Friday, November 26, 2010

A trip to Sunny San Diego

Thanksgiving is just past and that's a sign that 2010 is winding down. That also means my deadline to finish up my 19 resolutions is fast approaching. But unlike the news business where missing a deadline means the paper not getting out on time, life is a much more flexible endeavor.

I have actually finished quite a few of the resolutions and I am close to finishing some of them, though I haven't been that diligent about reporting on them. And I will continue to work on some of the resolutions I have completed, but for now here is a recap of one that is done.

I took a trip somewhere other than Indiana (Resolution No. 5). Last week I took some time off work to head to San Diego for my cousin's graduation from Marine boot camp. My parents and I went down a couple days in advance so we could stroll around the San Diego Historical Park, visit the San Diego Zoo and eat out at a few good restaurants. For anyone heading to Old Town San Diego, I recommend the Old Town Mining Company, which recently opened. I had an awesome burger there as well as a tasty vanilla wafer (a twist on the classic white Russian made with vanilla vodka.) The service was good and the meal was reasonably priced. Avoid the Acapulco restaurant. The mojito was made with Sierra Mist, instead of real lime juice, the service was slow and the food was just so-so.

The biggest stress of the trip was renting a mid-size SUV. I drive a Saturn, which is not a big car. It doesn't take up a lot of space. It's easy to navigate into parking spaces. The Suzuki Vitara I rented from Budget had the benefit of being high off the ground so I could see easily, but I also had no feel for how much space I actually needed to switch lanes or park it. To exacerbate things, I planned to use the GPS feature on my MyTouch phone during the trip. But San Diego roads around downtown and Old Town are just weird. The GPS kept giving us strange directions and heading us in circles. Luckily, the amount of driving on the trip was limited, and as for parking, I just parked far away from other cars.

The main purpose of the trip, however, was to see my cousin graduate from Marine boot camp so much of the trip was spent at the Marine Recruit Depot. It was great to see my younger cousin, for whom I started babysitting when he was only four months old and I was 12, look so grown up and mature. It was a busy, and tiring trip, but worth it.

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