This was an awesome three day weekend for me and Mel. She's here with my in San Diego before I make the transition to Japan, so we are making the most of it.
On Saturday we went to the San Diego Zoo. It was very nice as zoos go, although zoo's make me feel sorry for the animals kept in small cages (especially after seeing the Point Defiance zoo!). On the bright side, I got in free with my military ID. It turns out that three major attractions in San Diego offer free entry to military: The SD Zoo, the Animal Park, and Sea World. The cost is normally $35. While we were at the zoo we met up with some friends of Mel. I ended up getting a gorilla hoodie because it was a bit chilly. That evening we went downtown to look around and have dinner. We didn't make any reservations, we just walked around the city taking in the sights. We ended up at Las Hadas because they offered us a free appetizer coupon at the door and it wasn't that busy. It's a recently opened restaurant with an urban Spanish theme. The food was quite good, and the service was some of the quickest I've ever seen. The interior decor is urban night life with a mix of Latin pop and English music coming over the speakers.
On Sunday we chilled for most of the day and then went to the Fashion Valley mall. Some of the worst parking I've ever seen for a mall. It was yet another of San Diego's open malls, and the store selection was impressive. It was the first time I've seen a Sony store before. Our big purchase ended up being from The Art of Shaving. An upscale shave store, who knew? Mel bought me a travel shave kit with a pre-shave oil, shave lotion, a badger hair brush to lather with, after shave, and a fancy blade handle for disposable razor heads. I'm still trying it out, so I'm not sure it it's worth all the extra effort, but it is an interesting experience. The lady at the store was enthusiastically giving demos. After the mall we went to dinner at an Italian place in Point Loma called Solare. It was well worth it. I had a black ink pasta stuffed with broccoli and sea bass in a tomato lobster sauce and Mel had sausage potato dumplings that were very rich. Portion sizes were just right, but it was a little on the expensive side.
On Monday it was crazy weather for San Diego: Cloudy skies, high winds, and heavy rain. We stayed inside and listened to the sound of the waves crashing on the beach and the wind blowing. That evening we went to visit some relatives of Mel's who live in El Cajon. They were very nice, and fed us dinner.
All in all pretty good.
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