Stuff we're doing
Wednesday
Arrival after Ottawa - Toronto flights. Met Mark, Kirstie and their neighbor at the Fisherman restaurant on the pier in San Clemente http://www.fishermansrestaurant.com/
Arrived at their place, very nice neighborhood. Heard more about the wacky neighbor, he's going through some issues.
Nice view. :)
Thursday
Awoken at 7 AM by neighbor, blasting the most obnoxious music he could find and singing along, inserting random swear words, as warned. Was amusing, but I don't live here (M & K are moving to their new place after returning from their trip).
Coffee, sign up for monthly T-Mobile wireless ($40 for unlimited). Trip planning and keeping in touch with work at Starbucks. Many business meetings at Starbucks, good place to snoop (intentionally or not). Then again, California (at least) Starbucks are much different in the US. More of a meeting place, people are livelier (which means louder). Cheaper too, with apple fritters.
Laguna Hills, Laguna Beach, lunch t Las Brisas with a nice view.
Lost the camera lens cap where the logo pic was taken. If you see it...
Lots of driving in the nice weather & scenery. Need to get some walking in.
The Coffee Bean is across the street, been around since the 60s, slowly turning itself into a donut shop. Ofosa (?) beach - big waves.
Sushi dinner with M & K.:) We were wondering if just they call California Rolls "Rolls."
Friday
Saw M & K off at 5 AM. Then back to sleep. Crazy neighbor was quiet this morning.
Started the day at Starbucks again (the internet...). The coast down to San Diego (stopped at Ki's, a decent inexpensive restaurant with good veggie options in the beach strip). Went to Balboa park but were too late for the zoo. Went to Prado, a really nice restaurant in the park with a surprising cost effective happy hour. Now at another Starbucks in Gastown. Going to check out another restaurant, then back to San Clemente. Planning adventures with Laura/Andrew in LA tomorrow.
Saturday
Left San Clemente for LA at 9 AM, were there an hour early so checked out a farmer's market on a closed off street.
Met A & L and went to Venice Beach for a decent brunch. Then a trip up the mountain for a great bay/city view. Some travelling around culminating in an excellent sushi dinner at Musha. Then we checked out a raw food shop and wrapped up with some coffee at Urth, a trendy organic cafe with some nice looking food.
Sunday
Experiencing the "June Gloom" with clouds, humidity and low 70s temperatures, though it's not raining. Breakfast at Pipe's, a surfer friendly place. Updates at starbucks for the internet. Next we wandered around San Clemente, and went into the ocean, and had fun jumping into the waves, except I didn't limber up first and was a bit sore the next day. Then we had some food 'n' drinks in town and watched a couple of movies (nice selection M & K).
Monday
Drove out to Palm Springs and surrounding area. 67 to 104 degrees in an hour. Lunch at the Blue Coyote. Lots of driving in the area.
Tuesday
The San Diego Zoo, followed by a nice dinner at Cafe Fanfastico in San Diego's Little Italy.
Wednesday
Santa Barbara and then Los Olivos, wine country. Checked out a couple of wineries, Gainey and Firestore. Gainy was strongly preferred, though the otherwise interesting woman was a bit over the top with her patriotism. Then a trip into LA and dinner at the Real Food Cafe, a nice vegetarian place with good prices.
Thursday
Catching up on the net, then we head into LA for some shopping http://www.fashiondistrict.org/, then meeting A & L for some dinner.