It has been too long since I have been to San Diego… so long that I really couldn’t even remember the last time. Maybe when my daughter was in Girl Scouts and we spent the night at Sea World? That was years ago… I can’t believe how much things have changed. The whole drive down was a different experience. There isn’t much empty land left for one thing. There seems to be wall-to-wall cookie cutter houses and strip malls, although the hills around Temecula are still gorgeous and green.
Jeffery and I decided to just spend the day on an adventure – no plans, no agenda, just go explore and see what happens. We started off the day going to see my dad’s old neighborhood in Ocean Beach. I spent weekends and some vacations down there so I wanted to see if it was still like I remembered. So many memories down there. It was bittersweet to see it again.
We then ended up at Old Town which was packed. My favorite stop was the cigar store. We got into a conversation with one of the employees who told us some of the history of the building and the building next door which was fascinating (during the excavation they found the freedom papers of the first black store owner in San Diego hidden in the brick wall). He was gracious enough to let me take his photograph… he fit right in with the setting of the store.
Lunch was at a wonderful Mexican place. I just love it when you can find great food for prices that you find at McDonalds. The birds were enjoying it as well. 
Because parking had been so difficult we decided to keep our spot and take the trolley to the Gas Lamp Quarter. As we were walking towards this one hotel some guy peered out of his store and said we should go inside the hotel and check it out… that some movie was filmed there. You would not believe this hotel – it looked like it was straight out of the 50’s. There was a row of old telephone booths made out of wood. The front desk was in the middle of the room and had bars all around it (picture an old bank). The guy working there was such a character… very tall black man with a very white afro, beard and moustache. He told us the hotel had been used in the movie Red Heat (among others) as a police station. He let us take some photos… unfortunately it was pretty dark in there and mine didn’t come out very well. 
After taking the trolley back we drove over to Balboa Park. I had forgotten how much I love that park. So many things to do. We will definitely have to go back – hopefully when some of the museums are open. I’m thinking Faded & Blurred needs to do a photo walk down there.
We should come home from adventures, and perils, and discoveries every day with new experience and character.
~ Henry David Thoreau
