Our San Diego Trip

The Zoro Garden

2007-09-01T23:51:00.001-07:00

It should have really been spelled "Zorro" - but we'll let this go.

Was this really necessary?

2007-09-01T23:48:00.001-07:00

I made the unfortunate mistake of walking RIGHT underneath this statue and saw, to my shock, that the horse was anatomically correct. Really.

In case you were wondering... it's a stallion. Why this was really necessary, I just don't know.

Hey there Crazy!

2007-09-01T23:46:00.001-07:00

Architecture in Balboa Park

2007-09-01T23:43:00.001-07:00

Night in Balboa Park

2007-09-01T23:40:00.001-07:00

Tonight we went to an IMAX movie at the Fleet Science Museum in Balboa Park. It was about dinosaurs. Afterwards we walked through Balboa Park, which has some incredible buildings.

Oona - we're thinking of YOU!

2007-09-01T19:33:00.001-07:00

Oh look! A giant margarita. How did THAT get there?

Mexico, without the border patrol

2007-09-01T19:30:00.001-07:00

Old Town SD - It's like being in Mexico (except no passport required).

Loren

2007-09-01T19:27:00.001-07:00

I've been doing the best I can with this blog, but it's been brought to my attention that I haven't put up pictures of Loren...so here's one.

Costumes in Old Town

2007-09-01T18:29:00.001-07:00

Everyone is dressed in costume today.

Mark and Loren

2007-09-01T18:26:00.001-07:00

Mark and Loren in Old Town. Gee, they really DO look like father and son, don't they!

Zoltar

2007-09-01T18:25:00.001-07:00

Emily with Zoltar the Amazing. I wanted to pay the dollar to get her fortune told... but she declined.

This is self explanatory

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I was thinking of buying this. :)

Black Bean Breakfast

2007-09-01T11:59:00.001-07:00

Emily after having black bean soup and a quesadilla for breakfast. I had tamales - yum. Mark, naturally, had a black bean burrito.

Our breakfast spot

2007-09-01T11:24:00.001-07:00

Having brunch in Old Town. Mexican, of course.

Fun dinner in Old Town

2007-08-31T21:32:00.001-07:00

At dinner. Em is entertained by the live musician who is singing in many strange languages. My favorite was his rendition of David Bowie's "Rebel Rebel" in Portugese at a totally different tempo.

Beautiful Bodies

2007-08-31T21:29:00.001-07:00

Electrics

2007-08-31T21:27:00.001-07:00

Ooh... The finished product - electrics.

"Buffy" at work

2007-08-31T21:26:00.001-07:00

This amazing machine holds a guitar by suction and rubs it against a giant buffing wheel. They call this machine 'Buffy'.

Guitar Tops

2007-08-31T21:24:00.001-07:00

Piles of guitar tops.

Guitar backs

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Backs of guitars.

Future guitar necks

2007-08-31T21:20:00.001-07:00

Here are the pieces of wood that they use for guitar necks.

On the Taylor Guitar Tour

2007-08-31T21:18:00.001-07:00

Today we went on the tour at the Tsylor guitar factory. It rocked! Here's the guide showing us the wood.

Monkeying around

2007-08-30T19:03:00.001-07:00

Orangatan at the zoo. They are SO cute. One of them did somersaults across his enclosure, just like a little kid might do - somersault after somersault after somersault.

Panda

2007-08-30T19:00:00.001-07:00

A panda at the SD Zoo. A baby panda had been born in early August, but they're keeping it in a private area for now. The pandas are amazing, but my favorite animal at the zoo were the elephants. We also saw koala bears.

Headed back to San Diego

2007-08-30T10:43:00.001-07:00

Emily on the plane (the window seat no less) on our way back to San Diego from Tucson.

Beth

2007-08-30T08:41:00.001-07:00

Mark's sister, Beth. After dinner we visited her place. It was great, but the bats in the eaves of the patio roof freaked Ann out a bit.

Billie

2007-08-30T08:36:00.001-07:00

Mark's mom, Billie, tackles her salad.

Beth and Kris

2007-08-30T08:34:00.001-07:00

Out to dinner with Mark's sisters - Beth and Kris.

Rainbow over Tucson

2007-08-29T16:52:00.001-07:00

An unusual sight - a rainbow over Tucson after a rare afternoon shower.

