Now, my friend John is not one to sit around - even in college it
seemed like we were always doing things - and every visit I've ever made to him since then (he's lived in Chicago and San Diego) is always full of fun things to do. This was no different - about half an hour after unloading my stuff, we headed over to pick up his fiance Lillian, and then downtown to eat lunch (a place called Basic [map website] which was great) and to Petco Park - the new baseball stadium. Only about 2 ye
ars old, they did a great job building this place - besides being within view of the ocean, they kept some of the old
downtown buildings and incorporated them into the park. The event for that weekend was an International "7"s Rugby tournament - 7-on-7 rugby (apparently normal rugby is usually 14-on-14). I really don't know much about rugby, but it was fun to be outside in the sun and watch. There were probably 20-30 countries there playing, so people from all over the world were in the stadium. I finally decided rugby is a cross between football, ultimate frisbee, and a little basketball (at least rules wise). In reality it's probably the other way around - I think rugby has been around longer than any of those sports. Someday I will look up all the rules.
After a short trip to see "Mount Soledad" and its war memorial, we headed back to John's to clean up and change clothes, and off to the Hillcrest district for dinner, at an Italian restaurant called Arrivederci [map website]. Very small place, and VERY busy, we were lucky to get in after about 45 minutes. Food was great though. Then after that (it's about 9:30pm by then), downtown to meet up with some of John's friends and see the night life of San Diego. We stopped for coffee at Starbucks after parking (a little weird I know, but they validate parking and are the only place in the mall open at that time of night - plus the coffee didn't hurt to stay awake at that point) and then to a bar called The Bitter End [map website] in the Gaslamp District - a more upscale downtown bar with 3 levels. We managed to get into the upstairs VIP lounge (thanks to John's friend Eric) and hung out the rest of the night there. An interesting thing about the San Diego downtown, and San Diego in general - whenever I've gone out at night in the downtown or nighttime districts of other cities (such as Minneapolis) it always feels like everything is on the verge of chaos or rioting. San Diego is NOTHING like that - everyone seems so relaxed and laid back. Even at 1:30am when we left, there were lots of people out on the street leaving, but it just felt very casual. Must be all the sunshine :)I actually slept until 11:00am the next day (combination of having a cold and a lon
g day the day before) and so we decided to have brunch in the Pacific Beach district, at The Firehouse American Eatery [map website] which has an ocean view. After some ocean-side walking, we headed down to Mission Beach so they could show me where they spend most of their Sunday afternoons - the beach volleyball courts (there were lots of them!). Walked around on the beach some 
more, and then headed downtown again, this time to visit the Midway Aircraft Carrier museum [map website] which was not there the last time I visited. It was a neat place, and sometime I might want to go back and spend more time - definitely a piece of our military history. Since the sunlight was fading by that time, we did a quick trip to the T
orrey Pines glider park, which was another great view of the ocean and the sunset. By then we were all very tired, and settled for just having dinner, at a place called Souplantation [map website], which sounds kinda weird, but is a soup/salad buffet place. Normally I avoid buffets because it's usually mediocre food, and too much of it. This place was great though - the salad bar was full of fresh vegetables and fixings, and the soup choices were really good. And it wouldn't be a buffet without a dessert area, but this was at least frozen yogurt.
Monday morning, Lillian dropped me off at the airport on her way to work, and I sadly took in one more breath of 75-degree sunny San Diego, and went inside to go through security and get on the plane for the 4 1/2 hour flight home. As we approached Minneapolis, the pilot said "and the temperature in Minneapolis is STUPID COLD -2 degrees" (his words) and I knew I was home :( Cousin Cindy was right there to pick me up as soon as I got my luggage. So I ended up home by 4:30, a little earlier than I had expected.
All in all a fun trip - the best trips always seem to be when I am visiting friends and family though. I certainly wouldn't have minded a few more days in San Diego, but spring has to be getting here soon, RIGHT? RIGHT????? :)
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