San Diego, CA

When my sister told me she was moving to San Diego last winter, I was thrilled - after all it's right down the road from Phoenix, at least by Arizona standards, and it's one of the most beautiful cities in the country. Danna and I have spent a good portion of our lives living and/or working together, and it was a big adjustment for me to be out in Phoenix without her. It was funny to hear Mark and Adam trade stories about us, because we have a lot of personality traits in common that I never realized before.

We arrived on Saturday after spending a ridiculus three hours in traffic on the I5. Bumper to bumper Labor Day weekend traffic that we were not expecting, but should have. I think it's good for us to periodically get stuck in traffic, though, because then it reminds us how much we dislike commuting. So as beautiful as a place might be - we're not moving there if it means spending half your life on the freeway.

First order of business was visiting our favorite San Diego vegan restaurant, Kung Food, which is set up sort of cafeteria style - you pay by the pound. Most of the time we avoid 'imitation' foods - like vegan cheese or "meats" - but Kung Food seems to do it pretty well. I had a lasagna, cucumber salad, and pumpkin stew over quinoa. Adam got chicken pot pie. Danna ate "holy macaroni" - a fantastic hot pesto dish. Mark ate herbed mashed potatoes and gravy, three bean salad and greens. We all feasted on soy ice cream after dinner - they have soft serve here that is so creamy and rich it is hard to believe it is dairy-free. If you are curious about vegan food, this is a good place to come, because they will let you sample everything.

After dinner, we hit the Turf Club for some drinks. This is an interesting place because for $6.75 you can get a steak and cook it yourself. They have a communal grill in the middle of the restaurant where the patrons take up the raw meat that the servers bring out and cook it to their liking. Not vegan, but still very cool. The ambiance in the bar was great, and it was busy but not too crowded. Beer was reasonably priced.

On Monday, we went over to Balboa Park and wandered through the art galleries and gardens. We have discovered that a select number of museums are free to the public every Tuesday, so we are going back today to see the Science Center and Model Railroad museum. The best part of Balboa Park is that you can park and walk around there for free, and the roses always seem to be in bloom. Danna and Adam live in Golden Hill - which I think is a very romantic name for a neighborhood - and it is just minutes away from the park.

Now, if you know Danna and Adam, you know Sidney, their Bull Terrier, aka the "Bully". We went to the dog beach on Coronado Island on Sunday and that was smart, because this beach was not as crowded as the other ones and we found parking right away. Sidney played in the water, sniffed other dogs and got sniffed and dug a giant hole in the sand. Mark and I laid in the sun and dipped our toes into the cool Pacific waters. Later, we noticed that Sidney's tail wasn't wagging as furiously as it usually is - in fact, it looked downright limp. Apparently this "tail exhaustion" can happen to dogs sometime, so she will recover. Sidney is a bold dog and she likes all kind of food. This picture is NOT of her and Adam kissing, but in fact, Sidney grabbing a carrot out of his mouth!