Chuys

2007-08-29T16:45:00.001-07:00

We just had a late lunch at one of our fav places... Chuys! They have a chips and salsa bar with some of the best salsas around. (After this trip we're not going to want to look at Mexican food for a long time).

Pomegranate

2007-08-29T16:42:00.001-07:00

This is a pomegranate growing on the grounds of the Westward Look.

More cool flora

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Artichoke cactus

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I could spend a week on the grounds of this hotel, just looking at the cacti. This one always makes me hungry.

Westward ho

2007-08-29T14:44:00.001-07:00

The grounds of the hotel are gorgeous and it is surrounded by mountains.

Brilliantly colored flowers

2007-08-29T14:42:00.001-07:00

There are about a thousand of these brightly colored flowers in the hummingbird garden at the Westward Look.

Typical AZ

2007-08-29T09:56:00.001-07:00

This is on the way back to the hotel from The Good Egg. We had a huge breakfast and are feeling fat and sassy. :) We're going to spend the afternoon at the pool.

Ah, Arizona... Where the saguaros are as high as an elephant's eye.

Blake at the Good Egg

2007-08-29T08:57:00.001-07:00

We're at the Good Egg having breakfast with Blake. If you ever go to Tucson be sure to have breakfast at the Good Egg. It's the best breakfast place here! Try the Castoville omlette, which is filled with artichoke hearts, spinach and tomatoes.

Nighttime Cactus

2007-08-28T23:01:00.001-07:00

At the Westward Look they light up the cacti at night. Em and I tooka swim under the stars and then a dip in the hottub. We LOVE this hotel!

The scene of the crime

2007-08-28T17:10:00.001-07:00

Just landed in Tucson. Taken from the air is this pic of the mountain where Mark & I got married in 2005.

Walking on the beach in SD

2007-08-28T13:39:00.001-07:00

Em and I were up to our calves in the water when I saw what seemed to be a stingray or manta... a BIG one. I screamed and ran! It was actually a shark!!! A sandshark Mark tells us.

Who needs a stairmaster?

2007-08-28T13:35:00.001-07:00

This is the walkway to the beach.

Wang Lung the farmer and his peon

2007-08-28T13:33:00.001-07:00

Mark is the one who looks like Wang Lung the farmer from The Good Earth.

Look ma, I'm wearing a hat!

2007-08-28T13:29:00.001-07:00

That's me... In case you can't tell. Good for me - I've been very diligent about wearing my hat this trip.

Off to the beach

2007-08-28T13:28:00.001-07:00

After breakfast we decided to go to the beach before checkout. There are a ton of steps to get there. Down is easy...but up? Oye.

Squeaky

2007-08-27T23:25:00.001-07:00

Em and I fell in love with this tiny duckling. It followed us around, squeaking non-stop at the top of its lungs. It actually got out of the water and would go wherever Emily went. We must have spent a half hour with this duck. We named him Squeaky. The video of Emily running from the big ducks was when she went to the food machine to get some duck food for this guy.

Another neat thing we saw were Lorakeets -- which are sort of like a cross of parrots and small fluffy parakeets. They are brightly colored with loud screeching voices. We got to go into an enclosure with them and they flew around us. The signs said that they might land on you and you should allow them to, but don't "pet" them because they may bite. Em and I were actually terrorized in the Lorakeet enclosure. They would whiz by our heads and seemed unpredictable. I had all these visions of Alfred Hitchcock movies. Mark, however, loved the Lorakeets and stayed in there with them for quite a while.

That's it for today!

Ducks

2007-08-27T23:18:00.001-07:00

This is sort of embarrassing We go to the San Diego Wild Animal park, and when I check my pictures later, two thirds of them are of ducks!

The Elephant Egg

2007-08-27T23:15:00.001-07:00

There's a great story behind this not so great picture. We were looking at an enclosure where they kept mother elephants and their babies. (By the way, the baby elephants are adorable. They can be 3 feet tall and 250 pounds at birth.) In the enclosure was this tree pictured above, with a round thing in it, and Emily asked "is that an elephant egg?"

My, what big ears you have!

2007-08-27T21:19:00.001-07:00

Emily's got her pig ears on.

Firt attempt at a video

2007-08-27T21:07:00.000-07:00

I can't see this on my mac, but maybe it will work for you PC people. It's a video of Emily running away from some aggressive geese.

Sensitive animals?

2007-08-27T21:02:00.001-07:00

Em's been called many things in her life....

