Tuesday, March 5th, 2002

We're up at 7am (you know, hours after Andy's alarm starts going off) to take them to the train station. Today we are to pick up a rental for the remainder of the week so we're borrowing their car to get there and then dropping it off at Megan's work. Of course, we're not supposed to pick the car up until 11am so we go back to sleep until 9:30 or so.

We make it to Avis at John Wayne and pick up a not-so-shabby Alero and head for Megan's work in Anaheim which we find across from the Angels' park (the New Horizons building is literally in the same parking lot). We walk up and as we approach the receptionist's desk, we see Megan walk across but lose sight and can't find her since there are so many offices and cubicles. We drop the keys off but, since we're going to grab a bite before heading to San Diego, decide to ask Megan if she wants to do lunch. Turns out a she was about to go with a bunch of her co-workers so she asks if we can tag along -- until she is told they are going for sushi and, well, Megan and Andy are just not sushi people.

Instead, we head down to Rutabaga's, a restaurant near Chapman University with a menu thicker than my college Calc text book -- ok, so maybe not that bad but it was literally somewhere around fourteen pages long. The cuisine seemed mostly natural & vegetarian and had a large selection of tea and coffee. After lunch, we take Megan & Andy back to work and leave for San Diego, about a 1½ hour drive south.

We drive by Carlsbad, home of the Legoland park and the tulip fields?, but neither is visible from the highway (or maybe we are just blind). I had looked into going to the Lego park but they were not open Tuesday or Wednesday of this week. Plus, admission is $40 for the day and we just don't have a full day to go anyways. We get to San Diego and follow our map straight into Balboa Park where a bunch of museums and the famous San Diego Zoo are located.

The animatronics at the T. Rex exhibition

Again, having planned poorly for the day, we find out zoo tickets are $32 and they museum would only be open a few more hours so we check out the guide for anything that looks interesting. We head to Natural History Museum where they have an exhibition named T. Rex on Trial. The idea is to use the given clues to determine whether T. Rex is guilty of murder -- in other words, is T. Rex a predator or a scavenger? This is actually a topic of much debate so the exhibit entertains us for a good hour or so as we look at the different fossil casts and numerous clues. I take a few shots including one of an unbelievably accurate replica by the entrance.

Standing near the House of Hospitality

We move on to take some pictures by the fountain and then grab some coffee at The Prado's which is the restaurant in the park's House of Hospitality. We call our friend Kevin who lives in San Diego but he's still at work so we head out for a drive and decide to check out the bridge to Coronado (and the sunset as we cross). We then realize it's a toll bridge but it's all good because car pools don't have to pay (yay!). We cross back, catch a view of the city, and head north trying to kill time and finally stop at a 7-11 to call Kevin again. We can't get through so we try our friend Melanie, who is in Gainesville but is originally from San Diego. She suggests we head to the Gaslamp District on the south side of the city.

The Gaslamp District seems like one of the major going-out spots in San Diego as it is packed with bars and restaurants everywhere. We head to dinner at Croce's where, looking over the menu, we find a dish with free-range chicken (Laurel can't pass on since she only eats meat that is free-range). If you're not familiar with the Croce name, Jim Croce was a well known jazz musician who passed away in the early 70's. His wife, Ingrid, opened the restaurant and bar in 1985 in memory of her husband. The place is nicely decorated with many family pictures hanging on the walls.

Amazingly enough, as we finish dinner a party of four are sat next to us and I realized one is an acquaintance from UF who is also on break in California. Small world.

After dinner we walk next door to Croce's Jazz bar and get a drink next to a bright neon sign while we wait for Kevin who agreed to meet us there. A live band starts playing and I become a royal pain (me? no!) because I want to have a martini similar to the one from 230 Forest ave. The waitress asks the bartender to see what he can do and we watch as he mixes some magical ingredients which he then has waitresses try. Kevin arrives about an hour later and we catch up on old times. Around 10pm, we head out of town back to Laguna Beach.

Wednesday, March 6th, 2002

The golf course puzzle was never completed

We decide to be low-key today and stick around the Dana Point / Laguna Beach area to walk around and checkout the beach and shops. We start by taking a walk to the beach down by the golf course behind Megan & Andy's place. The walk takes about 20 minutes and we reach the beach where we see a few surfers and other people jogging. The view is nice but the west coast beaches just don't seem as nice as some in the east coast (and neither has the appeal of most Caribbean beaches. But I'm probably just biased).

We walk back, drive into town, park, and walk along the PCH. Laguna is supposedly famous for their art festivals which take place several times a year -- and it shows from all the galleries we pass by. We grab lunch and coffee at the Heidelberg Cafe and Pastry shop, and continued on down the road. About the only things we end up buying are a pair of blue-colored shades to replace some I lost and a couple of used CD singles by Gus Gus and Ruby. Just random things I hadn't found anywhere before (mainly because, like Laurel, I hate shopping for the most part). Oh, and why blue shades? Just cause.

Taking a break on some rocks at Laguna Beach

We move on to Laguna Beach where we take some pictures of the beach and watch what we can of the sunset (it was cloudy). The beach consists of a main area (where some dog-training was taking place) with benches and basketball courts, some cool looking rocks on the north side. The rocks form some beautiful shapes and, in the water, a larger formation serves as the home for seagulls and other types of birds. Above the rocky area, a watch-point provides a telescope to check out the view.

We head back to Megan & Andy's and decide our plan for Thursday is to give skiing another so we make hotel reservations in San Bernardino to shorten our driving for Thursday. Megan & Andy get home and it turns out it is Andy's birthday. We order some personal pizzas, celebrate with a little wine and finally say our goodbyes and head out. It is past 9pm so we decide to take the highway instead of going through the mountains which should save us about an hour worth of travel time.

The weather in Dana Point is rainy and, as we reach San Bernardino, it starts to get a little heavier. The next day's forecast looks promising for skiing so, with that nice set of news, we hit the sack with the alarm set for 6:30am.