Hey, I'm in San Diego, cannot complain. Will happily turn another age if I had to be in a different environment preferably with sunny sandy beaches (and ahem! hot guys).
The view from my hotel room window at the Harbor View Inn and Suites on West Grape Street. I insisted on a good room by continually reminding the lady that it was my birthday the following day saying, "Lady, you don't understand, it's my birthday tomorrow and I just flew in from Atlanta and I'm checking in by myself, does that make sense?" See how you score a good room.
My good friends at The Local understood what I was talking about when I said, "I know it's only 11am but it's my birthday today so if you don't mind I would like to start Happy Hour way early." That scored me a beer on the house. Things were looking good.
Saw a sign pointing visitors to the Heavenly Cup Cake and decided it was worthy of a stop, after all, need a cake to wish my sad self a Happy Birthday after all. However, they were lacking of two essential items - no cupcakes without icing (who does that?) and a Happy Birthday cupcake. In fact, she was none too pleased when I told her it was my birthday, never neglecting to charge me full price, she didn't even have the decency to toss in a mini-cupcake. That's just bad customer service, if you ask me.
This restaurant is my spot in Atlanta so I thought it deserved a picture of its own upon sighting it in the San Diego Gaslamp District. You travel all these miles (several planes later) and bump into the same watering holes you frequent in Atlanta. Interesting!
By my next stop to partake of "Happy Hour" drinks at the Whiskey Girl Bar, I was now taking pictures of my foot. What $3 dollar shots would do to you? This was another place that was not too enthused about the fact that it was my birthday. They didn't even throw a free shot my way - San Diego, how stingy. I'm not kidding, you can look at my license for verification, it is my birthday and I flew all the way from Atlanta!!! Oh well.
The scene at the Gaslamp district of all the fine bars and restaurants just at the start of lunch hour. Empty! That's what they get for not being hospitable, hmm...
Pacific Beach. What can I say....the beach makes everything all good! It took me about an hour plus to get here, was momentarily diverted by the sign that led to a church, thought I could squeeze a quick prayer into my day (amidst all the drinking) but lo and behold, it was closed, much like Santa Barbara last year. So I headed on down to the beach, walked to Pacific Beach Shore Club and the view was just phenomenal.
This is my first drink at Pacific Beach Club, I promise! Yes, I took this picture of myself, amidst the couples that were taking in the sunset together. File this under: Things you do when you vacation by yourself. Also, they did not extend any birthday shots my way. They told everyone in the restaurant I was vacationing by myself on my birthday so they stopped by to hug (and secretly ridicule) me but no free shots. :-( Is it the economy, San Diego or just me? I daresay, San Diego was less hospitable than Santa Barbara.
Hung around and waited for the sunset at Pacific Beach Club. It's everything like I imagined, serene, peaceful and just heavenly. It's worth the several planes (and rude US Airways hostesses) and bus trips. It's worth leaving Atlanta in a heartbeat (but for the crummy economy!).
It's all a blur from Pacific Beach to the next day (so I claim!) but the next day, the walk from my hotel to Little Italy seemed "sun shinier" than usual ever have that feeling when you have some extra pep in your step, plus there was a little ole' Catholic Church round the corner where I could ask for forgiveness for all my sins. (Who knew!).
So that's Anita's 2011 Birthday in a nutshell in the sunshiny Southern California beauty known as San Diego. It may not look like it but it cost a whole lot of money though and looking through the pictures, it was so worth it.
San Diego, I guess I will have to see you some other time.
No comments:
Post a Comment