SoCal Trips
So, made a rare pair of trips to southern California the last 2 weekends in August. Aug 26/27 we went down for the wedding of Bonnie's writer and comedienne friend Susan Isaacs, in Culver City. Drove down Friday evening, stopped for the night at Super 8 in Kettleman City and went to In'N'Out which was quite the teen hangout. Where do people go in towns like that, where the oasis off the freeway was the only thing we saw for miles and miles? Anyway, got an early start and went to Venice Beach, met up with my old Weta friend Donny, jammed some music at his place in Culver City, then made it over to the wedding. Wonderful meeting Bonnie's longtime friend, whom I'd heard much about. Interesting scene - didn't know anyone, very churchy, and lots of people making speeches about 'how they finally found someone'. Missed meeting up with some other folks, so we caught 'Idlewild' at Santa Monica Promenade, then off to her mom's place in Huntington B. Nice morning catching up with them, still missed connecting, so we went to California ScienCenter for their Science of (Marvel) SuperHeroes exhibit - kinda fun, but definitely geared for kids. Then we made our way outta town, about a 6 hour trek, got a little stir crazy in the last hour, but made it back home.
The next weekend - Labor Day holiday - went to visit my sister in San Diego for the first time(I've been to SD a couple other times). Drove to SJ airport after work, way early cos I expected more holiday traffic (but fun cos I found the Australian Products store), but got to SD OK and we went around the Gaslamp district, the hip downtown - makin' fun of the drunken loud bimbos & himbos, then hit a tiki bar and Hard Rock Cafe ( didn't get to Croce's or House of Blues). Got back to her apt in El Cajon - nice complex, and spacious.
Saturday mornin, I hit the meager weight room, then we went to Balboa Park for the Museum of Man's Body Decoration exhibit. A walk back across the bridge, then off to Oldtown and lunch. Back in El Cajon, checking out Blue Meannie Records (not a typo, probably avoiding a lawsuit). Then off to Che Cafe, a coffee house cum avante-garde showcase on the UCSD campus. Finding it proved to be massively difficult - it wasn't at the place our map said it was - we stopped at a Ramada, the woman didn't know about it, but we finally crosschecked it on a campus map. 9PM, the bands weren't there, we cut out and headed over to La Jolla for a walkabout. Here I learned the 2 basic lessons about San Diego traffic - have patience at their super-long red lights; and the road names don't often match the road curves (seriously, if you stay on a straight road, you'll find the road name you wanted actually veered off to the right a half-mile back). Made it back to Che's, and the 6 spots in the lot were full, and nearest parking was about a half-mile away, so we skipped it. We made our way to a dive bar I'd heard about - Tower Bar, which supposedly had live bands and burlesque on occasion, but it was a dead scene for a Saturday night, so we went back home.
Sunday morning was a trek to Mission Beach - we hung out on Dog Beach for a few hours, then return to the homestead. I tried to go out to Sun Island Resort, but found I had to make reservations. Stopped at a hillside cemetery and a CD store. Then out to Mt Helix for the spectacular view (they have outdoor theatre there!), and dinner for the snake and a stop at Bec's place of work, and return to feed the snake. Out again for a buzz through Coronado, picked up some electronics at CompUSA, and sushi and shopping in Pacific Beach. Declined a movie, in lieu of going to see some music at Belmont Park. Somwhere in the evening, the button came off my pants, so I had to buy new shorts. Then I left my old shorts at the arcade and they were gone ( didn't realize it till later, good thing I transfered every last thing to what I was wearing.) The band at Cane's was Damage, Inc. - a tribute to Metallica. Pretty lame but guilty fun & great people watching - the singer had a passing resemblance to Hetfield, but the guitarist looked more like George Costanza. We didn't stay for Atomic Punks (Van Halen trib). Good times, but I realized I should've gone to a local punkfest at a Masonic Hall in El Cajon - I guess my thought was to get out of E.C., but if there's something interesting going on, what the hey!
