San Diego

Okay, finally getting a chance to write up an entry on the trip.
First, it was 5 hours there and 5 hours back.  That's including stopping to eat and get fuel.  Lol.

My sister-in-law wanted to drive but after seeing how slow she was going to go, I opted out of that.  It would have turned into an 8 or 9 hour trip and I am allllllll about getting trips over with.  Not that I wouldn't have minded being a passenger, but adding THAT much time to a trip like that was just not in my plans.

We arrived at the hotel and I was pleasantly surprised.  The King's Inn San Diego is a very nice hotel for the price.  Not a 4 star place, obviously, but FAR better than that hell-hole down the road - Motel 6 - and only a little more per night in terms of cost.

The rooms have central AC/heat, not those window units and there was a mini-fridge.  2 Queen beds, firm but comfortable mattresses, a couple of chairs and table.  The bathroom was small but who cares.  I mean, okay, I liked that bathroom at the Marriott I stayed at last year in North Phoenix, it was a treat unto itself, but this hotel for as low as $73 per night or even lower depending on when you book and if you do it online, is definitely a keeper.  Our room had no front window, which didn't matter, because it would have "overlooked" the wall on the other side.  We were at a part of the hotel where it curves.  The window in the rear of the room was wonderful.  Nothing fancy, but it was a hillside covered in vines and various landscaping.

I did not, however, sleep that well the first night.  I have no clue, no explanation.  We got on the boat that next morning and I took a motion-sickness pill - they don't work on me but I took one anyway - and expected that I would drink several beers, which worked last time to get rid of any motion sickness.

However.  I know that's not a sentence, but it's going to have to do here.  Sea-sickness started hitting me only 2 hours into the trip and I didn't want to drink beer at 8 am.  It got worse, too, until the point that I couldn't DRINK or EAT = anything.  I did not have a pleasant trip on the ocean. But no matter, neither did anyone else.  The captain of the boat couldn't find a school of fish to save his life.  He drove that boat for a solid 4 HOURS before stopping, claiming he had found some fish.

But we only stayed there 5 minutes and away we went.  No-one caught anything.  Second stop some 30 to 40 minutes later. Same thing, 1 person out of 51 pulled a fish in.  Away we went.  This went on all day long.  I didn't drop a line in the water a single time, but Caleb was all over it every time we stopped.  He tried to catch fish and he couldn't land a single one, but that because the captain simply wasn't finding them.  In fact, most of the anglers caught nothing that day, I was on the ocean for 14 hours, 12 of them extremely seasick and I can only think of one other time when I was REALLY happy to get off a piece of machinery and onto solid ground - it was  a flight for execs on a new turbo-prop - new back then anyway - about a 30 seater - I turned white as a sheet and I literally got out of that plane and kissed the ground when we landed.

Regardless, back to the motel, that has 2 pretty decent restaurants.  Prices a bit stiff but what else is new at hotels and their prices on things.  Not to mention California.  I hadn't eaten since the evening before - there was no way I was going to eat anything on that boat, I would have just lost it all over the place.

Interesting thing, though, Caleb, on the 3 hour trip back to land after fishing, had his Bible out and a minister stopped to talked to him. They talked forever.  I was too sick to even listen to what they were saying, much less attempt to join in the conversation.  But after we got off the pier, we all stood in a circle and prayed.  It was really cool, actually, and I was already starting to feel a bit better after being on dry land.

Oh, the restaurant: Fajitas. EXCELLENT.  They were very good.

That night?  I got into bed and yes, I slept 10 hours, only getting up to go to the bathroom.

Next morning.  Seaworld.  I had to think about that for a while.  I ended up heading to the Waffle Spot restaurant and having a LOT of water - I was really dehydrated and didn't even realize it - and numerous cups of very good coffee, ordered Eggs Benedict. I decided that I would just get my mind into the idea that I am going to spend the entire day there and might as well enjoy, no matter how strung out I was from the previous day's - mal-adventure.  Not saying I won't ever go seafishing again, but I guess if I'm going to go, I better start drinking beers the second my foot hits the deck of the boat.  Tammy states emphatically the it's a proven fact that beer will stop sea-sickness.

So, we get to Sea World.  Not familiar with the place at all, I just started walking and we found the first hing and went in and started looking.  We went to ALL the shows - WELL worth the walking all over the place and the rather hurried pace when realizing the show was about to start and yes, they shut the gates and won't let anyone in after a show has started, with personnel standing there refusing entry.  Fortunately, we made it in time for all the shows and all of them were funny, very-well orchestrated and the orca whales; seals and dolphins were so well-trained.  It was amazing to watch them in action.

