Trying Again, California Style

If you were following us on our last trip in September, you know that we made it as far as Pittsburgh. We were supposed to go to Charlotte, Savannah and Hilton Head. At some point during the second day, I got sick and it just got worse until we decided to pack it in and head home. That was really the first trip that had totally blown up. 

And now, we're in lovely California. We had some airmiles to use up and flying here used about half of them. We're currently in Del Mar, a pretty little city on the coast about half an hour from downtown San Diego. It's actually a part of San Diego which seems a bit odd. We'll be here for 3 nights and then move to another hotel right in the city.

The flight was an easy 5 hours. We were on Air Canada Rouge which means costs are cut. Minimal free stuff like water, coffee, pop etc. The entertainment is free but you have to stream it on your own device. Luckily, they were 60 people short of a full load so we had lots of room.

There were some interesting sights as we crossed the country.

And finally, coming in to land in San Diego. I think that's the bridge to Coronado Island in the background.

Once we landed, it was quite easy to get our bags as the airport was not as big as Pearson. Excitement built as we got our bags and headed over to the car rental centre. It was Mustang convertible time! We were shown a line of Mustangs and Camaros. I was thinking the Camaro would have been great but the person there said that when the top went down, you lost almost all the trunk space. As it was we had to put one bag in the back seat of the Mustang.  But really, who cares about luggage? If it came down to leaving a bag at the airport or having a convertible, we would have still been enjoying the sun as we drove! 

We were figuring out various controls as we zoomed down the highway. Well, Marilyn was doing it as I was driving but you know how it goes. We both looked at each other at one point and one of us said, Is your butt cold? Turns out they were cold because there were seat coolers that probably don't exist in the Great White North. What a great thing!

We drove along a freeway to Del Mar and finally saw the ocean. By this time, our bodies thought it was 3:00 but it was just noon. We were pretty much starving so parked down by the ocean and walked to a restaurant overlooking a beach.

It was a great lunch and we didn't even care that the quesadillas were chicken instead of short rib! The fish tacos were pretty amazing and we hope to try other versions in the coming days.  

We discovered that sunset here is 4:58. It just seems weird when it's still nice and warm and it gets dark early. The upside is that we could sit on our balcony with a glass of wine and watch the sunset. The rest of the evening was a bit of a blur because we were so tired. Had a nice small dinner at a local place and walked home in the dark. Looking forward to getting up early and taking the Mustang for a run up the coast. 

Getting Lost, Even With A GPS

Well, technically we weren't really lost. We just couldn't get to where we wanted to be. There was a fire on the bridge that the GPS sent us to and it was closed. Traffic was brutal so we just punched in Costco and kept going. We always check out the local Costco, especially if it has a wine and beer section. In Pennsylvania, they don't carry liquor but we went anyway. Then we found, to our shock and dismay, that Costco USA won't take our Canadian cards anymore. In Canada, they switched from Amex to Mastercard. In the states, they switched to Visa and we don't have Visa! We paid cash but this is going to be an issue as we go on. Who carries that much cash?

Ok, enough ranting. We love Pittsburgh! It's a great walking city, with beautiful scenery, history and lots of variety in beer and food. After the Costco mess, we drove to the top of Mount Washington which is part of the Appalachians and overlooks the city. There were some postcard views from up there. 

    This is Heinz Stadium (yes, of ketchup fame) where the Steelers play. 

   Here, you can see Point State Park where the three rivers come together. You can also see one of the funiculars that you can ride up the mountain. $5 round trip! The three rivers are the Ohio, Allegheny and the Monongahela. 

Back down the mountain to a boat ride. It was an hour tour in a ferry that was made to look like a riverboat. We always enjoy water tours if they are available. We travelled on all three rivers and heard some history and interesting facts. 

    As usual on boat tours, you get some great views of the city. 

   You can see some of the cool older buildings in this one. There's an interesting parking lot under the expressway that doesn't charge much. But, if the river floods, as it is prone to do, you have a problem.

 This is PNC Park where the Pirates play baseball. Our hotel is just to the left of this shot.

   These are a couple of the 445 bridges in Pittsburgh. If you look at a map of how the city is built, you can see why there are so many bridges.

    When the tour was done, we explored another area of the city called Southside. It's an older area that is just full of shops, restaurant and bars. It's mostly on Carson St. The architecture is really amazing to look at too. We wandered around for a couple of hours. 

   Lunch was here, at Fat Head's Saloon. They have a good selection of their own beers plus a large number of products from other breweries. 

   We're learning that "light lunch" in Pittsburgh is not all that light. We thought we'd have a snack type lunch and a beer. These are perogies and a pulled pork quesadilla. Not light. But the beers were good. 

  A short rest later, and we were back out walking. We decided to do the river walk and head towards Point State Park that we'd seen from the mountain and the boat. There is a great walkway along the river with a large park west of the downtown area. 

   Here's an artsy shot of the fountain at Point State Park. I had to shoot towards the sun and through the fountains. 

    And here's the regular view looking back towards the city. The fountain is computer controlled so that it shoots higher when the wind is calm. 

   This is what happens when you have a light lunch that isn't light. Dinner becomes beer and pretzels. Which were also way bigger than we expected. This is why we walked over 10 km today. 

   And finally, we really like the Holiday Inn Express here on the north side. It's 2 years old and very clean and modern inside. The rooms have an almost IKEA look to them. But, the smoke alarm has some kind of light that flashes every 30 seconds so that you know it's working! When the lights are off it's like lightning is going off in the room. I don't react well to that kind of stuff. Luckily, I always travel with duct tape. Blue duct tape. I've used it to repair my camera already. That's another story. Anyway, I very carefully covered only the light with duct tape. I did not cover the parts that would scan for smoke. And I will remove my handiwork before we leave.

On The Road Again

We're finally doing our first day of school trip for 2016, but it's September 12th. For those that don't know, we were rear ended in Ottawa and the RAV was in the shop until last Friday. Luckily, no one was hurt and we weren't to blame so it was just the pain of waiting. 

This year's trip is south. We'll start with Pittsburgh, then go on to Wytheville, Asheville, Charleston, Hilton Head and Savannah. We arrived in Pittsburgh early this afternoon. It's been a beautiful day and we did our usual by walking about 8 km while exploring the city. 

We took the hotel shuttle to the Strip District first, with the idea that we'd explore and make our own way back to the hotel. The Strip District does not involve people removing clothing! It's an old area that used to be factories and warehouses. Currently, the area is largely composed of restaurants, bars and shops. 

Couldn't resist these topical items found in a candy and toy shop. The top ones are socks! Who would wear those?

There are lots of old places that have been around forever. 

Fish and other seafood is a lot cheaper. 

And there is quite a variety of products. If we were at home, I'd definitely be getting the frog legs, alligator and baby octopus!

Primanti Bros is an old place that makes a famous Pittsburgh sandwich. It's been on Food Network, but I didn't know that before we went.

 

And this is the sandwich. All the sandwiches there have the bread, fries, cheese and coleslaw. We added pastrami to ours. And we split it because we needed to eat again later!

There are a lot of bridges over the three rivers in Pittsburgh. 

We loved walking around and checking out the old and new buildings. 

And then there was this guy. He drew quite a crowd in the market area. It's called a Slingshot. 

After the sandwich, we figured we'd just have a light dinner. Went to a local brew pub and ordered a couple of apps. Thought they'd be small because they didn't cost much. Wrong. Didn't even come close to finishing the pot roast nachos! 

Marilyn said that my mac & cheese is better but this wasn't bad. 

But it was kind of cool watching the Steelers with a bunch of locals. It's a real football culture here.