Where I’ve Been the Past Ten Days
Posted on June 28, 2018 Posted by Athena Scalzi 31 Comments
Okay, so, you may or may not have noticed I haven’t posted lately. This is due to laziness and to me managing my time poorly, both of which I got from my father. I have no excuse for the first couple days, but for the last week I’ve been busy in San Diego! So today I’m going to tell you about my trip and make a promise to try and be better at posting!
On the first night in San Diego, my parents and I went with some family members to this awesome Italian restaurant that I can’t remember the name of. I got gnocchi, which is one of my favorite Italian dishes, but it was pink! Interestingly enough, it didn’t taste pink. Rather, I couldn’t taste whatever made it pink, it just tasted like good gnocchi.
We went to San Diego for a wedding, which my dad posted about the other day. On Saturday night, all the ladies went to an Indian restaurant and the guys went to a bar. I forget the name of the Indian restaurant too, but I just have to say, their mango lassis and chai were amazing. I also got to try gulab jamun, which is deep fried dough balls in sugar syrup, and it was great. Indian food is really awesome, probably one of my favorite cuisines.
The next day I got to go to La Jolla and have brunch with my parents and some friends (they actually cooked for us and it was super good), and we went to the beach afterwards. This beach was so pretty, the sand was practically completely made of little seashells, and there were seals flubbing around! It was so beautiful, I really love the ocean. I kind of hate sand, though.
I also got to go to Seaport Village and got some bomb ass henna done.
The wedding itself was awesome. The two people getting married are awesome, the people in attendance are awesome, the food was awesome (as was the cake), even the flowers were awesome. It was a truly beautiful ceremony and I’m very glad I got to be in attendance.
Besides that, I have nothing much to report, except that I got to sit first class from San Diego to Minneapolis for free! The plane was arranged in rows of three seats, and the seat next to the lady I was sitting next to was empty, so she had her husband come from first class to sit with her, and they wanted me to have the first class seat! It was my first time flying first class; I got the free meal and a hot towel and everything. They were very nice people and I’m glad I got to have such an awesome random experience!
So now I’m back home, finishing up the last couple days of my mythology class and playing with the new kitten, and from now on I promise to try and not go on ten day hiatus.
Have y’all ever been to San Diego? If so, what are some of your favorite places there? And as always, have a great day!
Oh! Something I know about! I’ve lived in San Diego for the past 20 years. And yes, it IS awesome! It sounds like you hit a few great spots. Did you go into the cave store in la Jolla (through the cave store and down the cave staircase)?
The Midway (aircraft carrier) is an incredible experience. Please tell me you ate at least a bite of Mexican food while you were here? What about the world famous San Diego zoo? IT’S WORLD FAMOUS! The Safari park is also super.
Balboa Park?
Legoland?
Mysterious Galaxy bookstore?
A Padres game in the amazing Petco Park?
Are you sure you came to San Diego? ;)
By the color, I’m guessing it was beets that made the gnocchi pink. Your poor dad had to go to a bar with the guys? I hope he managed to have some fun in spite of being with a bunch of drinking people when he doesn’t drink.
We have some dear friends who live in San Diego and have visited them a couple times. I absolutely love Balboa Park. The Spreckels Organ is fantastic. I’m a huge organ fan so I became a supporter. The last time we were there we had a rollicking time at False Idol, got some good advice about which Link Wray record to get at Folk Arts Rare Records, and had some great food at Lena Craft Mexican.
Love the nails! (The henna is quite lovely also.)
Let’s see – I once spent 9 days in North Hollywood at a friend’s and went to San Diego one of those days to interview the drummer for Dick Dale for an article at a beach cafe. I remember the beach mainly because I was a Midwest kid who rarely got to see one, and it was great weather; oh, and lousy traffic on the commute there, LOL.
But. I also got to go to Pismo Beach for a job interview, and through Santa Barbara, and that was pretty cool. A seagull conned me out of half my fries at THAT beach! :-D
@possibly(most assuredly)-punctuated beat me to it; LOVE the vampire nails! I agree that the hena tattoos make for a lovely match too, and given a choice of horrifying and terribly painful deaths by which to perish, having my jugular and carotid ripped out by pretty purple nails atop well adorned hands and wrists such as these certainly occupies a spot near the top of my probably not well-punctuated list.
I love San Diego. My husband was once being recruited for a job there, and we’d have been happy to make the move if we could have made it work for my job. Glad you had the chance to go.
I’ve said that La Jolla is the only place in Cali I’d voluntarily move to. But the cost of housing—when I was visiting there a quarter century ago a garage converted into a small residence was over a million, so I can only imagine what places go for these days. (Actually, if I wasn’t so lazy and actually cared I could check a few real estate sites, but I don’t care enough to spend the time.)
Glad you guys had a good time
That barely qualifies as sand! It almost looks like shingle (I’m British, I don’t know if you use that word over there).
Please don’t say this is your only experience of sand, as a beach with really fine, dry sand is so different.
I ditto “beets” as the color ingredient in your gnocchi. And the henna is lovely!
The San Diego Zoo’s breeding program is called the Safari Park, and the animals are in open habitats several dozen acres large. If you aren’t philosophically opposed to zoos, the next time you’re in San Diego, check it out.
