San Diego June 16-22

Hello again friends! So my sister up and moved to the lovely city by the ocean: Saint Diego, so of course my mom and I hopped on planes to come and visit. I had never been to this city before, but by the end of the trip I'm pretty sure I could live comfortably there, even though it's so close to Tijuana, which mom had absolutely no desire to visit. Here's how it goes:

First of all, we were treated like royalty. Catherine, Shelley's friend and roommate, has parents who are, well, loaded. They have a condo downtown, and I mean downtown, San Diego that no one uses, so we volunteered for the difficult job of looking after the place. It was high security and we needed our key for just about everything. And parked in the garage to use at our disposal was a BMW convertible....yeah, pretty sweet.

So we spent some days at the beach while Shelley did her surf thing, checked out a Farmer's Market at Ocean Beach and ate at a vegan buffet that actually wasn't too bad. (My taste buds are now much more flexible after The Cleanse).

So if you ever go to San Diego you have to visit Balboa Park. It is a ginormous park filled with museums, architecture, theaters, fountains and gardens. Our first visit was the Museum of Man where we learned about the early days of brain surgery (like thousands of years ago using rocks as hammers), mummies and shrunken heads. A few days later we visited the Natural History Museum where Body Worlds 2 was on tour, you know, that weirdo process that German doctor created that preserves human cadavers perfectly in tact. It wasn't as creepy as I thought it'd be and I learned heaps about the human body and the importance of keeping it healthy. They also had a life size model of a great white shark that eerily freaked me out.


We made an excursion to a Padres baseball game. Wait, it wasn't an excursion because it was right down the street from our conveniently located condo! I was so excited for some baseball culture so of course mom and I got a hot dog at the game. The Padres are a pretty good team and I found myself cheering for them as if they were the Reds...strange, I know! And mom cheered for them too: "Go Pedros!" (It's Padres mom!!!) So then they started playing some fun music and I was having such a great time I stood up and danced to "do the mashed potato (do-do), do the alligator (do-do), put your hands on your hips (do-do), let your back bone slip (do-do). Nanananananananananana." When Shelley pulls my arm and points to the Jumbo Screen, and there was a gigantic Kim dancing for the whole stadium to see! I was shocked, but the guy in front of me said, "Just keep dancing!" It was a great game and we even got to see the "Friarworks" after the game. That city is so clever!


We also visited the world famous San Diego Zoo and did we see a lot! There's actually a gondola there called the Skyfari that takes you from one side to the other and buses that pick you up and drop you off due to the size of the place. We saw pandas, zebras, koalas, loads of snakes, polar bears, hippos, gorillas, elephants and a million different types of strollers! I mean, those prams are fancy now a days: dual strollers, fat tire strollers, wide load strollers, strollers with conveniently placed cup holders, and on and on. But back to the animals. I have to say my favorites were the gorillas. It is wildly strange how similar their behavior is to ours.








So we went out to eat a bunch and on the last night we strolled around looking for a nice restaurant. Mom and I agreed on a menu with lots of variety. We all enjoyed the meal on the patio when I glanced inside and noticed words on a big screen. This place had a karaoke night going!! I was so excited that I signed up right away. It was a little nerve racking singing in a new place, but all went smoothly and then Shelley and I sang a duet: "We Built This City." People were rocking.

San Diego is quite a town filled with great taco joints, gelato places that are open until midnight, beaches, baseball, shopping and class. I would love to visit again!