Recap.

And we're back. Actually, we've been back for a couple days but I have reverted back to my college days when I would wake up, throw on a sports bra, t-shirt, sweatshirt, jeans and athletic shoes and not do a damn thing all day long (which is a glorious feeling by the way) so I apologize for my lack of posting. Actually, I wrote something on New Year's Day, but I re-read it and found it to be the most depressing, sad, blue-colored thing I have ever written, so I opted not to post it. No need to depress all my faithful Internet followers on the freshest start of the year.

Back to our trip to San Diego. My friend and traveling cohort, JH, did a great recap of the trip- so much so, that I am less than inspired to write about it. But I will do the oh-so-bland bullet point recount and hope it does the trick for all of you who have been going to bed at night wondering what we did and how much we cried after our team lost.

• Day 1. A non-delayed flight on the way out there! We were off to a good start. We landed, waited for our bags and a complimentary shuttle to the hotel and decided it was time to hit up Old Town for some Mexican Food. I insisted on us trekking 15 blocks out of our way through a region that resembled the south side of Chicago in search of a quaint restaurant creatively named, Old Town Mexican Cafe. It did not disappoint. The homemade tortillas and carnitas were great.
  
  
• Day 2. I have a great uncle who taught cello at the University of Oregon for 40 some odd years. Despite the fact that he graduated from my alma mater, he roots for the ducks. (Aaand for those who don't follow college football, our team played Oregon in the bowl game). We met he and his wife, my great aunt, for breakfast that morning at the marina. They were unable to come to our wedding (they live in Oregon, we live in Oklahoma) so it was neat for my loving husband to meet some more of my eclectic, ridiculously talented and kind extended family. We then proceeded to watch the Holiday Bowl parade. Good times.
  
  
• We are still on Day 2 folks. After the parade, we hoofed it back to the hotel to pick up JH and head north to Pacific Beach. It.Was.Beautiful. I opted to take in some shopping, while JH and my loving husband found Michigan's official watch party bar. I don't know why that is relevant, but it is about all I remember from that place. That and there was delicious food and Fat Tire beers. Oh, and it was outdoors. And the weather was perfect. Ok, so the Michigan thing is completely irrelevant. Moving on.
  
  
• That night we hit up the Gaslamp Quarter. I had heard about this restaurant where you order a cut of meat and cook it yourself at their little indoor hibachi grills. Sounded somewhat interesting and definitely not something you can do back home. The place is called the Gaslamp Strip Club. And, well...I don't think I will ever go back. Amazingly enough, the scantily clad waitresses did not bother me. Neither did the -ahem- selection of music. No, no. I can handle all that. In the end, it was the whole concept that got me. As JH and my loving husband said, the meat is all about the marinade. And when you order a slab of meat, which is delivered to your table unseasoned and well, raw, you kind of have a challenge marinading the thing. Sure, they give you some garlic salt and pepper. And even a bottle of Lea and Perrins. But, after touching raw meat with no place to properly wash my hands, I was less than enthused to eat my very expensive fillet that had little to no flavor. This place was a horrible idea, but sadly I must take full responsibility for it. I can see if you were with a big group of friends and had been enjoying a day full of consuming frosty adult beverages, you might find standing in front of a quasi-hot indoor grill paying someone to allow you to cook your own meat a fun thing to do. But not us. Not me, anyway. JH kindly disagrees. I think he's just a people pleaser and I do truly appreciate that trait.
  
  
• Day 3. GAME DAY. I said that AT LEAST 65 times to JH and my loving husband. This was actually, I think, my favorite day. We headed to Balboa Park and took in some local art at MoPA, a photography museum. They had some really unique stuff, including an exhibit by local school kids. The kids had to take a picture and relate it to a piece of literature, which I found fascinating. Maybe it is because I did my senior research paper on the paradoxes of surrealism in which I compared a piece of art, a piece of literature and a piece of music. I was (am?) a nerd. Anyhoodle. I suppose that goes without saying. After a delightful lunch outdoors under some beautiful architecture and sculptures, we headed to the center of the park to view the world's largest fig tree. Ok, I don't really know if it was the world's largest, but it was pretty big. Thanks to JH for having a camera on hand. Those tiny people you see in the bottom right hand corner are my loving husband and yours truly. And then, it was time to do a some pre-gaming. Kind of like pre-partying, but with a game being the end result instead of a party.

• We got on the handy dandy San Diego trolley and were halfway to the marina when we realized we were running out of precious time to consume those frosty adult beverages I mentioned. So we jumped off and got back on going the opposite direction and went back to the hotel were we did the following. Thanks again to JH for his photography skills.
  
  
• On onto the game. Where we lost. To a PAC-10 school. Such a sad day. To our credit, all THREE of our best players were either injured or attempting to play through an injury or just returning from surgery from an injury, so I don't consider the loss all that depressing. We had a good time nonetheless.
  
  
• Day 4. New Year's Eve, I might add. Some serious fog rolled in to the area and cancelled about 40 flights. We got a call from Judi with American Airlines at 3 in the morning telling us about being delayed and re-routing. After some serious negotiating and maneuvering at the airport, we finally arrived back home. Only to have our luggage not return with us. I promptly marched up to the luggage counter where I was greeted by a closed door with a hand written scribbled note " Back in 5 minutes." Such service. My bags finally arrived on New Year's Day. Thank goodness.

And that my friends, is it. It was a great trip. I have to announce some other exciting news. WE GOT A NEW WASHER AND DRYER!!!! We have had the most pathetic washer and dryer for almost two years now. The washer does not drain water, so you have to wring out your clothes by hand and the dryer make the most gawd-awful sound on the face of the earth. It's like if a hamster was running on an ungreased wheel only magnified 6,000 times. I am not kidding. I was on the phone with the friendly baggage agent trying to find my lost luggage when she asked, "What is that noise?!?!" I sheepishly answered, "Oh. Sorry. That's our dryer." I then glared at my loving husband who promptly went to turn it off until I had finished my phone call. But tomorrow is the day we get a sparkling new Kenmore made appliance. It's an interesting point in your life when the highlight of your week is waiting for the Sears appliance delivery man to arrive at your doorstep. But I guess we all get there eventually.