Chapter One: Sleepless in Sydney.
Who in their right mind doesn't sleep the night before a loooooong 15 hour flight from Sydney to LAX? After working all week, Friday afternoon (21 May) found us still cleaning the house, changing the water in the fish tank and making sure the kids were okay (our fishies), making road trip music playlists, trying to unlock Justyn's iPhone and miles from packing our bags! Yet somehow we made it through the night and crossed everything off our list - including the packing.
Finally, after counting down for six months (and 24 hours without sleep), departure time on 22nd May arrived. Saturday was a looooooooong day - Justyn and I arrived sleepless and dishevelled at LAX and wandered the gates searching for K who was arriving an hour after us. We thought we had it all covered to meet Kelly before Patty arrived to pick us up, but the best laid plans turns out we were lost and Kelly and Patty found us! P took us to brekky before the drive down to Rancho Bernardo where we would park our bags with the DeMoors for the San Diego leg of our journey. A quick breakfast at The Last Yolk at Manhattan Beach (near the LAX) re-introduced Kelly and I to the size of meals in the USA as a simple order of an omelette came with fruit salad AND pancakes!
A zoot down the interstate and we arrived at the DeMoors for the first leg of our rollercoaster adventure. Chapter 2: The Belmont Park's Giant Dipper Rollercoaster - #5 Patty and Gregg had our whole visit planned and were excited to take Justyn, Kelly and I sightseeing around their town. Sunday dawned (late) with a trip to the beach, a lesson in how to say La Jolla (la hoya apparently - whodathunk?) and we ended up at Belmont Park, a historic seaside fair with a wooden rollercoaster - The Giant Dipper that had been operating there since 1925! Justyn elected to be the 'bag lady' so we could ride rollercoaster number 5. A fair bit of giggling launched the ride that took us into a darkened tunnel for a quick few seconds before tumbling and lurching out into the sunlight and around a course that delighted us all. It was awesome to be able to share the "old school" rollercoaster ride with fabulous friends! After the ride we headed to Old Town to parktake in Margarita's, Sangria, and marvellous (tex)mexican food under the guise of learning about some of the history of the San Diego area.......
There is something very different about the Mexican food in the USA. For a start there is no sour cream to be seen, and on the whole it seems to be lighter (probably due to the less cheese and cream) and fresher. The complimentary corn chips were to die for, so crispy and moreish. I tried the Pork Tamales, Justyn went for the Chicken; and Kelly thought the combo beef and chicken crisp shell tacos would hit the spot for her.
Chapter 3: The Fish Taco Experience
The Del, Coronnado and Seaport Village were on the itinerary for our next day in San Diego and we got to experience a fish taco! Months ago while instant messaging with Patty, I mentioned that I'd heard that San Diego was famous for its fish tacos. Patty responded instantly that they were the best and of course a must for our stay in San Diego and the Seaport Village was her favourite. After sampling some more of the lovely offerings of San Diego we arrived at the Seaport Village and ordered up a fish taco from Margarita's. And of course margarita's were mandatory to accompany the fare! They were delicious mouthfuls of lightly fried fish, fresh shredded cabbage and a yummy chipolte sauce all wrapped up in a gorgeous soft corn tortilla. And dessert was Ben & Jerry's ice cream with amazing new flavours! The dining experiences were getting better and better and just as we thought we'd had Seaport Village had trumped Old Town, for dinner Patty and Gregg took us to C Level on the harbour where we had a delicious dinner, with martinis and sangria's (a special shout out to our nervous waiter Nick). Of note were the Diablo Chicken, more Fish Tacos, Brownies with peanut butter ice cream, fudge sauce and mountains of cream; and a PB & J cocktail which wasn't one of the positive memories. Not only did we have a great meal but we were able to thank our wonderful friends Patty and Gregg for looking after us so memorably during our San Diego / rollercoaster #5 leg of our journey.
During our time in San Diego we managed to get Keegan to say "no" and "dog" like "The Australians", as she referred to us and a big thanks to Nana Barb for giving up her room!
It was absolutely my pleasure! So glad your trip here to San Diego was so memorable. Look forward to seeing you at the end of your journey in LA.
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