Hmmm! So, the husband takes the first class seat and sticks his wife back in coach? Looks like Karma stepped in made a change.
Best place(s) in San Diego: the zoo, Balboa Park, the Safari Park, Birch Aquarium…
jerrycritter – Actually, it sounds like HE made the change! I’ll bet it was a frequent flier/preferred status sort of thing where he qualified for a free upgrade, and they chose to redistribute it themselves rather than leave it to the airline.
San Diego IS awesome. Next time try Balboa Park, and yes, the San Diego Zoo is pretty cool. Of course, Comicon every year adds thousands of people to the Gaslamp District, and I’d recommend going at least once to check it out. You don’t even really need tix, the costumes etc. out on the streets are wild and fun enough to warrant stopping by.
Sounds like a great trip.
Social justice thought:
Be aware of the class privilege you got to see because of first class–and remember for some that is plebeian–and other unimaginable.
People pay well to have others be very nice to them.
Gulab jamun sounds a lot like donut holes — does it eat that way or only seem alike on paper?
As to posting, the intern must turn out. Heraus!
When we went out to San Diego years back for a wedding, we made a week of it. I don’t think we ate indoors for a single meal. Getting breakfast burritos in Old Town where they made the tortilla on the grill while you wait? Awesome. Balboa Park is lovely. We didn’t have time to get to LegoLand.
When you went to La Jolla, did you get to see the seals on the beach?
I nominate ‘flubbing’ for verb of the year. Cannot WAIT to use it in a sentence.
Occasional Correspondent
Gulab jamon are made of a kind of curd cheese, so the texture is rather different to doughnut holes. I love the version soaked in rich creamy milk, rasmalai.
Athena
Wonderful nails, beautiful henna.
I can see that many of my suggestions are already listed here. Balboa Park, zoo, Safari Park (which I prefer to the zoo), Birch Aquarium. In terms of the beach, if you get a chance to drive up the coast, you’ll see several different types of beach, including softer sand than what you have there as well as big rocks, piers and docks. And one definite benefit (compared to parts of the midwest I’ve been in, at least) is that most if not all of the restaurants will have vegetarian and vegan options that are tasty, beautiful, and creative. You won’t have to worry that you’ll have to eat before you go out or that you’ll be limited to a salad or sides.
I’m also a fan of the purple nails and the beautiful henna. Sounds like you had a nice trip to San Diego, but there is always more to see, so you should definitely go back at least once.
Ashamedly, my favorite place in La Jolla is the best place to get Southern food in La Jolla, StreetCar Merchants. Fried chicken, donuts, probably the best collards in all of California. You should check it out.
I really love San Diego.
Went to A School there.
Do a lot of Cruising out of there.
Best to stay out on Logan
😎😎😎
Thanks,L love San Diego
Athena, nice post.
I didn’t know you were still in a course.
You once posted about blogging. When I retire in a half dozen years I intend to do university for a second degree. What will help my blog is doing those typical student meaning-of-life conversations, for two main reasons: ideas to blog, and getting stronger at self-disclosing. An earlier commenter mentioned plebeians. When I was getting my degree that’s who I mostly talked with. Now that I am used to rich and healthy folks I can talk with more people, so hurray!
I forgot to check who was writing, I thought Mr. Scalzi was doing a goof, with the nails and such. My first thought was, you found a place to park in La Jolla? Wow! To not-answer your question, my goto spot in San Diego county is the big pile of salt at the south end of the Big Bay. I always take visitors there. It is well worth a five minute side trip!
Cheese Shop in La Jolla. Bomb sandwiches. Get one to go and eat it on the beach with one of their many obscure soft drink options.
Friend of mine described her first experience with gulab jamun as “armies of calories marching toward your mouth” (I think of them more as slightly heavier donut holes in syrup; I realize they’re made of different stuff.) Like baklava, but without the chewing to slow down the sugar overdose. Yum.
Our usual destinations in San Diego include the zoo, the zoo’s safari park (which I also liked better – running cheetah with his pet dog, rhinos, etc.), La Jolla for the shopping and seals, Gaslight district for the food, cliffs by the beach, inland hills for driving around. First time I went to the zoo there, there was a baby rhino, bouncing around like a calf-sized puppy; sometime later my wife got me a fridge magnet that was a picture of that same rhino. It’s also close to Mexico, so we went down to places my wife had stayed as a kid (though some had moved back and forth between Tijuana and Ensenada, compared to where she remembered them.)
Squeakyc – I also forgot to see who was writing, and I just sort of assumed Scalzi the Elder went to the Indian restaurant with the ladies because he doesn’t imbibe. I totally think John should consider getting his nails done and some henna, though.
I’ve only been to San Diego twice, but I’ll echo the Balboa Park/San Diego Zoo and catching a Padres game ideas. Gaslamp quarter is a nice place to go for a run (or just grab breakfast), too.
Glad you had a good time. San Diego’s a lovely city, and yes, it’s full of good restaurants.
As I pay for my meals out, I can usually use my credit card receipts to remember the name of the restaurant. You may not have that tiny silver lining right now, but at some point you will.
Nothing quite like a good gnocchi. It is a long, somewhat painful process, but homemade gnocchi ranks pretty high on my list. Learned from a group of Italian women who didn’t speak a lick of English. I am forever grateful.
Do you have Indian restaurants in your part of Ohio?