As promised, here are some more notes about my recent vacation to California. 

Amber and I started our second day by heading to La Jolla for brunch and sight seeing.  La Jolla was a popular spot so we drove around for a bit trolling for parking.  Amber was synching up with her college roommate on her cell to try to figure out when we might be able to meet up later in the trip and not really paying too close attention to my driving, but I got her attention when we pulled up to a stop sign, rolled down my window, and started yelling at an apparent stranger on the streets.  Much to my surprise, my friend Ron and his family were crossing the street in front of us.  They just happened to be on vacation at the same time we were down in California.  Small world.  This of course cemented Amber’s notion that I am a social butterfly and have friends all over.

La Jolla

We eventually parked and had brunch (coincidentally running into Ron and family one more time in the process) and then headed down to the beach.  The beach was beautiful and we wandered down to the water and on the rocks.  The only downside to the morning was when I slipped on a rock and stepped into the water in my running shoes.  Should have known better I suppose.  I took more pictures using Amber’s camera, but this is the only one that she posted.  She has promised to give me copies of the rest, so I will try to follow up with some more shots from La Jolla.  It was really very beautiful there.

We tooled around for a while, made a failed attempt to pick up a Hard Rock pin for my friend Suzanne (the Hard Rock had closed) and stopped by a store for some dry socks, then Amber and I headed into San Diego to “The Local” to help decorate for the reunion.  I got to meet a few of Amber’s friends from her high school days pre-reunion and we helped blow up balloons (Amber is a graduate of Balloons 101) and put together gift bags.  After helping setup for a while, we went back to the hotel to change and grab a quick dinner of carne asada burritos (what else?) and then went back to The Local for reunion fun.

It was interesting contrasting Amber’s reunion with mine.  For example, we had ours at a big hall and there was a sit-down dinner.  Frankly, I think the pub and buffet (we probably could’ve skipped the burritos, but why eat pub food when you only have so many opportunities to have carne asada burritos?) was a better venue and more fun.  My 20th is coming up next year, so maybe I should suggest a different approach for it.  Don’t think I’ll get away with it.

We stuck around the reunion for most of the evening, and then set out in the Gas Lamp district – apparently one of San Diego’s primary club and restaurant scenes and very clearly a meat market.  We ended up avoiding the clubs (big surprise, huh?) and found a Ghirardelli store that was open and had dessert with Amber’s friend Michelle (a Seattleite herself now).  It was a great way to cap off the evening.

I’ve run out of time to blog tonight, and I still have more California fun to talk about and some pictures to share.  For those of you who are keeping track, my remaining schedule for the week is as follows:

• Wednesday – Race Report (Firecracker 5000, Seafair Relay Tri, and Seafair Torchlight)
• Thursday – Amphibious Assault on Seattle

I guess I’ll have to try to fit in another post sometime this week to wrap up our California adventure.