A bit more long haul flat country driving as we crawled out of L.A. was our next treat as we ate up the mere 120 or so miles to sunny San Diego. The traffic didn't let up for long and only 18 miles from S.D. we were crawling along a nice sweeping piece of freeway. Just to make it particularly pleasant instead of the road arcing off invitingly for miles ahead of you, it was full of cars. We both thought of home and the joys of the M25.
Upon arriving in San Diego at the Bay Inn (not so near the bay) it turned out that our travel nemesis Travelocity (a hotel booking system we have been using) had, for reasons unknown, cancelled our reservation! After some polite words with the receptionist Joel convinced them that we were quite clearly in the right. The British Empire would not be pleased if we couldn't have our pre-booked room.
It all turned out peachy and we headed to the beach to see what all the fuss was about. Ocean Beach was beautiful and after finding some free parking we had a tan-tastic time buying some beach mats and putting them to good use.After a quick swim to relax back at the hotel, we headed out to Hooters on Mission Beach so Joel could get some more of their fine chicken wings in Buffalo sauce he has taken a fancy to. We asked several times for the recipe, so it will straight into the kitchen when we get home to try and replicate it. We cruised back the hotel so we could catch some more of Tru TV which has become a bit of an addiction as of late. (It's not reality... It's actuality!)
The next day the plan was simple; get up - go to beach.
Breakfast done in a nice little coffee shop with free Wifi where I had a cup of English Breakfast tea (which was not so good). We overheard a local type talking about a farmers market and decided to investigate further. We bought some fruity produce and I bought a snorkel kit and another cap, because 3 isn't enough. After which I asked where was best to go snokelling and was directed to La Jolla beach (pronounced 'La Hoya'). Which is an ecological reserve a few miles down the road. Upon entering the cool water and a few feet from the shore I was greeted with a huge multitude of rainbow coloured fish. There were literally thousands of the colourful critters some as small as your little finger to ones bigger than my head and all within touching distance. They were, not surprisingly, ridiculously hard to catch and I soon gave up and just enjoyed swimming amongst them. Diving down near the rocky coves to get a better look at some of the more shy ones covered in irridescent blues and reds. It was truly magical and I am looking forward to getting in another swim before we head back to L.A. We have too much left to see there still! Sadly no pictures as my camera isn't waterproof.
That night we popped into a local Outback Steakhouse, as our experience had been nothing but good. Our luck had ran out however as we were given a professional ignoring by possibly the slowest and unobservant server on the planet. Needless to say, for once we didn't feel the need to tip and headed back to the hotel. I popped out that evening to a bar about a block down from the Bay Inn. Where I sank a few Coronas and chatted to some locals, not so local as it turned out most were Aussie's out for a birthday and rest were from the east coast. It was Karaoke that night so I put my name down as 'British Guy' and sang Fire and Rain by James Taylor followed after a few more beers by Take it Easy by the Eagles. I don't know whether I did either justice but most of the people seemed to clap a fair bit and buy me a couple more beers, so all in all a nice cheap night.
The next morning we left at around 08:30 as Joel took us back towards L.A. where we were to pick up Adam Rogers for a trip to San Francisco. I had a little sleep in the car, nice.
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Now playing: The Beach Boys - Wouldn't It Be Nice
via FoxyTunes
