headaches, she went back to the hotel to take a nap. We had to go register Robb for the ESRI conference, the whole reason we were there! So...Erin, Robb, and I walked to the train station.
I thought this photo was SO California...
All the palm trees and a little custom painted pink smart car...
After a trolley ride and a short walk, we arrived!
The convention center is kind of beautiful and kind of hideous...a week from when this photo was taken, it would be mostly set up for San Diego ComicCon...something we missed by one day. Boo.
After all the registering and browsing the bookstore and whatnot, we decided to see the area a bit...
That's Erin next to a HUGE plant (aloe?) for scale...seriously...ginormous.
We ended up here:
PetCo Park. Home of the (then) last place Padres. It was a neat little park within the park, where apparently they charge $5 for seats during home games and play away games up on the giant television screen for free. Neat! We wantedt o come back and see a game, but we never ended up doing that...
Gosh...this post is starting to feel a little long...and the day was, too, at that point. We wanted Amy to meet us at Seaport Village for dinner, so we walked.
There was this:
Random bikini girl...
And this park filled with water that was kind of cool...
The dogs loved it, at least!
And at last we arrived!
Amy wanted to visit yet another camera shop, where she actually bought a nice new camera. While she did that, Robb and I watched this:
Sidekick to...
The Great Murrugun! And yes, he is actually swallowing a sword in that photo! Apparently there's a video on YouTube of him doing that behind an X-ray...ick.
No longer hungry, we strolled around looking for a place to eat. We had fish and chips, shark tacos, and some other stuff at Buster's Beachhouse Grill and Longboard Bar where the food was amazing and the waitstaff was hot. Our waiter was talking to us about sunburn, seeing how red we all were, and he just hikes up his shirt and shows us his tanline (lower than his belly...). It was kind of awkward, seeing as how he was standnig RIGHT next to me...but he was funny the whole night...good waiter.
And now I'm craving fish and chips smothered in malt vinegar again...or a hot waiter...I don't know anymore...
But the day was over. And I took one last picture before we hiked back to our hotel.
Out
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1 comment:
FYI: your aloe is actually a "Century Plant" or an agave. You make tequila out of it. You can also make rope out of its fibers. One of my Dad's cousins used to grow this stuff in southern Arizona. Yep... odd relatives... they have their uses.
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