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Published: April 27th 2010
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Ballpark Brews!
Photo credit: KC Preparation for a long weekend in San Diego:
My initial visit to San Diego was in January 2007. Stayed in downtown hotels (La Pensione; Sofia Hotel). Frommer's guidebook. No rental car. Toured the area by trolley, tour bus, or walking - missed points north of Old Town... but I remember having a good time nonetheless. But... I definitely favored a rental car next time around.
First flight of 2010 - Thursday, April 15:
After arriving at Orange County Airport (SNA), we picked up our rental car - a Toyota Corolla. Neither of us were aware they were safe to drive... but we had a great deal from Hertz so who are we to complain. Skipped the Hertz GPS option in favor of the map apps on our respective smartphones.
The traffic on I-5 South was light until we reached the Carlsbad area... we were pretty hungry so we exited and wound up driving on El Camino Real, which was parallel to I-5 and allowed us to continue to our destination without driving out of the way.
Following lunch, we returned to I-5 and, ultimately, we checked-in at our hotel - Homewood Suites in Del Mar, rated #4
by TripAdvisor users. We chose the hotel because each room boasted a full kitchen, which allowed us to save money on meals and refreshments. Using Google Maps, we returned to the highway and drove less than 4 miles to the La Jolla shopping village where we found Trader Joe's and Whole Foods for our groceries.
Friday, April 16:
Armed with two rolls of quarters, we drove to downtown San Diego after rush hour and bypassed the parking meters entirely... opting for the Padres Parkade on J St (between 10th and 11th) with its sign of '$6 Parking' as long as we left by 6pm.
We browsed the Padres team store for souvenirs but didn't purchase anything. After all, I'm a hardcore Yankees fan. I can't believe I thought to buy any other team's stuff.
We didn't have firm plans for the evening so we casually approached the Petco Park ticket window to see if there any "good seats" left. As it turns out, there were. We bought two tickets for that evening's game for $44 each - along the first base line, 4th row back. Wow. The price isn't shocking so much because the Padres are
a small-market team. However, being accustomed to Yankee Stadium (old or new) pricing, $44 is a bargain.
We grabbed lunch in the Gaslamp Quarter, then browsed most of the streets near the Convention Center, East Village, then up by Little Italy before returning to the parking garage to move our car... only to learn we only had to pay an additional $9 to leave the car there for the evening. Another bargain... most of the curbside parking is color-coded, thus setting a maximum time you can leave your car parked. Otherwise, you have to feed the meters frequently. We learned that if you are a resident, you can purchase a debit card to feed meters and get reimbursed later for unused time. Wow. Wish that could be an option closer to home!
We walked around the stadium concourse to familiarize ourselves with the food and beverage options. I was thrilled to see a Ballpark Brews stand with a nice variety of local microbrews in addition to your more common options (I bought a draft of Stone IPA). Our seats were close to the field as advertised. It was refreshing to see certain players, e.g. Will Venable, sign autographs for fans during warmups. During the game, our neighbors were open to conversation and offered us other local points of interest. Overall, we enjoyed the game - a little sloppy and slow to start, but that was attributable to poor control by the Padres' starting pitcher. I was familiar with most of the players since I participate in an NL-only fantasy baseball league. I even made an effort to contribute to the "Wave" - yeah, go ahead and mock me; figured this is what small-market teams' fans continue to do. Fine with me. But, the game ended with a thrilling walk-off 3-run homer by the Padres' 3B Chase Headley. After being treated to a postgame fireworks show, we drove home.
Saturday, April 17:
We walked around downtown in the morning and drove north toward Escondido to visit the San Diego Zoo's Wild Animal Park. The girlfriend is a HUGE fan of giraffes. I don't pray much, but I prayed there would be giraffes. The park maps and posters boasted illustrations of giraffes, but there was no mention of where the giraffes were on the animal park map. Very, very stressful until we boarded the Journey of Africa tram and saw the giraffes in the distance. Thank goodness - the girlfriend will be happy, I thought...
We liked our brief stay at the park so much, we bought a dual annual membership on the spot. We vow to be back soon enough... to buy the Savannah Safari... so we can feed the giraffes next time!
Sunday, April 18:
After running errands in the morning, we checked-out of Homewood and drove to Laguna Beach to meet with friends who live in the area. We enjoyed a nice lunch at Crab Zone (217 Broadway, off PCH) followed by hours of conversation. Unexpectedly, long after we settled our bill, chef Mindy brought out a nice dish of sweet potato fries for us to snack on while the staff refilled our drinks... at no charge! Great service to begin with... on top of that nice finish.
We returned to EWR via the red-eye from SNA. We envision our next trip to San Diego will be later this summer... so we can spend more time with the giraffes and some time off-the-beaten-path with visits to the Stone and Lost Abbey breweries in the San Marcos area. Cheers!
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