San Diego, a WV!

Arriving was a beautiful blessing as we had spent a month in 100'F heat and now dropped down to a cool 75'F, actually felt so much better. We met the beautiful Wyn Furman at the airport, after dropping us off she took us down to South Beach bar and grill for some fish tacos, I had the grilled baja and the fried wahoo which were awesome. After this we would passed drugged up hippies asking for money for didgeridoo and had a look at sunset on the beach.

credited to Penny

We then went back to Wyn's and tried her boyfriends brewed cider, which was sharp but not unpleasant, I quickly named shagmouth, I hope it stuck.

On Wednesday Wyn dropped us at Old Town and we got breakfast at the appropriately named O'hungrys before getting on the Old Town trolley tour.

I am now way over budget and with several weeks left I have concerns that the funding may not stretch, we'll see. Anyway we ran a full loop of the tour before getting off at our stops, the first stop we saw 3 aircraft carriers including the one that Bin Laden was buried at sea from, 2 subs (1 Russian) and some tall ships including the one from master and commander and the Star of India. We saw the Seaport Village (and Jerry Lee Lewis' boat), the historic Gaslamp Quarter, Coronado, Balboa park and Little Italy. On the second loop Penny jumped off at the marina and toured the USS Midway, I carried on to Coronado, home of the US Navy Seals, and as I had loads of water and coffee I really needed a 'bathroom' break so I ran into a Navy Seals bar called McP's ordered a drink quickly and ran to the toilet. When I returned a guy at the bar said a few of my compatriots had been in the day before, I shot him an odd look and he said 'you are one of the British marines training with the seals right?' I sheepishly said no but what a compliment. I later found out that this is where the seals who killed Bin Laden had celebrated and the bar hadn't shut for 3 days.

 After this I rocked over to the Hotel Del Coronado, the scene of the 1959 Marilyn Monroe film Some Like it Hot.

I walked along the beach which has been voted the 2nd best beach in the USA and you can see why.
It was so nice being back in the Pacific, it felt distant but also familiar, like someone you used to know that you haven't seen in a long time (no I'm not tripping shrooms, just love the sea). After my walk I went into the hotel and walked around the floors and convention room, the restaurant and gardens. I was a little disappointed as I prepared a back story if I was questioned why I was there but was never asked. I was researching honeymoon locations along the west coast for my brother as a suprise gift from my father and he had stayed there for his honeymoon, not completely tight but should have passed. After this I toured Balboa Park and had a look at some cool architecture, trees and wildlife.

Then had to wait for 3 full buses to passed before being first in line for the next bus and some bastard Austrians cut infront, not happy but then still got on eventually. I felt bad as I was calling them Germans but I had the displeasure of sitting next to them and the accent was either South German or Austrian and my reasonable understanding of dialect delivered the verdict, they were bastard Austrians. I waited for Penny at Old Town but had an hour to kill so went to the Mormon Battalion Museum for a laugh, to my horror it was interactive and just as bad as South Park had led me to believe, dum dum dum dum dum. I ducked out early, it was a shame as those Mormon chicks giving the tour were smoking hot, I then went to an old west graveyard featuring messages like 'he was killed by the bullet from a revolver, one of them new ones, with the brass handle', love it.

Met Pennny and Wyn, Penny cooked pasta and salad and we watched The Tourist which was painfully predictable.

Friday was a lazy day with road trip planning and a trip to the pool. I made a Chilli, which went down well and we ate it whilst watching the San Diego based homoerotic flick Top Gun. We then proceeded to watch a few hours of brand new Torchwood, where once again Russel T Davies tries to show that 'Gay is Ok' by shoving it down our throats. Once again no issues with gays but letting the flamboyant Captain Jack have free reign over sex scenes is getting a little out of hand, I mean I'm sure the next scene with have South Parks Mr Slave in it. I woke again that night to see Penny watching me sleep, he was sitting in an armchair smoking a pipe and his face once again didn't change when he saw me realise, it's making me very uneasy (*disclaimer, Penny probably wasn't watching me sleep but appears to be sitting over me every time I wake up after dozing at night).