Em riding the giant rhino

2007-08-27T21:01:00.001-07:00

Who knew there were hobbits in the SD Wild Animal Park?

2007-08-27T20:06:00.001-07:00

The hobbit emerges from a tree. Oh wait... That's not a hobbit, it's Emily.

The Lorax would be proud

2007-08-27T20:01:00.000-07:00

Emily discovers a Truffula Tree.

A Pig of Beauty is a Joy Forever

2007-08-27T19:53:00.001-07:00

I couldn't have said it better myself.

Pigs and piglets

2007-08-27T19:51:00.000-07:00

Although you can't really see it from this picture, there was a mother pig with about 4 or 5 babies trotting along behind her. They were SO cute that Em wanted to take one home. (But they were a bit... smelly.)

What a life

2007-08-27T19:50:00.003-07:00

Lemurs really have it good. I wish I could be a Lemur. Hey, wait, maybe I already am!

Elephant backsides

2007-08-27T19:50:00.001-07:00

Sorry viewers -- I would have liked to get the fronts of the elephants, but it didn't work out.

Ring Tailed Lemur

2007-08-27T19:46:00.001-07:00

I think this was Mark's favorite animal - the Ring Tailed Lemur. They are really cute and acrobatic.

A picture's worth a thousand words

2007-08-27T16:22:00.001-07:00

Pelican

2007-08-27T16:11:00.001-07:00

This is a pelican. It really should do something about that double chin.
Actually, he was frantically waving his saggy chin trying to get attention from the female pelicans.

From the train

2007-08-27T16:09:00.001-07:00

We took a train that drove us through the wild animal enclosures that are designed to mimic Africa. In this picture is the tallest giraffe in the park - almost 19 feet tall - and one of the rarest rhinos around. I think they said that there are only 4 male rhinos of this sort left in the world. They are actually trying to do artificial insemination with the remaining females to try to prevent that species from dying out.

Giraffe

2007-08-27T16:08:00.001-07:00

We got some great views of animals when we took the train through the animal enclosures.

Reminds me of Queens... or the South Shore

2007-08-27T15:59:00.001-07:00

Flamingo island

Animals of some sort

2007-08-27T14:52:00.001-07:00

On the tram. They drive you through the animals. It's a great way to see them, PLUS, it was really hot and we were exhausted... so it was also a good way to sit down.

Pink Flamingos

2007-08-27T13:50:00.001-07:00

Pink flamingos at the SD wild animal park.

Mark's old house

2007-08-27T11:46:00.001-07:00

We're taking the memory lane tour of CA. This is where Mark used to live.

We got up this morning and went to our favorite west coast bagel joint - Einsteins. Then Blake met us and we took a drive to see Mark's former home (pictured above). At some point we detoured to a big shopping center where I got to go into the biggest Sur La Table I've ever seen. The store even had a kitchen where they gave cooking classes. I found a beautiful teapot for $10, but I didn't get it because it would have been too hard to get home. :(

After our trip through Mark's former life, we headed out to the San Diego Wild Animal Park.

In case you go to San Diego

2007-08-26T23:25:00.002-07:00

I totally recommend eating here. It's called 3rd Corner and it's in Ocean Beach. The food and ambiance were great and we liked everything about it (except the bill, but what can you do).

Mark and Em are already sound asleep, and it's time for me to hit the sack as well. Tomorrow we're off the the SD Wild Animal Park.

Mark's plate of pits

2007-08-26T23:25:00.001-07:00

As a comparison... here is Mark's plate of olive pits. Now I know at this point you're starting to wonder how many pictures of olive pits I'm going to put on my vacation blog. You'll be relieved to know that this was it. :)

The food here was marvelous. I had a salad with marinated tomatoes, olives and a basil vinaigrette and a chicken sandwich with tomato tapenade and pesto (and incredibly thin pomme frites - aka french fries to you uncivilized people). The rest of our party all had the pasta dish, which apparently was very good as well.

I'm so full now that I feel like I'm going to give birth to a chicken sandwich.

Emily's plate of pits

2007-08-26T23:23:00.001-07:00

To give you an idea of how many olives Emily ate....

Two minutes later

2007-08-26T23:21:00.001-07:00

This is our olive sampler two minutes after it had been placed near Emily.

Our Olive Sampler

2007-08-26T23:20:00.001-07:00

Not only did this place have great wine, it had great olives! Em was in heaven. This is our olive sampler when we got it.

