Trip Date: January 26, 2020
This trip also has been 2 years ago now as I feebly attempt to piece together some details of the story. Rick had rented a 3 story place on Mission Bay, on Sunset Court I believe, just a couple houses from Mission Bay and the Bayside walk. To the West, all we had to do was cross Mission Blvd. down the cool little alley and we were at the beach and the Ocean Front Walk. We shared the top floor with Rick and Joe, Shawn’s family was on the second floor and Nick and Whitney were on the first floor. It was an awesome place with decks on the top 2 floors and a huge patio below. I recall being the first at the place and got to unpack and relax for a bit before the crew arrived.
Kristen and I took a great walk along the Bay enjoying the perfect weather and enjoying a cocktail at the Catamaran Resort. They had a very cool indoor/outdoor Koi pond with a waterfall. We walked all the way up to the far NE end of the trail where a neighborhood began overlooking the bay and the beach. What a place. When we got back, the families were arriving and it was super exciting to see the kids explode out of the cars and run all over checking the place out. Apparently K and I made a bit of noise that night as Bailey blabbed about it to everyone the next morning.
I recall now looking at googly, this was the first time we met Brett’s parents. They live in Poway and I don’t recall if Haley and Brett were already down there visiting or if they just went down to facilitate our meeting since we were down here. Since they were familiar with the area, they chose one of Sharon’s favorite restaurants which I think was Crushed on Garnet near Cass. Kristen and I walked from the house and had a great time just following our nose to Garnet and came out just a block or 2 below the restaurant. Crushed was mobbed with a stupid long wait time, so we ran across Garnet to Filippi’s Pizza Grotto, a nice quiet, calm, adult place.
Unfortunately, although the atmosphere was perfect, the TV’s were just announcing the death of Kobe Bryant, so Harlan, although not much of a sports guy, was pretty distracted by the TV. Nonetheless, we had a nice visit and a nice introduction to the future in-laws. Haley and Brett were very excited to have us meet and have it go so well. Haley and Brett came with us to walk down Garnet to the Crystal Pier, one of the places Brett used to party at in high school. Along the way he was pointing out other places he knew or had memories of, including his favorite Mexican place called Ramiro’s Taco Shop. We walked out on the pier passed the cottages for rent that were actually up on the pier. They looked like a super cool place to stay.
We were sad to see them go, but had a great walk home along the beach in beautiful San Diego. I know, as is usually the case, one family provides dinner one night and another family group provides dinner another night, and we usually cover dinner a third, however, this night was not out turn, so we went down to the first floor amongst the hoards of children and had a great meal. According to the photos, we went out the beach and night to check out the moon and moonlit waves. What a place to be/live.
The next day, I think everyone wanted to go to Sea World, so I headed the opposite direction, choosing to walk to La Jolla Cove. I don’t know that I set out to walk all the way to the Cove, but knew I wanted to explore, so I headed along the Ocean Front Walk, passing the Crystal Pier, eventually heading La Jolla Blvd. I got back down to the water at La Jolla Hermosa Park and then again at Sun Gold Point. I walked Camino de La Costa to Neptune and hit Windansea Beach. I had to ask directions to get up to Olivetas Ave. that got me up to Coast Blvd. and back to the ocean front.
I stopped for quite a while at the Children’s Pool to watch all the seals and seagulls flopping about, then on up to Rocky Point where the Pelicans and cormorants were thick as thieves. It was fascinating to watch them just float on top of the sea breeze and air currents that got them up onto the rocks, or out to sea. On the rocky perches, they were cleaning and preening and squawking. Takeoffs and landings were constant in a disorderly, chaotic spectacle of commotion. These were not elegant birds or graceful fliers, but they got the job done often times landing on tiny open spaces surrounded by dozens of other squawking birds. I was deeply entertained.
I finished off the Coast Walk Trail and then headed for beverages. I ended up at George’s At the Cove, a great spot with a roof top bar and dining and fantastic people watching. I was not the prime clientele, however, the preposterously handsome hunky bartender kept my glass full, while the eyes of the young hotties were always averted from my direction. Thus hydrated, I headed back to the house. It was a long way, much less picturesque and carefree as the coming. I basically just walked La Jolla Blvd. which turns into Mission and followed it all the way back. I was exhausted and my feet ached, but I had had a fantastic day.
The next day we stayed local to watch the kids get surfing lessons. I was interested for minutes and then found myself wandering away down the beach. I ended up at Belmont Park and the Mission Beach Boardwalk. It was an odd combination of upscale beachfront bars and restaurants, carnival rides, tourist stuff, and a local gym, but it was very interesting to explore. Although on the ocean side, it was just about opposite the bottom of Mission Bay, so I crossed over Mission Blvd and took the Bayside Walk back to the house.
That night, it must have been Friday night; the Fboys who were renting the house across the alley from us had a rager going. Beer pong and loud music and shots were the order of the night. Can’t blame them much, but the noise was a bit much. The next day I was able to steal Kristen away from the family for a bit so I took her on the walk I did the day before. We got drinks at the Draft in Belmont Park before heading all the way to the very tip of the peninsula at Mission Point Park where we watched a few boats come and go and wondered how wonderful it would be to live near the ocean.
Kristen called Whitney and told her how cool the Belmont Park was so she met us with some of the kids on our way back. They didn’t seem to be as impressed as we were and left shortly thereafter. Oh well, all you can do is try. The sunset that night was spectacular and many of the folks around us were out and even up on rooftops to check it out.
The next day, we went with Rick and Jo to Seaport Village to do some shopping and go to lunch. On the way home, we shopped for some fish and dinner fixings as it was our turn to provide for the masses. I know Kristen made one of the family favorites and the kids ate it up.
San Diego Trip with K’s Family Photo Gallery
