San Diego Adventure - Sunday

Our super short visit to San Diego is just about done. I'm tapping out this blog post from the departure gate, waiting to board.

On Saturday, we took a hike up a nearby mountain. Our friends brought their 3 1/2 year old and 5 month old along for the adventure. I was amazed at how much hiking the 3 1/2 year old did; he managed to summit a peak that would have been a stretch for many adults.

Along the way, we hit a number of Geocaches. These San Diego'ians don't mess around when it comes to Geocaching. There must have been almost 20 caches to hit between the house we were staying at and the top of the mountain.

While I took a Shabbos Nap, one of our friends took Shira up in his plane for a tour of the area. You can see a number of excellent aerial shots that she was able to grab. Apparently, as they landed, so did an F18 on a parallel runway. That's so cool.

Today was spent exploring more of Cabrillo National Monument and hanging with friends. As if we weren't enjoying ourselves enough, we received a weather report from back home: yes, it was snowing again. By us, it's been 3 perfect days of sunshine.

Enjoy the photos! Tomorrow, they'll be the closest we can get to weather perfection.

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San Diego Adventure - Friday

I love jet lag. At least I love it when it works to my advantage. Thursday night we flew into San Diego and after taking care of a small server issue I hit the sack around 1am. But, thanks to jet lag, I was wide awake at 5:30am PST, and ready to start our mini California vacation! (By the way, Shira was not amused and made me go back to bed.)

We got our little trip off to an excellent start with a run along Harbor Drive, where I soaked up the sunshine as best I could. After the run, I had Huevos Rancheros at Grand Central Cafe, in downtown San Diego. Between the run, sun and breakfast, our trip was already a massive success.

After getting cleaned up, we met our friends at Balboa Park for a terrific stroll through the area. With the various gardens and other scenery to photograph, I was like a kid in a candy store. My favorite, though, had to be the cactus garden. These plants are just amazing, it's like they're from another planet.

Never one to give up the chance to Over Do It, I dragged Shira to the Cabrillo National Monument. The views from this point of land are most excellent. But the coolest part by far were the tide pools. These little puddles are filled with tiny creepy crawly things just waiting to be discovered. It was tons of fun playing Jr. Marine Biologist.

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Caption Me - Closeup Edition

Who doesn't love a little macro photography? Here's a few shots from our most recent trip. Have a caption idea? Drop 'er in the comments.

Watching the Bolts Pull Out the Victory

The San Diego Chargers game we caught today turned out to be an excellent one. It was a fight right up until the last 30 seconds, where the Chargers pulled out the victory.

Compared to say watching Tennis or Baseball live, I was struck by just how quickly the game moves and how much activity is happening in parallel at any one moment. Get distracted by a player on the sideline (or, say, a cheerleader dressed up as a skimpily dressed Police Officer costume), and poof, you could miss a key play or penalty. Heck, even when I was watching the play unfold, I'd still often wonder what the heck just happened. But it wouldn't really matter, because the game zipped right along and there was more action to see.

Makes me appreciate the commentary and instant replay at home, which spoon feeds you just what you need to know. Still, nothing beats being there - surrounded by 59,000 other fans all cheering at the top of their lungs.

A few photos below. Man, it's hard to photograph football - there's just so many places the ball can end up, and I always seem to guess the wrong place to point the camera.

Football California Style

Just arrived at the San Diego game and it's just a little different from the last NFL experience I had years ago in Buffalo, NY.

My toes aren't frozen, I just ate a veggie dog, the sun is out and it's hovering around 70 degrees.

Where's the fun in all this?

Oh well, I guess I muscle through this difficult situation.

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Out for a morning walk

Got to love the view, as well as the intimidating signage.

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San Diego Adventures - USS Midway and The Zoo

Our visit to the USS Midway was an absolute treat. This was my first time on an aircraft carrier, and its massive scale had the expected effect: Wow.

You might think that an aircraft carrier would be no place for a 14 month old. You'd be wrong. Our little one had an absolute blast. From the chains in the anchor room, to the controls of the training simulators, to the inside of a helicopter - there were infinite things for him to handle and explore. It was like a playground that both he and I could run wild in.

After the Midway, we hit the San Diego Zoo. It's easy to see why the zoo is absolutely world class, it's gigantic. This could easily have been our all day activity.

The real highlight of the day, though, was meeting our new friend Braydon. New, because he's only been on Earth for about 5 weeks. He's so cute and fragile and full of potential. He's an angel.

Some photos...

When Time Zones Attack

Right on time, our little one woke up 6:00am. Unfortunately, nobody explained to him, that it's actually 3:00am here. He was up and ready to start his day, and who could blame him?

Between the desk phone we unplugged and gave him, and the big cylindrical decorative pillows from the bed, he had a field day playing in the room. And while he was tiring himself out, I snapped these photos from our hotel room.

Doesn't San Diego look exciting at night?

This isn't the first time the Boy has allowed me to capture photos at 3:00am, the results of which I'm usually pretty pleased with.

Finally, a Satisfied Air Phone Customer

I'm tapping this message out as we are mid flight on our way to San Diego.  For the first couple hours our little did the best he could to entertain himself in our 3-seat row.  His favorite activity, by far, was playing with the now deactivated Air Phone installed in the seat in front of him.  The boy loves phones and buttons, and here within reach is just such a specimin to interact with.  The fact that it has a button you can press to pop the phone out with a solid thump, and then a auto retracting cord, is just icing on the cake.

As technology flops go, the in seat Air Phone has to be up there in the record books.  Good to know that all that technology and investment could be used to entertain a 14 month old.

Currently, the boy is sprawled out on the seat between Shira and Myself. It's a precious sight to see, to say the least.  If he sleeps the rest of the flight, that will be a quite the gift.  What will happen when we land and Shira and I ready for sleep, and he's waking up rested - well, we'll just play that by ear.

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