The best vacation ever...

I arrived home yesterday from my trip to San Diego and I am happy to report that I had a BLAST!

I had never been there before and so I really didn’t know what to expect. My sister recently moved down there with her boyfriend and so my mother and I went with the intention of seeing her and perhaps celebrating both her belated birthday as well as Mother’s Day.

We arrived Friday morning and were treated to a scenic drive through this most beautiful city. Between the weather, the architecture, and sheer number of things to do, I was amazed. We ate at some wonderful restaurants, and of course went shopping. On Saturday we went to “Old Town” which was a state park that is a string of shops and Mexican food restaurants each with beautiful architecture and ambiance. I say “was” because it has now closed down… after being there for many, many years; their last day was a scant two days after our visit. (Now it is reportedly to be converted into an old Western themed park.) While there, we ate mediocre food (the only time the whole trip that the food wasn’t fabulous) and listened to some incredible live music. (The guitarist was amazing, playing his guitar and an Incan Pan pipe simultaneously.) Later that night we went to Croce’s for drinks (we seem to have drank a lot on this trip! Hmmmm...), a jazz bar/restaurant where we listened to even more live music while enjoying a Bailey’s & coffee… Mmmmm… the taste of true civilization. ;)

The next day we went to Mexico for Mother’s Day. My mother and I had never been, and so it was definitely an experience for us. We drove to the border and then walked across, grabbed a cab (another experience) and then had a very scenic drive that alternated between horrifying and beautiful. I was told to expect that I would see “poor areas” but my mind had conjured up images of the homeless in San Francisco, or of the seedier places in Oakland. What I saw was more akin to those images you might see on TV asking us to “save the children”, the only difference being the presence of graffiti… homes falling down, crumbling, burnt out… things so dirty and inhospitable that no one could possibly live there… except for the telltale clothesline that betrayed the fact that someone actually did. It was very sad. 

But driving southward along the coast we saw the golden sun shimmering upon the bluest ocean I had ever seen. The day was clear and bright, and the waves lulled up upon the shore with a magical presence. We stopped at a couple of resorts, and had our standard margaritas on the beach, where we alternated between dodging the sombrero-wearing man with a whistle who attempts to force you to drink tequila (he almost got me… tequila running down my chin). When we arrived at our destination, a town called Rosarita, we found a beautiful hotel right on the water, and so we enjoyed a lobster dinner outside on the patio, watching the ocean waves. I was in awe of this ocean scenery… for one, it was so blue! For another, there was not a boat, nor a pier, in sight. Just a massive stretch of ocean and sky that seemed to wrap around the patio and into infinity… it was nothing short of amazing to see.

Another cab ride to the border and then we crossed and came home. Another adventure completed.

We, of course, made the mandatory trip to Sea World (which was OK), and then to the San Diego Zoo’s Wild Animal Park (which was amazing). Entire herds of animals can roam free and they have it all set up so that you can observe their natural behavior. In the lion encampment they have it so that you are able to get right up against them with only a thick piece of glass to separate you. If the pictures turned out then I should have some great photos of the lioness. I’ll post them here if they turn out.

I also got an opportunity to meet with Dominic and StarChild over dinner and discussed some things both gay and Feri. It was great to meet them in the flesh and I hope to do it again soon.

Add to that some great food (I highly recommend the Kensington Grill), some great wine, some cocktails, and a lot of good conversation, and you pretty much have my whole trip.

I’m glad to be home now… I need to rest!