Monday, Labor Day - Packed up in the morning, then we were off to the Point Loma/Cabrillo Lighthouse. Nice view of the city, but a fear that I lost my wallet threw a damper on it (found it btwn the car seats). Then over to the Maritime Museum ( a mooring of 5 various historical ships), including a pirate ship (pirates are big these days!). A 5-minute trip to the Airport (ending in another too-long wait for me), and I was off!
Uneventful return trip, and Bonnie met me at the SJ airport, then we went to downtown and checked out their end-of-summer fest.
The next weekend - Labor Day holiday - went to visit my sister in San Diego for the first time(I've been to SD a couple other times). Drove to SJ airport after work, way early cos I expected more holiday traffic (but fun cos I found the Australian Products store), but got to SD OK and we went around the Gaslamp district, the hip downtown - makin' fun of the drunken loud bimbos & himbos, then hit a tiki bar and Hard Rock Cafe ( didn't get to Croce's or House of Blues). Got back to her apt in El Cajon - nice complex, and spacious.
Saturday mornin, I hit the meager weight room, then we went to Balboa Park for the Museum of Man's Body Decoration exhibit. A walk back across the bridge, then off to Oldtown and lunch. Back in El Cajon, checking out Blue Meannie Records (not a typo, probably avoiding a lawsuit). Then off to Che Cafe, a coffee house cum avante-garde showcase on the UCSD campus. Finding it proved to be massively difficult - it wasn't at the place our map said it was - we stopped at a Ramada, the woman didn't know about it, but we finally crosschecked it on a campus map. 9PM, the bands weren't there, we cut out and headed over to La Jolla for a walkabout. Here I learned the 2 basic lessons about San Diego traffic - have patience at their super-long red lights; and the road names don't often match the road curves (seriously, if you stay on a straight road, you'll find the road name you wanted actually veered off to the right a half-mile back). Made it back to Che's, and the 6 spots in the lot were full, and nearest parking was about a half-mile away, so we skipped it. We made our way to a dive bar I'd heard about - Tower Bar, which supposedly had live bands and burlesque on occasion, but it was a dead scene for a Saturday night, so we went back home.
Sunday morning was a trek to Mission Beach - we hung out on Dog Beach for a few hours, then return to the homestead. I tried to go out to Sun Island Resort, but found I had to make reservations. Stopped at a hillside cemetery and a CD store. Then out to Mt Helix for the spectacular view (they have outdoor theatre there!), and dinner for the snake and a stop at Bec's place of work, and return to feed the snake. Out again for a buzz through Coronado, picked up some electronics at CompUSA, and sushi and shopping in Pacific Beach. Declined a movie, in lieu of going to see some music at Belmont Park. Somwhere in the evening, the button came off my pants, so I had to buy new shorts. Then I left my old shorts at the arcade and they were gone ( didn't realize it till later, good thing I transfered every last thing to what I was wearing.) The band at Cane's was Damage, Inc. - a tribute to Metallica. Pretty lame but guilty fun & great people watching - the singer had a passing resemblance to Hetfield, but the guitarist looked more like George Costanza. We didn't stay for Atomic Punks (Van Halen trib). Good times, but I realized I should've gone to a local punkfest at a Masonic Hall in El Cajon - I guess my thought was to get out of E.C., but if there's something interesting going on, what the hey!
Monday, Labor Day - Packed up in the morning, then we were off to the Point Loma/Cabrillo Lighthouse. Nice view of the city, but a fear that I lost my wallet threw a damper on it (found it btwn the car seats). Then over to the Maritime Museum ( a mooring of 5 various historical ships), including a pirate ship (pirates are big these days!). A 5-minute trip to the Airport (ending in another too-long wait for me), and I was off!
Uneventful return trip, and Bonnie met me at the SJ airport, then we went to downtown and checked out their end-of-summer fest.
posted by pegasusgiraffe at 11:31 PM
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