It was a very enjoyable day and we went to every attraction and every show there, sans the Mantra ride. I was NOT going to get on a roller coaster after what I had gone through the previous day, but I did tell Caleb he could go if he wanted to.  No thanks.  Lol.  I'm here to say that Sea World San Diego is a class act and anyone going to San Diego, if you've never been, should add it to your itinerary.

The shark exhibit was awesome.  You walk THROUGH the aquarium with solid plex-glass walls and rounded ceiling.  The sharks are swimming beside and over you.  We were quite impressed with a very large Sand Shark, I think it was, that was about 8 or 9 feet long. It was the biggest thing in that tank and it just slowly swam around in a somewhat huge circle.  This was a massive aquarium.

I dunno, I had a great time and so did Caleb and my sister-in-law at SeaWorld.  My sister-in-law did not go on the boat with us the previouis day, instead, she went on a whale-watching boat and she said she got sick as well -but throw up type of sick, like puking over the side of the ship.  The swells in the sea that day were pretty large, I will attest to that and apparently even that large ship was getting knocked around, she estimated over half the people on the boat were throwing up off the side of the ship.  It was so bad, they gave them all coupons for a free ride the next time they wanted to go.

Well, I won't be in San Diego again anytime soon for that.  My vacation is over, my money for it is gone and moving on.  Slept very well that night, too.  Like about 9 hours of good, solid sleep, the likes of which have eluded me at home for quite a long time.

So it's over, we're home and I am cooking BBQ ribs and a ham for tomorrow's affair up in the mountains.  Yup, the travelling ain't over, as we are going up to mom's property for a send-off for Caleb.  Grandma needs to see her grandson before he leaves for a year.  As expected, my middle brother isn't going to show up but my oldest brother and his wife will be there.  It'll be good regardless, though I think it a bit of bulls*** that my middle brother isn't going to show up, considering he has had ample advance notice.

But that's him, we don't talk and life goes on.

Next?  I am going to post a review on the hotel on here.  It will end up showing up somewhere on a Google search for people looking for hotels in the Mission Valley area and I want people to know that if they are on a budget yet still looking for a decent hotel in that particular area, this IS the place to go.

Going to slow cook the ham - the only way I can cook the thing and actually take it up there in a cooker to keep it warm.  I have heard slow cooked ham is quite good, I will be finding out soon enough.  I will cut the ribs into three-rib sections and probably just have to micro-nuke them up there to heat them up.  The ribs I want to take to give my mother a taste of them.  I have not had anyone ever tell me my slow-cooked ribs are somehow less than good. Most people devour them like it's Porterhouse steak.

Although I am on vacation - and only 2 days  left of it - it's been pretty busy.

Saw J.D. last night.  I was up later than normal and came out to find him on the computer.  We talked for quite a while.  He was talking about the night when I had told George to turn the freaking surround sound down.  He witnessed Mark and George getting into it, with George starting the altercation.  J.D. was surprised at the time, he stated, because they were yelling at each other. I heard nothing.  If I had, I would've been out here (here - my kitchen where my computer is also at) in a flash to deal with it.  Probably just as well I didn't hear all of that, I was already fuming from the inconsiderate nature of a person to not take into any accounting how other people might feel about turning up the sound level on a system so loud, you can't even hear the TV in your OWN ROOM.

Enough.  I have a lot to do today and not much sunlight left to do it.  Mark took care of the dogs and watered the plants once = which is all I asked him to do, however, the ponds were WELL down in water levels.  Between the plants using the water and evaporation in extreme heat, it doesn't take long for them to go down 8 to 10 inches or even more depending on how long you let them go without refilling.

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Long interlude.  Filled up the ponds, turned on the landscaping drip system, ribs coming along nicely, ham back in refrigerator.  All sites I read say it only needs 6 hours on low heat.  Sort of a juke motion.  Can't wait until I get there to put on the ham, it will be too late in the afternoon before it's done.  But I can't keep cooking it, either.  The answer?

Ummmmmmmmmmm........................

I usually wake up at 4:30 am.  I can put the thing on until we leave, turn it off, transport it up there, turn it back on for however long it needs and it will be done.  I am not even going to put it IN the cooker tonight.