Weekend Re-Cap: We're On Vacation!

November 12, 2006

Will and I are officially on vacation! We don't have to wake up early, think about work, or do anything we don't feel like. Sweet!

On Friday afternoon, we hit the road (after an annoying detour home to get my passport...oops!). We were en route to San Diego, where we needed to be by Sunday night, as we were flying out of SD to San Jose Del Cabo on Monday morning. We broke up the drive so that we wouldn't have a bolus of driving non-stop.

Friday night's destination was San Luis Obispo. Traffic wasn't too bad, so we made it from SF to SLO in 3.5 hours. We spent the night in the Best Western Royal Oak Inn, a pretty good economic choice, with free wireless and a king bed.

After a nice sleep-in, where I made myself go back to sleep a couple times, we proceeded on our road trip. The next destination was Santa Monica, where we were going to crash at Geneve & Kareem's place. The drive was lovely along Hwy 101, with views of the ocean and hills. We stopped in Ventura to eat on the beach and grab a coffee.

The traffic was minimal until we approached the 405. All in all, it took about 3 hours until we arrived in Santa Monica. Geneve and Kareem have a sweet place within walking distance of the Santa Monica pier and the 3rd Street Promenade. The last time I had spent any time here was about 4 years ago when Wendy, Coco and I road-tripped to see my sister and Jack in Tehachapi for Thanksgiving and did some coastal activities afterwards.

(note: I was able to upload a few pictures but am now having technical difficulties. I'll try to upload more later).

Kareem was busy most of the weekend with a conference that he had put on in LA called BARCamp LA. But, Geneve was a lovely hostess, she made some wonderful apple turnovers, and took Will and I to dinner at a little sushi place on 2nd street called Taka Sushi. We sat at the sushi bar, and watched the chefs (who happened to be Japanese!) work their wonders. We had some fantastic rolls, and were wowed by the beef sashimi.

On Sunday morning, Geneve had to take off early for Las Vegas for work, so it was up to me and Will to sleep in and have a nice Sunday morning brunch. On Geneve's recommendation, we took the long route along the Santa Monica beach pedestrian promenade and headed to Urth Caffe, a popular place that served good people watching and magnificent coffees. I had a pretty yummy Norwegian smoked salmon plate for brunch.

After brunch, we walked around the promenade and then finally hit the road for San Diego. We were flying out of San Diego on Monday morning to Cabo, so we just needed to be in SD for Sunday night. We hit some major traffic before Oceanside (5 miles in 1.5 hours!) but finally made it. We were staying in Old Town, which is conveniently located near the airport. Will and and I toured around Old Town, but it was already dark and things were kinda quiet on a Sunday night.

We stumbled on Zocalo Grill, which enticed us with their menu. For an appetizer, we shared a feature of a tiradito of jumbo bay scallops with a watermelon salsa. For dinner, I had the "surf and turf" Barb's caesar salad with spicy shrimp, carnitas, tomatoes and mangos. This salad was damn tasty and one of the best salads that I've ever had. The ripe mangos went perfectly. Will had the pepita-crusted mahi-mahi with avocado salsa, mayan rice and fresh veggies. A bottle of the 2005 Mark West pinot noir completed the meal.

In keeping with our vacation theme, we spent most nights taking it easy after a nice meal. Our flight was at 9:35 am, and then we were off to Cabo!