Everything we’ve been doing so far but with friends makes it infinitely better. We woke up and walked a km down the street to find breakfast. We didn’t find the place we were looking for but the the Mexican diner we stopped at was as authentic as it got! As early as it was, I had a shrimp burrito and I can see why this was the meal that made the diner “famous”. Everyone else also loved their meals and has really good omelettes and tacos. Also the service was great and all the coffee was Mexican style with cinnamon.... so good!
We took a different path home that went along the coast and we climbed cliffs and checked out the tidal pools. We eventually got back to the room to check out and drove up to the national park that also served as the naval base at the very tip of San Diego. We paid to get it and went up to check out the lighthouse where the keeper lived - it was restored to look exactly as it did in the 1800s and had some pretty fine views. It was hot as hell and we could see the Mexican coast from where we were standing. We even made jokes about driving the 15 miles to check out “the wall”. There was also a huge fire that we assumed was a wild forest fire and the sky was covered in smoke.
While sitting on the cliff, we could also see a submarine coming home and meeting a tugboat to get docked. Adam looked it up, and turns out it’s a submarine that’s been in the Middle East for 6 months and is finally coming home. It was close enough that you could see all the people standing on deck(?) coming home - can’t even imagine the feeling and what was going through their heads!
From here, we made our way to Old Town. It was really cute!! It was all set up as if it was still in the 1800s, costumes and all. We walked into an old school cigar shopped where the boys all went crazy and bought cigars (that they later claimed were the best cigars they’ve smoked). The guy working the counter shook the guys’ hands and kissed the girls’ hands. We were all charmed with his gentlemen-ness when Justin called “WIFE” to get my attention since I had the bag. ಠ_ಠ.
We spent more time than planned at old town and grabbed a great array of photos from the blacksmith at work to all climbing into a buggy. I went to slide down the wooden gate and ripped my pants - I walked around with a hole in my butt all day, it was quite airing out which was nice in the crazy heat.
We were somehow already running out of daylight and had an hour until sunset. Traffic was INSANE so we figured we’d give ourselves an hour to get across the bridge and over to the island to see the west coast. Luckily it took us 15 minutes and we got carried away with taking group photos against the San Diego background. All of a sudden we had 10 minutes and realized we still need to get across the island to the ideal sunset watching spot but we mixed up the sun setting time and missed it by 5 minutes. We still had an incredible view when we reached the beach and we frolicked around wth our fuzzy spirit hoods. I can’t wait to see the photos our two talented photographers got! Everything from the Dirty Dancing jump silhouette against the sunset, to kicking the ocean waves, hugging, piggy backing, etc etc. We spent a good hour or two before we realized how hungry we were and drove downtown San Diego. Turns out it’s Thanksgiving Eve and everything is fully packed so it took us a while to find a place and we had to give up on finding something online with good reviews, and to just go in somewhere random.
O. M. G. It ended up being one of the best meals! The service was fantastic, super unique drinks, and the food was to die for. AND they just opened a month ago, so it was all pretty new. By far the best tacos we’ve ever had, and the tuna was so good, that even the one who doesn’t eat fish ordered another!
VERY satisfied, we started our drive back to LA. Pumping music and partying the whole way back (not.... both cars were actually fast asleep) but we got into Venice Beach around 11pm, checked in to our Airbnb, some had to shower after the salty day and we went to the Santa Monica Pier (10 minutes away) around midnight. We walked around, watched an oil rig on fire blazing in flames, Piotr went crazy with photos, and we all just huddled in our furry hoods and wandered around.
It was a late night but we got back and went straight to sleep waiting for another day.
Day 12: With a little help with my friends
2 Moose on the Loose California Car Making friends travel YOLO