San Diego, 2010

So I took a road trip with my friends this July (cross that off my list! Woo!).  It started out with my friend Eden (remember her? Check her blog out!) inviting me and our friend Xine if we wanted to tag along to this rental place her parents got in La Jolla, CA.  The answer was, quite obviously, a resounding YES!

The place was fantastic.  It was a little beach house maybe 3 blocks away from the actual beach.  It wasn’t terribly big (not many beach houses are), but we’re young and able to sleep on the couches that were there   I don’t think I can even begin to describe the awesomeness that was this vacation.  I can give highlights though!

The Beach

Ah, the wonderful, wonderful beach.  I didn’t have a swimsuit unfortunately but shorts and tank tops worked out rather nicely.  And I didn’t get too terribly burned which was a miracle considering I usually look like a steamed lobster after more than 3o min in the sun (then again, the SPF 50 I was wearing might have something to do with that…).  We even went running on the beach one morning, which was fantastic up until the point where I slipped on some rocks and scraped my knee up (I’m such a klutz).   There was also massive sandcastle building our last day there, which was great because that’s another thing I got to cross off my list!

The Shack

Anyone remember that Nickelodeon cartoon Rocket Power?  There’s a place in that called The Shack, which is like a beachside restaurant/hang-out.  There was one not even a block away from us.  Not joking.  It’s called The Shack and it looked like the one in Rocket Power.  Eden and I were trying to figure out if it was named after the cartoon place, or if the cartoon place was inspired by that.  I’m leaning towards the former.  The place was awesome and they served really good tater-tots.  In fact, I’m pretty sure I ate my weight in tater-tots.  And breakfast burritos.  Those were amazing! The Shack also had flat screen TVs on the patio–where we watched a good portion of the final World Cup games.  More on the World Cup in another post.

The People

It goes without saying that I love both Eden and Xine.  A girl couldn’t ask for better friends–actually, I swear we’re more like sisters now.  Eden’s parents are pretty fantastic too, and so were her cousins who were there for the Fourth.  There was much hilarity involving a pineapple top attached to someone’s head with shoelaces, a ninja impression, and what is quite possible the worst place to eat in La Jolla (Harry’s Coffee Shop)–erm, not all of that happened at once.  Three separate events.  Then there was Eden’s friend Matt who dropped in for a few days and two kids from their high school theatre group who happened to be in the area (small, small world).  No one killed each other and we all got along, so double bonus there!

The World Cup

This really deserves its own post as I have a bit to rant about (France v. Northern Ireland for example.  Stupid French!) but I’ll keep it short, sweet, and to the point where the important bits are concerned.

• Third place game: We’d all been following things closely and were psyched about watching the third place match with Germany (I wanted Germany to win something, just not the Final!).  Eden, Xine and I were walking around the downtown La Jolla area the day of the game, thinking we’d have plenty of time to get back to the house or The Shack (where we watched Germany v. Spain and Uruguay v. Netherlands).  Well, we lost track of time which we didn’t realize until Xine stops in the middle of the sidewalk and cries “World Cup!” and points at this cantina like place where the sounds of cheers and loud noisemakers was coming.  Well, we rush in and grab a table to watch the final minutes of the game (which were brilliant! Edge of my seat the whole time when they were tied!).  It was kinda funny cos we were a small pocket rooting for Germany and practically everyone else in the bar was cheering for Uruguay.  We ordered some drinks, not food, which made us feel kinda bad cos no one was really ordering things in there, just watching the game–so we ended up giving our waiter like a 90% tip haha.  He deserved it though–especially since, as Xine pointed out, he had been rooting for Uruguay, and they lost.
• The Final Game: Eden and her mom were rooting for the Netherlands since Eden’s dad works for a Dutch company and they have Dutch friends.  I was rooting for Spain (FURIA ROJA!!) because, well, I’m part Spaniard; Xine declared herself Switzerland as she did not want to involve herself in the rivalry that was brewing.  Smart girl.  Through the course of the game, words were exchanged, threats were made (I was going to be given gruel for dinner at one point…), and then Spain won and I was in a very good mood.  Thankfully, all friendships stayed intact despite the superiority of my team

Warwick’s Books

There was a bookshop in La Jolla called Warwick’s.  Well, it was books, stationary, gifts, and office supplies but I mostly focused on the books–in fact, I bought three:  Inkheart, The Curious Incident of the Dog in the Night-Time, and The Princess Bride. I just have to say that it was probably one of the best book stores I’ve ever been to (Yes, I’m a dork.  No, I don’t care).

Haberdashery

Not only is it a cool word, but there was on in La Jolla that we went to for kicks.  We tried on some hats, got some funny pics, and remarkably didn’t get ourselves thrown out.  There was a Tim Burton’s Mad Hatter hat there that I wanted to try, but it was hanging from the ceiling so that didn’t work out too well.

The Food

Crepes, sea food, soups, wood-fire pizza (didn’t have any but I heard it was good), ice cream, French bakeries…I just made myself really hungry.

The Giant Chess Board

So we went to this really funky little place for breakfast one morning called Panikin’s (I think I spelled that right…I don’t know.)  and they had a GIANT chessboard complete with GIANT chess pieces.  Since I’ve never played chess before (didn’t know how to either–check that off my list too!) it was intriguing to see one that big.  Xine, chess enthusiast, promptly commandeered the board once these girls left (they were just sitting there! not even playing!) and she and Eden taught me how to play.  It was awesome–and there were a lot of Harry Potter/Wizarding Chess jokes because that board and its pieces had more than likely seen better days (one king was so bad no one could really tell it was a king, poor guy).   The final scoring went as follows:  Eden 1 v. Xine 0 and Tobie 0 v. Xine 1.   She beat me in four moves.  FOUR!  No, I’m not bitter, it’s just really impressive.  But considering I had no idea what the hell I was doing I was happy she didn’t beat me in less.

P-P-P-Poker Face

We got bored one night and decided to play poker.  However, we had no money to play with.  Instead, we bet things like tacos, leftovers and tater-tots from the Shack, the bedroom, the Captain’s Chair in the car, and God only knows what else was in there.  I think we may have bet our pillows at one point.  I do know that I won Eden’s toothpaste and wound up owing Xine like 5 tacos from this nearby hole-in-the-wall that was open 24hrs.  Oh, that was another thing! Xine won the right to call Taco Run and make Eden go with her at any time of the day or night to get tacos.   The tacos were never collected upon, but I have a feeling I’m going to be buying them for Xine when we’re all in one central location again.  I think I still owe her coffee too.  Hm.  As for the bedroom, there were 2 bedrooms in the house–one for Eden’s parents and the other for guests and the like.  When no one was staying with us, we put it on a rotation.  Winner got to pick their night(s) in the room.  It was very intense, very high stakes and I wish we had played a couple more hands–even if I was losing.

I think that’s all the major highlights.  I really hope I didn’t leave anything out.  It was a fantastic trip and I’m beyond happy I had the chance to go.  And I’m pretty sure I’m ruined for all other summer vacations after that

All for now, cheers–

Tobie