Look at the size of Blake's wine glass

2007-08-26T23:19:00.001-07:00

My God! His glass is as big as his head!

Mark photographing the wine

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dinner

2007-08-26T23:15:00.001-07:00

We went to this great wine bar restaurant for dinner. Blake suggested it (GREAT call Blake!). It was actually a combination wine store/restaurant with a great weird menu and a neat ambiance (you at among the stacks of wine bottles). This was the wine we had = a Cabernet Franc with a great cigarlike quality.

I see a bad moon rising?

2007-08-26T23:14:00.001-07:00

This is the moon rising over San Diego... which was pretty interesting considering the sun hadn't set yet.

Is that an umbrella growing out of your head?

2007-08-26T23:12:00.001-07:00

Or are you just glad to see me?

I'm enjoying the live guitarist outside.

Music

2007-08-26T23:10:00.001-07:00

This guy was playing the guitar on the hotel grounds. His music was sort of a blend of Spanish, Flamenco and Jazz. We really enoyed listening to him, and we bought his CD to listen to in the car.

Em in the sand

2007-08-26T18:04:00.001-07:00

I'm king of the mountain Ma, king og the mountain!

WAY more sand than Jones beach

2007-08-26T18:03:00.001-07:00

The beach is so wide here, and very flat and smooth. No rocks or stones in the sand at all.

What a sky!

2007-08-26T18:00:00.001-07:00

Em admiring the sky.

Nematoad and Nematoadette

2007-08-26T17:57:00.001-07:00

Blake and Em on the beach.

From the beach

2007-08-26T17:23:00.001-07:00

Em, Blake and I walked to the water and Em put her feet in. Here's the view of the hotel from the water.

The live band

2007-08-26T17:19:00.001-07:00

Mark listens to the band while Blake, Em and I walk on the beach. They played a very eclectic set, from a weird version of Guns and Roses' Sweet Child of Mine to Neil Young's Cinnamon Girl.

Em enjoying the music and view

2007-08-26T16:58:00.001-07:00

Sitting on the deck, listening to music, drinking an iced tea.

The beach

2007-08-26T16:54:00.001-07:00

The Coronado Island beach. There's a LOT of sand.

Listening to live music

2007-08-26T16:51:00.001-07:00

Having a drink on the Hotel Del Coronado deck. There's a 5 piece live band playing and Mark is in heaven.

Hotel Del Coronado

2007-08-26T16:43:00.001-07:00

The Hotel Del Coronado. It's VERY expensive (ie: $350 a night). There are restaurants, shops, live music, bars, pools, and beach all on its grounds. I love Coronado Island!

CA flora

2007-08-26T16:24:00.001-07:00

Cool plants. They're called Birds of Paradise. They look gorgeous, but smell like hell!

Our next major purchase?

2007-08-26T16:17:00.001-07:00

Picking out our yacht.

Coronado boathouse

2007-08-26T16:16:00.001-07:00

The Coronado boathouse.

Picture from the Coronado Bridge

2007-08-26T16:09:00.001-07:00

Loren needed an afternoon nap, so the rest of us headed to Coronado Island. This picture is from the bridge.

Loren's work

2007-08-26T16:04:00.001-07:00

This is the house that Loren manages. It has 11 apartments in it, and his office. (And it's conveniently located down the street from his house).

Loren's pad

2007-08-26T13:47:00.001-07:00

Loren's house - built 1906. Really high ceilings. Oona - you'd love this house!

Loren's "welcome" mat

2007-08-26T13:45:00.001-07:00

Loren's welcome mat.

Not all pitbulls are scary

2007-08-26T13:42:00.001-07:00

Loren's dog Hannah. She's a pitbull....but very sweet.

After bruch, headed to Loren's house

2007-08-26T13:27:00.001-07:00

I took this pic for Mark. He said 'imagine how weird it is to be driving behind your two grown sons.' He's right - it must be weird. We headed to Loren's house.

Big palms

2007-08-26T13:20:00.001-07:00

Palms on Ocean Beach.

Em's Mexican food chronicle

2007-08-26T12:26:00.001-07:00

Emily is keeping a log of all the Mexican food she's eating on this trip.

Nicks on Ocean Beach

2007-08-26T12:24:00.003-07:00

Out the restaurant window.

Stomach of iron breakfast

2007-08-26T12:24:00.001-07:00

My chillaquillas with refried beans - you've got to have a stomach of iron for a brunch like this!