On Saturday I tried to call my Auntie Lynda for her 60th birthday but it was either engaged or the payphone was playing silly buggers so unfortunately I didn't get to speak to her but sent a postcard. We watched an early showing of Captain America, probably my least favourite of the avengers series of films so far but was an enjoyable romp through American imperialism, excuse me, patriotism. We had Vietnamese food for lunch, but I have slowed down my metabolism and only eat twice a day and decided to match Penny in a large meal, big mistake. We returned to Wyn's pad and Penny prepared his panda paparazzi kit for San Diego Zoo. The zoo itself is renowned for being one of the best in the US and definitely the best on the West coast, however the animals were asleep or miserable and the general public were ruder and more inconsiderate. It echoed an imperialist circus of forgotten days where animals from foreign lands we had captured were shipped home for the entertainment of the masses. I enjoy seeing wildlife and I really appreciate Wyn for taking us, as it was a very good zoo but I grow increasingly concerned that animals are taken out of the wild to be gawked at by screaming children and Mexicans on a 16 for 1 family coupon day (one little shit threw his slurpy cup into an enclosure scaring the animals and instead of his parents disciplining him they looked around and walked on, great parenting America). Rant aside, the zoo contained some amazing animals that I never would have seen in the wild  (or would have had to spend a small fortune for the privilege). We saw elephants (one had his wang out, HUGE!), lions, zebras, koalas, hippos, polar bears, guerrillas and orangutangs.

We also saw the famous San Diego zoo pandas, which were mildly entertaining but Penny and Wyn got ridiculously excited for.

They were cute, and I will probably never see one again, especially at the rate the Chinese enjoy panda pie, but I feel sorry for the other animals who must envy those bloody pandas, I mean they must feel that just because I am not almost extinct it doesn't mean I don't also want to be gawked at. One young monkey however found a way to gather his own crowd by self-felating, Penny took loads of pictures.....weird!

The culprit

On another note Flamingos are gay....and the males do not have moustaches and bowler hats, very disappointing. I rant but I actually had a really good time, and mapless Wyn was actually a really good guide. When we got home we made our own pizzas and watched more Torchwood, very nice day and evening.

I had been waiting for Sunday for a long time, as it was the start of SHARK WEEK. We started off the day at the Farmers Markets and I had a proper Kebab from a tent called Kebabistan, then went on to try a Tamale. We followed that up with a trip to Windansea beach and went swimming and saw some huge crabs on the rocks, it was a nice day the beach but Penny and I burnt a bit.We then went and saw the seals, went to the bluffs (cliffs overlooking the Pacific) and went and got Cupcakes at a cupcake only bakery called Sprinkles, Wyn's Achilles heal.

The Bluffs

We then got cleaned up and Wyn two hour shower took us for Thai food, which was very nice and filling.

Monday we slept in and prepared for the road trip on Tuesday by resting, charging our electricals, planning the route and food requirements before setting off on a trip to find a T-Mobile to get Penny's phone topped up. It makes me wonder how people found things before the internet, after a long walk (San Diegites, San Diegoans, San Diegons don't walk) we sorted it out and continued to prepare and play some Jazz Flute whilst smelling of rich mahogany. We finished off the evening with some mexican food (I love fish tacos) and watching Casino Royal before Wyn's boyfriend Ian returned from 2 month working abroad in Geneva. We shared some shagmouth and all hit the hay later than we should have considering our early start.

So Tuesday was the start of our Pacific road trip, unfortunately we are currently sitting in San Diego airport with the flight delayed an hour, so tired and will probably add fatigued but my excitement at hitting the road once more is tantalising. I love lamp!

Thanks to Wyn for being an excellent host and allowing us the R & R sorely needed before the next great adventure.