San Diego, CA: Pacific Beach

Getting to San Diego was somewhat challenging.  We had been delayed 6 hours by a breakdown but were determined to make it.  95 South was a fun drive, lot's of straight roads with 'dips' that made us feel like we were in the video game road rash!  Blasting through the desert listening to the Ventures (surf music) was pretty sweet.  We ended up doing more nighttime driving than we would have liked but eventually made our way over to the Pacific Beach section of San Diego to meet up with some Vermont transplants that we hadn't seen in what felt like forever.  Our friends Ellie, Amanda, and Melissa (all of whom Kim grew up with) had moved to San Diego and mutual friend Maria was in town on a visit.  They had margaritas waiting for us and it was just like we were back in VT except with nicer weather for early March.  Our friends Jacob, Noble, and Johnny were also in town and the Vermont reunion party we threw that first night was just what we needed after a long, long day of van repair and desert driving.

The next day we (eventually) awoke to some bad news.  Our bikes had been stolen.  We had taken them down from the van and locked them up inside the courtyard of the apartment complex we were staying at which we assumed would be a safe spot.  Apparently not, the chain was cut and the bikes were gone.  Luckily that was probably the worst thing that has happened to us this whole trip and the rest of our stay in San Diego was happy and fun.  We'll miss you fold-up bikes, you fit so nicely on top of our van!  Our plan for the day was to go to the beach.  We lucked out with some unseasonably warm 80˚ weather and the beach we were headed for was unlike any we had ever seen...

Sunset Cliffs is not a place for the elderly or faint of heart.  The parking lot sits atop 100 ft rock cliffs and the entrance to the beach is a steep, winding dirt path that ends with a 10 ft rope that you must rappel down.  We've never seen ANYTHING like this on the East Coast.  This was a real 'welcome to California' moment.  Lights, camera, action- we're in the movies now.  This beach was unreal.

The water was pretty cold but not cold enough to stop us from going for a swim.  We met some locals and had a grand time.  Although that beach day was probably the highlight of San Diego, we had a bunch of fun during our short visit.  We spent our time having (probably too much) fun at night and then usually paying for it the next day.  We went out to a few bars and watched a lot of movies on the couch.  We ate some good local food and also indulged in some West Coast fast food.  The In and Out Burger is the real deal!  We went for a bike/skate over to the pier which was pretty cool and caught an awesome Grateful Dead cover band at a great dive bar.

We ended up extending our stay an extra day (mostly to recuperate) but eventually it was time to move on.  Our next destination is Valley Center, CA, an hour northeast of San Diego county where we will be spending 2 weeks WWOOFing at a home/orchard/garden called Casa Bella Tranquilla.  Let the adventure continue!  (More pics on Facebook)