Memory Monday - San Diego, California

This week I wanted to take a break from the Euro-posts and fly back to the golden state.  I recently co-piloted to San Diego with my roommate and tagged along while she and two of my other friends ran in a half marathon.  They are rockstars and did it in just around two hours! While we were there we enjoyed insanely beautiful weather.  It was a nice change to see oceanside and greenery instead of cacti and brown ocotillo.  Leaving from Tucson it was only around a six hour drive, a benefit of living in the desert. We packed the car and headed west.  Passing the illustrious wind farms we knew we were getting close then we realized...we're out of gas.  Running on fumes we found a dinky gas station where we were sure an old gas attendant would appear out of now where to kidnap us to make us a part of his wax collection. We escaped a potential House of Wax scenario and 5-dollars-a-gallon later we were safely on our way.

There's something about a road trip that makes you feel alive. You can feel the build up to your destination and when you arrive there stretching your legs makes you aware of how you're not meant to stay still for so long.  As soon as I got out of the car I could feel the moisture in the air, verifying the climate change.  I knew since we only had the weekend the trip would fly by.

San Diego has it's own personality.  Since it was 2012's Traveler's Choice it is nothing short of an open book of things to do.  Surrounded by health conscious runners we were told about a place called CBW (crazy bowls & wraps).  It was a modern setting with delicious wraps and salads you could make yourself.  Although the service was slow it was a good choice for a notch under a sit down restaurant.  That night we went out in downtown San Diego, which is the heart of any big city.  Although we only experienced the night life there are plenty of options during the day.  Navy Pier and Seaport Village are always good options.  In the summertime there are outside concerts and movies located on the waterside, no big deal.  From quirky restaurants to a baseball game, no kind of personality is left unsatisfied. My favorite part of downtown was Little Italy, although I'm very biased.  We ate at a place called Davanti Enoteca.  It was honestly mouthwatering.  I chose a simpler dish, il cacio de pepe.  Paired with a glass of white wine, it's flavor far exceeded it's simplicity.

During the day on Saturday we went to the marathon expo, shopped in La Jolla and indulged in a cupcake at Cups. Sunday was the half marathon, so after the girls finished a casual 13.1 miles we took our time laying out on Mission Beach.  We were sad to go home and it showed since it took us about 7 hours to get home.  When we stopped in Dateland we couldn't resist perusing the gift shop and stopping for their frozen yogurt, capturing every second on the GoPro.  It's those unexpected little adventures that make a road trip memorable.

No matter how many times I've visited San Diego there is always something newfangled and exciting (newfangled is a word I recently discovered and was dying to use.. I had to look it up too).  The trip was a blast, cheers to your next road trip!