California Adventure

Having a great time on our California Adventure.  The first leg; Los Angeles, is behind us.  We had a great time staying with the Kolchins family who were our gracious hosts.  It was wonderful getting the opportunity to catch up with them and to let our kiddos play together.  Cannot wait for this summer for them to get the opportunity to run around together in Sandpoint when we all get together again. 

The first night was a casual night at the house some fish tacos by chef David, delicious.  On Sunday I was able to make my long awaited pilgrimage to one of the largest photography stores on the west coast; Samy’s.  It was literally 4 times larger then Glaziers, the largest shop in Seattle…pretty impressive.  (Now I just need to make it to NYC for B&H…oh momma!)  Afterward…David, Alex and I met up with the ladies at the Grove for dinner.  LA has THE BEST people watching…just things you’d never see most other places…it’s great! 

Monday was a work day for David and Tiffany, so Sarah, Maria and I packed up and headed to the beach.  Santa Monica pier…then time in the sand…walking along 3rd Street…lunch…then a perfectly timed nap while driving home.  In the evening we participated in Passover with David’s family…this was a unique experience…it’s always wonderful and interesting to see how other cultures observer their special days.  It was nothing like I expected…there was definitely a plan to the madness…but with lots of interaction with the group and quite a bit of sarcastic banter from group, it was unlike any religious experience of my life.  As a Catholic, we are all about repetition and procedure…and you don’t mess with either.  No joking around, just get it done.  That was not the case here.  Two hours later we were done with the readings, songs, questions and other ceremonial elements and it was time to eat…unfortunately those 2 hours were just too much for our little one so we had to depart before dinner.  Sorta awkward to crash David’s uncle’s Passover dinner and then to leave without eating…but our baby was exhausted (8:00 when we left).  A quick stop by Ralph’s got us a few items for dinner and we headed home to get Maria to sleep and to bake up our frozen pizza and prep our fruits. 

Speaking of fruit…what a magical place California is for produce.  $0.88 for a pound of strawberries?  And the Champaign Mangos….oh momma…I’m hooked and can’t stop eating them!  David also made the most amazing guacamole for us with tree ripened avocados…wow.

On Tuesday we departed for San Diego.  On the drive down we had the opportunity to visit Sarah’s cousin, Thomas, at his new beach front condo.  WOW…what a place…not 30 feet from the beach…4 blocks from some local bars and restaurants.  Not bad.  Maria really put on a show for him, she was in great spirits…he seemed quite taken by her.  The rest of the drive to San Diego was pretty nice…beautiful views of the ocean…just amazing.  Maria again timed her nap nicely so that she woke up after I had checked into the hotel.  After settling in our room, we headed to the beach.  Armed with more mango we decided to take a leisurely beach walk in Torrey Pines Beach Park.  Afterward we found this random Teriyaki joint (which was NASTY) for dinner…picked up some groceries from Whole Foods and headed home to the hotel.

Today was Zoo day…I think Sarah’s been looking forward to today more then any other day of our trip.  We got to the zoo just after it opened (9:15).  It was great timing as the park was pretty empty when we got there…and was definitely starting to feel “full” by the time we left.  The San Diego Zoo is definitely impressive…but it also helped me to appreciate our Woodland Park Zoo even more.  While the San Diego zoo might have more (quantity & types) animals…most of them were in older style cages, where the Woodland Park Zoo focuses on trying to create habitats for the animals to roam around in.  Now…with the cages, you definitely know that the animals will be right there in viewing range…but it just doesn’t seem nice.  With all that said…we had a great time checking out the Pandas, Elephants (Maria’s favorite), Polar Bears, Hippos, etc.  After the zoo, In-n-Out Burger for lunch.  I’ve had In-n-Out before…but I had forgotten how good it is….good fries, fresh lettuce, plenty of pickles, a nicely toasted bun…heck, I even ate the tomato.  Might give Dick’s Drive-In a run for it’s money if In-n-Out came to Seattle.  Afterward, a short drive to the hotel where Maria took her nap (she’s been AMAZING about being flexible with her nap schedule on this trip!).  After waking up, we freshened up and went to check out Old Town.  My only memory of Old Town when I was here last was of my mother drinking this monster margarita and being very giggly afterward, probably the first and only time I’ve seen her truly drunk.  So of course I had to have one with my dinner….they did have an “El Jeffe” version that was 56oz, I just couldn’t do that…so I had a large in her honor.  It was probably one of the best restaurant experiences we’ve had since Maria was born; there were lots of kids that Maria enjoyed watching, a mariachi band and then there was this cute older couple that talked with Maria.  No chasing her around the restaurant or anything…almost like “normal” people.

So we’re now back in the hotel, tired after a long day.  Tomorrow is Sea World (if it doesn’t rain)!  I’ve done some photo culling and editing on the road…they’re uploading as we speak.  The internet connection in the hotel is a bit slow…they’ve been uploading since 3:00 this afternoon (it’s 9:30 now).

http://photo.tomdos.com/2010california

Missing our fur-child Lucy…and the rest of our friends and family.