April 14 - United States: San Diego, CA (Cardiff-By-the-Sea)
Today we slept off our hangovers from last night. Lynn rallied (well, she had to) and got up to go to work early in the AM. But Mike, Jon and I slept in. Then Mike and Jon sat around and watched the rest of "The Big Lebowski", which we'd begun last night but fell asleep watching. Then we hit the road, but stopped first at "Roberto's", a taco stand just off the beach.
Run For the Border
Mike, Jon and I hopped in Mikes "work truck" (the pickup provided by Mike's company) and drove south to the border of California and Mexico. Just before the border, there's a very nice outlet mall that has popped up in the last year or so. Mike was responsible for building the new Adidas stores which just opened, so he wanted to stop by and see the finished product. From there, we left the truck in the lot and walked across the border to Tijuana.
The Tijuana Border
Tijuana (also known as "TJ") is a hole. I mean it. It's just as bad as we'd heard it was. The place is full of bars, strip clubs, and cheesy souvenir shops. And everyone tries to get you into their establishment with various gimmicks. "Hey! Margarita specials today, and the lady drinks for free!".... "Coronas for $1. Blondie looks thirsty!"... "Free tequila shots for the blond!" By the end of our trip, we were telling them that "Blondie's has too much already. She's a bit of a lush."
Mike and Jon at the Border
There were also these guys with donkeys on the sidewalks. Except that the donkeys were painted with zebra stripes and were chained in front of a Mexican backdrop on a wagon. So - for a small nominal fee - we could have our picture taken in a sombrero with a donkey/zebra. Not quite what I envisioned as a souvenir from my trip to Mexico.
That's a Zebra-Painted Donkey Underneath all those Blankets
Aside from the bar marketers and the donkey/zebra people, there were also store owners who gave us some good lines such as "Come inside so I can rip you off." and, as we were leaving, "Come in and buy me something before you leave!" Definite points for creativity.
The Line From Hell
All in all, we were only in Mexico for a few hours. But it was more than enough time to be ready to leave. We walked back to the border and crossed over the highway to get to the U.S. Customs side. And we stopped dead in our tracks. The line exiting Mexico was one of the longest I've ever seen! It was even longer than the line fro the Kate Spade Sample Sale - and that one was wrapped around a NYC block! Hundreds and hundreds of people. Mike said that he's exited a different way, so we walked back and tried another route. But no luck at all. After 45 minutes of trying, we came to the conclusion that we'd have to stand for hours in this god-awful line.
I ducked into the bathroom, and then found Mike and Jon - not in line - but standing with an enterprising Mexican dude. It seems that there's a different - and much shorter - line for bicycle riders. So this enterprising young guy was hiring out bikes to ride across the border. Let's see..... a twenty minute wait versus a 2 1/2 hour wait? For $7 a bike? Sold! We paid our money and hopped on the bikes to go through the bicycle lane.
Jon On the Rental Bike (Line From Hell in the Background)
The bikes were hardly quality. They were identical red mountain bikes with number taped to the side. Jon's pedals didn't rotate beyond 90°, my front brakes were busted, and Mike's chain wasn't even connected to the bike. It didn't really matter because we went 100 feet before we had to walk the bikes through the line barricades.
And there, we came to a dead stop.
For 45 minutes.
Sure, we inched forward occasionally. But it was all a big tease, because we could see the door and the metal detectors up ahead. Of course, the pedestrian line was moving through at a nice, brisk pace. For whatever reason, the army boys at Border Control decided to make the cyclists stay back while the pedestrians went through. Mike and Jon figured it was because 70% of the cyclists in line were on broken red mountain bikes with numbers tasted to the side. They were obviously on to our scam. (Our tax dollars at work.)
Finally, we got through and at least an hour before we would have had we stood in line. After getting through the border (Mike said, "I practically had to FORCE him to look at my driver's license!) we ditched the bikes and walked back to the shopping center. It was almost 5:00 by this time, and shops closed at 6:00. So we spent some time at the outlets and then took off.
Las Olas
we had plans to cook dinner in, but none of us felt like dealing with the prep or the clean-up. Instead, we went to Las Olas for Mexican. We just can't seem to get enough of this stuff. The burritos there are so good, as are the strawberry margaritas. After Las Olas, we drove into La Jolla for ice cream. La Jolla is a very expensive area of San Diego, and that was quite obvious by the little shopping center we were in. It was filled with art galleries, quaint little restaurants, and lovely hotels. Oh, and Marble Slab Creamery, which is the entire reason we went there. Marble Slab is just like Cold Rock, the place we loved in Cairns. Jon and I thought this "made-to-order-ice-cream" was such a novel idea, and here it seems we can find it anywhere. How funny is that?
Back at Mike and Lynn's, we settled in for the evening and watched "Bring It On" - the quality flick that it is.