Chris and I arrived at Amanda's new apartment one day after she moved in. This is the longest we've stayed in one place while kerouaking and Amanda and her roommates Steve and Brian made us feel completely at home. So much so that Chris taught Amanda how to operate her own TV and remote control. You need a Q-tip? Top left drawer in the downstairs bathroom. We got to help Amanda set up her bedroom and enjoy her Tea Time patio. Anyways, we've had a rowdy week in San Diego and I'll miss living with my best friend.
The Dod had a prime parking spot right in front of Amanda's new digs.
We arrived in San Diego last Sunday around 9pm, greeted warmly by Amanda and Brian. We took it easy for the evening just chatting on the couch.
Monday morning Chris and I took a roundabout walk to the boardwalk for lunch. We traversed the bay and marveled at the palm trees. We found a decent lunch special and sat on the outdoor deck admiring the Pacific ocean.
When Amanda returned home from work she treated us to a great dinner at RK Sushi. We strolled around Hillcrest and visited two great used book stores. Chris finally found a used hardcover of House of Leaves in excellent condition. Afterwards, we stopped by a dog-friendly bar in South Park called Hamilton's with select beer on tap.
Tuesday, we took it easy catching up on some television and hanging out on the comfy couch. At 6pm, Chris, Brian and I met Amanda and three of her friends from work at South Beach Bar and Grille at Ocean Beach. It was taco Tuesday so we ordered mahi, ceviche and lobster tacos for $2.50 a piece. Yum! After fish tacos, we regrouped at Jun's house for game night. We played a round of Cranium and laughed until we cried.
Wednesday, Chris and I took a bike ride along the board walk and found a $5 lunch at a sandwich chain called "Which Wich". Wednesday evening was pretty low-key. We did some grocery shopping and went to the laundromat. We watched the movie "Choke" and Chris whipped up a caesar salad with salmon for dinner. We also concocted a new healthy and delicious snack: pickles and hummus. Try it, you'll love it.
Thursday, Amanda took us for a drive downtown to show us the sights. She also drove us through Balboa park to admire the Spanish-style architecture.
It's funny to see Santa and snowmen adorning all the buildings in San Diego where it rarely rains let alone snows.
For lunch we headed to Costco to sample everything from lobster bisque and egg rolls to pulled pork and chocolate covered almonds. We ate so many free samples, security started to give us the stink eye.
After gorging at Costco, we met up with Chris' friend Cayte who relocated from Roscommon to sunny San Diego. We planned to watch the sunset at sunset cliffs but unfortunately missed it by a mere two minutes. Oh well - there will be plenty more sunsets to see. So, we headed to the the Sunshine Company for the happy hour special of 50% of pitchers. It's the first happy hour I've ever been to that's literally one hour long.
After our rendez-vous with Cayte, we headed to Jun's/Brennan's/Lorna's again for dinner and board games. After Brennan (a Philadelphia native) heard that our homemade cheesesteaks rival the more famous Philly Cheese Steak, he challenged us to prove it. So, Chris cooked up a batch of his special subs and Brennan brought the cheese whiz. Although it was decided that they were different from Philly cheese steaks, they were equally delicious and appropriately dubbed the Mitten Steak and Cheese (Mitten in homage to Michigan).
On Friday, Amy flew in!
We picked Amy up from the airport at 7pm and drove back to Amanda's to show off her new digs. Then we went to Bub's Dive to meet up with a bunch of Amanda's coworkers. Amy and Jun visited the tattoo parlor next door contemplating a midnight tattoo (never a good idea) but fortunately they were unhappy with the tattoo artist's work and declined. We all met at Hoboken's for a late-night slice of pizza and took a record 5-minute cab ride back to Amanda's.
Photo shoot with Amy playing dress-up in Amanda's dinosaur suit from South Korea. Have you ever seen a dinosaur in tennis shoes drinking a mimosa?
Saturday, we went a long bike ride around Pacific Beach and to Mission Beach. Unfortunately I forgot my camera so I wasn't able to photograph the flock of pelicans that flew overhead, the unique trees or the crazy surfers surfing in December. Poor Jun got a flat tire at the end of the route so we were one man short for the second leg of the bike ride. We planned on having a beach bonfire when the sun set but the temperature was cool and quickly falling so we dropped those plans and headed to the bar instead.
We went to a bar called Triple Crown complete with pool tables, ping-pong tables, shuffleboard, dartboards and foosball. If I lived here I would spend all my time and money at Triple Crown. The only bummer was all the ping-pong tables were occupied. Amy had a master plan to play the raunchiest rap songs on the jukebox to scare everybody out of the bar. However, instead of people leaving they just gave us dirty looks when they noticed that "Swerve" by Lil' Boozy feat. Young Jeezy was blasting through the speakers. After a game of 301, we quit the dartboard and headed to Jun's again for some dancing, Wii baseball and Olde English forties. Amy administered a sobriety test to Lorna and the cranky neighbors paid a visit to tell us to shut up.
Drink Olde English. It's good for the soul.
Love,
Your Favorite Rubbertramps,
Nikki & Chris
