Category Archives: Fish

For those of you that know me, I’ve always said I hate San Diego. Hate really isn’t the right word, but the area really doesn’t do anything for me. People rave about the Mexican food, but I believe it exists just as good and possibly better in Los Angeles. Michelle and I needed to get out of town for a bit, so we figured San Diego was far enough to be called vacation but close enough not to be a hassle.

We left on Friday, because we wanted it to feel like a real vacation and not just a weekend excursion. Here is our trip in photo format. Closed captioning is provided by michellewoo.com.

Sushi sounded like a good, light lunch after eating too many snacks on the car ride down. Conveyor belt sushi…not so good.

Ready to go kayaking? Hold your wrist and try to bite your ear.

We were the only two people that were signed up for the 1:00 PM tour. We had two guides, one of which was our personal photographer. They must have lost money on this tour, especially since we bargained the price down from $80 to $65. I told Michelle I was doing all the work, which is why they put the motors on the back of boats. She disagreed and called me dead weight.

One of the seven caves. We got to go into this one. The clarity of the water was so great everywhere. You could see right down to the bottom, and Garibaldi were swimming everywhere.

Sunning the day away without a care in the world.

The kayak tour was totally awesome since we got one on one attention from our guides. We talked ecosystems and about Discovery Channel’s Planet Earth. Michelle and I got to see a Thresher shark swim right under us. My head was still down looking for more sharks, when I heard Michelle say “Uhhhh!” I looked up and a wave was coming at us and wasn’t going to crash. I remember thinking, “I hope I closed the Ziploc bag tight on my camera.” Michelle got lifted out of her seat and got turned completely perpendicular, side saddling the kayak. She got herself straightened out, saying that was the best thing about the tour.

After kayak snack. Michelle says everyone eats crepes on vacation.

We headed to our hotel in the Gaslamp Quarter. I booked The Grand Horton Hotel, which I was later informed by Spencer was famously known for being haunted. I figured I wouldn’t tell Michelle until we left the hotel safely or until we were held hostage by the ghosts. As soon as we got into the hotel, Michelle used two words to describe the hotel: scary and Disneyland. It’s no wonder either.

Definitely Victorian. Definitely ghost territory.

She still doesn’t know this place is haunted. Can’t you just imagine the organ playing itself at night?

This is what you see when the elevator stops on the third floor. I was facing the elevator doors, but Michelle screamed when she saw it. That’s just creepy. I knew Room 309 was the most famous for being haunted, so when we got Room 325, I kept quiet and didn’t tell Michelle we had a ghost staying a few doors down.

We got checked in and took a well needed nap after paddling around the ocean for a two hours. We set ourselves up for dinner less than 1,000 feet, around the corner from our hotel at Cafe Sevilla. I’ve been looking for a place to get Spanish Tapas, ever since I came back from Spain two years ago. Well, Cafe Sevilla has a location in Long Beach as well. Looks like I’ve found a spot when I’m hankering for some Spanish food.

Calamari. This one is okay.

Shrimp Ajillo. How can you go wrong with garlic and butter?

Chicken, beef, and seafood paella tapas.

Patatas Bravas. Spicy, just the way we like it.

Phallic? Yes. Homsexually suggestive? Yes. Delicious. Definitely yes.

In order to not feel old, we decided we had to go out after dinner to at least one place. It was twice as rough for me since I have been sick for about half a week now with my nose running and a nagging cough. It got worse after dinner. I couldn’t even taste my whiskey or my beer. I had to trust Michelle when she said the beer was good.

Breakfast at Cafe 222, again less than 1,000 feet from our hotel door.

We hung around in our hotel room for a little bit before heading to Balboa Park. As soon as we got there, we strolled around, looking at our visitors guide and tried to decide which museums and gardens to check out. I think we must be spoiled by the Internet, because everything looked boring or too expensive. It didn’t take us long to leave this place. Michelle asked, “Is this what couples do? This is boring.”

The architecture was cool in Balboa Park.

International Gardens. Sounds impressive? It’s not.

This picture is posted for one individual only. I’d hate to admit it to him, but had we gone to this, it probably would’ve been the most interesting exhibit there.

Koi in the Japanese Friendship Garden. I had a long discussion with Michelle as to how large these fish were, and she kept saying they were smaller than I was thinking. I told her she should trust me, since we were talking about eye balling distances and lengths, which I have to do for work sometimes, and we were talking about fish. Still unwilling to concede, I had to pull up another picture of koi at the zoo with a duck as a reference for size before she was willing to believe that the fish we saw were the size of our legs. Well maybe not hers. Those things just won’t quit.

Taking pictures of ourselves is free and more fun tha plants. Let’s do that.

Obligatory picture of the industrial boobs off the 5 freeway.

We got into San Diego and left in just about twenty four hours. I felt like we had accomplished a lot in the short time we were there, at least enough to satisfy any urge that might take us down that direction for a long time. On our way back up we stopped at the Rainbow store and picked up a couple pairs of sandals. At 37% off retail prices, it’s worth it to pick up an extra pair for later. We finished our trip up with a stop in Irvine to get some spicy wontons and spicy beef noodle soup at A&J Restaurant, one of Michelle’s college favorites. I am thorougly exhausted.