As soon as I got off the plane on Friday, Donn and I ate at In and Out Burger while we waited for Isaac and Yasuko to fly in from San Francisco. After we picked up Isaac and Yasuko at the airport we met up with Cherise and her husband at Coyote Cafe in Old Town. Since it was still relatively early, after Coyote Cafe we drove out to Viejas casino, which is on an Indian reservation approximately 30 minutes away from downtown San Diego. I regret to report that Isaac, Donn and I each made a deposit in the Viejas Retirement/Scholarship Fund. We returned from Viejas at about 4:00 a.m. to discover that we were homeless... the hotel did not have our reservation... So at 4:00 in the morning we were in search of a place to sleep for the night. Fortunately it worked out, we eventually found a hotel closer to Donn's hotel.
On Saturday we went to eat ramen. Yasuko's brother recommended that we eat ramen at a place called Tajima. The ramen was delicious. Outside of the restaurant I stumbled across this gumball-like machine with "I Love Egg" trinkets. check it out - www.iloveegg.co.uk I got the the bunny egg... it was not Hello Kitty, but I still thought it was pretty cool.
After eating ramen, we went to the San Diego Zoo where we saw lots of anim
als, including panda bears, tigers, lions, koala bears, polar bears, monkeys, clawless otters, meerkats, pigs, takins, zebras, flamingos, etc... My favorite was the koala bear exhibit. Overall I thought it was pretty cool and I took lots of pictures. I took a picture of Donn, Isaac and Yasuko at the camel exhibit because unlike the other animals, this camel was awake and almost close enough where we could pet it... so funny though as I was taking the picture Donn was stressing out rushing me to take the picture saying "the camels spit, the camels spit!" haha. As you can see, I got the picture. By the way, the camel didn't spit.
After the zoo, we went to Ikea. I wanted to go to Ikea to get a comforter cover for my bed. One hour and $$ later, I ended up with two large bags with place mats, garment bags, an ice cream scooper, a serving plate, a candle plate, straws, etc... Yeah, I know straws... but they were really cool - blue and green ones... Oh yeah, we also ate the famous Ikea meatballs.
Next stop, Trader Joe's. At Trader Joe's I bought omiyage for friends and family back home. I wish they had one in Hawaii. One thing I miss from living Seattle is being able to go to Trader Joe's.
Tonight we went back to Old Town for Cinco De Mayo. It was pretty happening there, lots of music, people wal
king in the streets, and every Mexican restaurant was packed, people practically overflowing to the streets. It was a fiesta. Some of the restaurants, including the one we ate at, were making their tortillas right there in the restaurant. As we were waiting for our food we all agreed that this was the closest we were going to get to authentic Mexican food without crossing the border... Pretty crazy though, we ate at 11:00 p.m. and by the time we left the restaurant at 1230 a.m. everything had shut down... it was dark and empty, like a ghost town. After dinner, we went back to our hotel and walked to the Gas Lamp District, which is approximately 2 blocks away from our hotel. We had a couple of drinks and as we were leaving at about 2:00 a.m. it was still pretty happening. Lots of people still soliciting the streets and lining up to get into the bars.So tomorrow everyone is returning home. It was a fun trip! Till next time!
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