April 15 - United States: San Diego, CA (Cardiff-By-the-Sea)

Today we were supposed to go to LA to stay with Jon's cousin Rob and his family.  We said goodbye to Mike and Lynn as they left for work.  The rest of the morning was spent packing, doing laundry, and a few other things.  We had completely packed up the car and were making a last round of the house to make sure we hadn't forgotten anything, when we stopped and looked at each other.  We said, "Why are we leaving today?".  Jon's cousin was going to be incredibly busy today and wasn't planning on getting home until late tonight.  So why leave San Diego - a place we really love - to go to LA - a place we really don't?  We'd rather postpone our trip north another day when we can spend more time with Rob.

Rainy Cardiff-By-The-Sea

We called Mike and told him we were staying another night and that we were making dinner.  Lucky him!  We went to the nearby Seaside Market, but couldn't find the ingredients for our Phad Thai.  So we ended up getting makings for Red Curry Chicken.  Then we went to Mike's office (about five minutes away) and grabbed him for lunch.

Surfer Girl Crossing Sign 

Surfer Boy Crossing Sign (note the shadows emphasizing the biceps - a biased street sign!)

He took us to a pizza place called "Bongiorno", owned by some guys from the Bronx.  Mike - the New Yorker that he is - felt compelled to mention that "the crust's not as good because the water is different out here".  The pizza was great, and we thought the crust was just fine, despite the water difference.

It was a cold and rainy day, so we spent the afternoon laying around in the living room and holding our own "Soprano's Marathon" because Mike and Lynn have the first two seasons on DVD.  The marathon carried over when Mike got home and dinner was cooking.  Lynn got home a bit later, which was perfect because dinner took longer to cook than we'd thought it would.  During dinner, we watched two incredibly ridiculous shows: "ElimiDate" and "The Bachelor", both of which involved one guy choosing a date/girlfriend among a group of women.  This is what we've digressed to?  No wonder other cultures find Americans outlandish.  

It was a nice, quiet evening with good friends.  And no bear or wine.  We're going through detox after this past weekend.  Mike said he'd been "feeling pasty" all day.  So we just chilled out on the couch and enjoyed each others' company.