We headed down Friday evening after Jim got off work, grabbed a quick dinner at a mediocre new empanada place near the symphony hall, and then went to the symphony. We really enjoyed it, except for a new piece by a composer who was there to introduce it. The piece was about climate change, but mostly it was just terrible music. ("Music" is a stretch.) I'm afraid stuff by living composers is just bound to be bad.
After that, we went in search of dessert. We did some research trying to figure out a good place to go and decided on a spot in Little Italy. We started walking there and kept passing electric scooters lying/standing all over the place. Since it was late and we were pressed for time, we decided to try them. Those things are so dangerous. I could not see while riding. Possibly the wind in my eyes was making them super watery. I don't know, but I kept telling Jim that I was blind. It was really weird and scary, but we kept going.
We got to our destination, and there was a line down the street that we had no desire to stand in. We then set our sights on Extraordinary Desserts and headed in that direction on our scooters. We'd been once before, and Jim thought he'd liked it pretty well. We finally got there around 11:00 P.M., and there was nothing that really looked appealing. That place is super popular. They make fancy-looking desserts featuring gold and stuff, but I just don't think their treats are that delicious. At least, they're not our style. We didn't get anything and headed back to the car.
For a while, we had to ride our scooters on a busy road. I hit a pothole that gave me a painful jolt and made me feel very close to getting thrown off. We finally ditched the scooters and walked the last little bit to the car. Then we picked up cheesecake from The Cheesecake Factory by our hotel and went to check in. Somehow there was a long line to check in at midnight. Then there was some elevator issue, and the place was really confusing, and it took us forever to get up to our room. But we made it.
The hotel charged a resort fee that Jim was really upset about because of a lack of up-front disclosure. If we bought certain things at the hotel - like food - that resort fee would be credited toward it. In order to avoid feeling taken advantage of, we wanted to buy some food in the amount of that resort fee on Saturday morning. We confirmed with the front desk that even though we were running a few minutes late checking out, we'd be able to apply the resort fee to a purchase of food at the little market/cafe place there. The food offerings were pathetic and insanely overpriced, so we ended up just getting Luna bars, a banana, and one or two other things to add up to the resort fee (I think $25). Then we checked out. Later, Jim looked at the receipt and discovered that the resort fee had not been credited toward our food; we only bought the food to be further ripped off. Jim vowed never to stay there again.
He had booked a kayak tour to the sea caves in La Jolla for mid-day Saturday. It was something I had wondered about doing for years but had never done. We got my bottom half into my really old, 5/3 wetsuit (read, so thick it's nearly impossible to don, doff, or move around in), got sunscreened up (despite the clouds), and joined the group just in time. Although it was not the most exciting tour in the world, it was fun, and we were glad we went.
Video quality plummets when Jim e-mails or texts them to me from his phone, but this is evidence of the millions of seals:
After the kayak tour, we went for a late lunch at Puesto La Jolla (fancy taco place) that I thoroughly enjoy and first discovered with the Rob and Annas. Then, partly because we wanted to use their showers, we squeezed in a super-short workout at the YMCA in La Jolla before it closed.
We checked out the Mount Soledad Veterans Memorial and tried to get hungry so we could eat again. (The late lunch was not ideal.)
We were too full from Puesto to stomach dinner, so we just did dessert. First we went to a crepe place. I got a not-great nutella crepe, and Jim got a really-not-good lemon something or other. As we were sitting there eating, I looked across the street and saw the San Diego Comedy Store with a big sign saying that my old friend from L.A./acting class, Ben Gleib, was performing there that night and the next. That really tripped me out, and I sort of wanted to go over there and try to talk to him. We did not, though.
Being the crazy, buy-all-the-desserts-on-vacation guy that he is, Jim insisted we go to a novelty ice cream place after disappointing dessert no. 1. (That was always his plan. Dessert no. 2 would have happened whether or not dessert no. 1 was disappointing.) They had weird ice cream concoctions involving sugar cereals, among other things. None of it appealed to me, so I opted out. Jim got a bizarre cotton candy thing that he did not enjoy.
Despite some lackluster food, we had a nice time. It's always lovely to get away. Happy anniversary to us.
1 comment:
I don't understand how all your food excursions are such busts. So sad. But the trip generally looks lovely. Super impressed that you guys went to the symphony and on a kayak tour. Well done.
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