Re-accommodated, Migrating South

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It is time to leave Los Angeles, if only for a few days. Karina and Joel have been wonderful hosts but they do need to go to work and I would like to see Orcas before the state of California forces Sea World to release them to the wild or put them down or something. So we are going to San Diego, its only 2 hours away and justifies having rented a car. We arise at a reasonable hour and while Abcde and I make it to the breakfast area first, Wife is seated before us. I think it was because I went and re-installed the carseat before Abs and I joined the line for omlets. Abcde nibbled random bits, I had a delicious omlet and Caroline ate anything she could find without eggs in it. Long story, ask me sometime. Caroline sent me to the desk to ask what time checkout was and I returned and lied through my teeth, telling her that we needed to be out by 10. Believable because there are hotels that have departure times that early but an untruth because we really had until noon. But before you think me a jerk, I know she will run late, she knows she will be late and I get frustrated when the housekeepers are asking us to leave when the only thing that caused us to be there past departure time is poor time management.
HGI old town
Anyway it worked and at 10:30 (notice we did not make my supposed departure time) we exited the hotel and climbed into the rental and were on the road. <br style="line-height: 1.2em; outline: none;" />We blitzed south, taking Siri's advice for the fastest route which inclued a toll road (will find out how much that costs me later), speeding past a police officer with a radar gun (he didn't chase us, do they do that in CA or just send the ticket to the owner of the liscence plate?), and avoided the Pacific Coast Highway (I think, maybe I am wrong, is the 5 the PCH?). We were making such good time and the view was so beautiful that after being on the road for an hour I pulled off at a lookout point just north of Camp Pendleton. Since the weather was a little on the cool side we decided to forgo our original plan to head straight to the beach before check in, and take the more senic route on the coastal roads if we could find them. Soon we came to an exit that said Coastal Highway and took it without hesitation. As we took the off ramp I saw something that made me ask Caroline if she was hungy (it was about noon already). She replied "What? Did you see and In-N-Out?" "Yes, how did you know?" Needless to say we stopped at the obligatory tourist destination, an In-N-Out. Ours happened to be in Oceanside and was nice and friendly and clean. At least mostly. I got the Double Double, 2 patties, 2 slices of cheese and Wife got the basic hamburger. However hers came with a footlong hair that was so firmly tied in to the burger that you could lift it while wrapped by the hair.
Mission Bay
All wife wanted was a replacement but I think they were afraid that we would pitch a fit cause they kept checking to make sure we were ok. After the third time I joked that I should have asked for a T-Shirt for the inconvenience. Anyway, we got back on the road and drove along the waterfront through Oceanside, Carlsbad, Solana, and Del Mar where we rejoined the 5 and finished our drive into San Diego. Still hours from check-in we stopped at Mission Bay Public Park and let mi monito wear herself out. She did the slide, and the swings and walked down the waterfront, and tried to run into the bay and did more slides. Finally it was time to head to the hotel. It was only a few minutes more down the road and soon we were checked in. I asked the front desk for recommendation of places to take a 2 year old and then after settling into the room, we disregarded them entirely and took a wander through Old Town. <br style="line-height: 1.2em; outline: none;" />Old Town is a complete tourist trap disguised as a State Park but we still had a good time. I found my only acceptable souvenir, a patch for my back pack, and we wandered through shops and past restaurants and museums. I think we are planning to return on Friday as we leave San Diego and head back to LA. We found a little pottery shop that had gorgeous yet pricey, painted, hand lathed, wooden bowls. I stepped into a tasting room and was told that Abcde was too young so I offered to tie her up outside. Then after trying a couple of beers, purchased on and found I could not take it out of the shop and into the square where a dancing demonstration was happening.
Wooden bowls
Caroline went ahead with the child and I finished my beer before I joined them. A couple of songs after I arrived, Caroline and Abcde were ready for dinner and we left. I know it is not a flashy tourist decision but since I am a Hilton Employee, I get a discount in the hotel restaurant and that is where we would eat. <br style="line-height: 1.2em; outline: none;" />Caroline had a margarita and grilled salmon, I had a monster of a hamburger with fries and Abcde had the chicken tenders (they were processed and like giant McDonalds nuggets, but the breading was tasty enough and most importantly, Abcde would eat them with ranch to dip them in). All in dinner was $49 before discount, after discount plus tip I got a great dinner for the 3 of us for $40. We will probably do that again this stay, I mean you can't eat at Applebees that cheap and this was better food. Back to the room, we settled in for the night. It had been a good day and we were going to Sea World in the morning.





Wooden bowls (1) Wooden bowls (2)

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