Someone was knocking on some door. It took a bit to wake up all the way, but the knocking turned to a pounding. It wasn’t our door, but at 3:00 am it might as well be. I threw some pants and a shirt on and opened the door.
There was no one there.
I checked out the hall then looked outside. A seriously drunken asshole walked past me like I wasn’t there. He went over and started pounding on the door next to ours. Very politely, in my most polite pissed off 6-foot-5 way, I asked him what the living fuck he was doing. I barely understood that he was locked out and didn’t have his card. His buddy was passed out in the room. I implied that gaining assistance from the front desk was a far more optimal solution. Swaying, he looked at me for a bit, apologized, and headed to the front desk.
Note: I hate people.
Today’s plan was a spa day. I still don’t do spas and stuff, but Yulia and Sasha do. and since none of us slept after getting woke up, it was a way for them to catch up and rest a bit. Once we were up we left the room to get a quick bite. I made sure to walk the hallway and flip the tag on the drunken fool’s room next door from “Do Not Disturb” to “Please Make Up Room”. I smiled at the cleaning crew as they came in.
Have a nice morning assholes.
We then drove to Better Buzz and grabbed some coffee and light breakfast. This was on Sasha’s recommendation, and somehow Sasha finds the best cafes when we go to California. This was just as excellent as her other suggestions. They made great coffee, and small breakfast sandwiches. I grabbed a grilled Bacon, Banana and Almond Butter sandwich. Elvis would be proud.
I dropped the girls back at the resort, and headed into San Diego. My plan was to visit the Maritime Museum. Specifically, I wanted to see the Tall Ships. The Surprise is here, from Master and Commander. It’s not a true historical vessel, but it was built for and used in the film, and makes a great exhibit to show how that era of vessels looked and worked. I love the film and was really glad to get to walk the upper and lower decks. The true tall ship in the collection is the Star of India. This is a Steel Hulled Bark, with three masts and the last of it’s kind still afloat. It’s huge and was in active service up into the late 1930’s. It’s also open on all decks with explanations of the type of service and history.
Honestly, I just like to look at the ships. Sailboats are great to watch, but the intricate rigging of a tall ship is just amazing. I can stand and let my eye wanted up and down the lines and let it sink in. I took a bunch of photos, and went over to the next boat. This was a Soviet Foxtrot class attach sub. This was actually hard to tour, because you have to climb through a round access portal four times in the ship, and I’m just a bit to tall to do this easily. I was actually sore from twisting around by the fourth portal, but I got some great photos as well, and was happy just to get out without slamming my head into a bulkhead or something. There was also a classic Yacht and a passenger ferry in this collection, but really I was there for the tall ships.
I headed back after the tours and met Yulia down at the pool. Sasha was still in the spa doing something that involved oils and smells or something. We both had our books, and I was happy just to lay back and rest. I’m actually on my second book for the trip (Book 3 of Old’s Man’s War by John Scalzi.) But I was really dragging at this point. Just laying back in the shade was a welcome event, reading or not. I Don’t think I actually napped, but it worked in any case.
Sasha eventually joined us, and we made plans to go to Mission Beach. Yulia got the recommendation from someone at the spa, so we thought we’d check it out. It was only about a 20 minute drive, and apparently it has a real Venice Beach style. I managed to get turned around on the highways so it took a little longer to get there.
One of the things Iv’e noticed is that California highways are confusing as well. I’m sure once you are used to how they are marked it all makes sense, but I constantly get turned around, even with a GPS. I remember that when Yulia and I took our first drive to Los Angeles, I got caught in a loop on the freeway and couldn’t figure out how to get out. I had to pull over and ask a local at a Denny’s. That was fun.
Mission Beach was totally another Venice Beach. But where Venice is really super tourist heavy and sketchy, this place is much more area locals and sketchy. It was really busy, but the architecture of the boardwalk houses was still the original bungalows in most places. I could see that the remodeling was in progress, but it was a few years behind Venice. Not sure if that is good or bad, a lot of the areas in Venice Beach are totally new with little original character. This was pretty cool.
We found a great place to eat and had some crab cakes and prime rib. The Mai Tai was good here, and they even had good white wine. It was also about half the price of eating at La Jolla, and that sure didn’t hurt. After eating, we just checked the local area, and waited for the sunset. It has been overcast every evening, so we haven’t had a good sunset yet.
It was worth the wait.
Cognitive Dissonance 