We drove through the Santa Ana mountains at night, in the pouring rain and through the clouds at 4000 feet. Needless to say we didn't arrive in Del Mar (San Diego) until a little after 7pm. We were greeted warmly by Lee with Domino's pizza and lots of time to catch up. We were so happy to finally spending a few "free" days in one place before it was back to realize in LA!

Friday - 2/6
We used this day as our catch up on real life day. We did laundry that hadn't been done in a month, we finished up most of our postcards and tried to catch up on our journals. Lee got out of work early to spend the afternoon with us so we could have lunch. We decided on Chinese food at Panda Express and then ran some errands. Dave dropped off his film, we dropped off our mail and I convinced Dave to get a haircut. While we waited for him to finish I wandered off to get a pedicure and Lee caught up on some work over the phone. There was a huge line at the Sports Clips Dave went to so I was actually finished and waiting for him. Afterwards, we made a trip to the local grocery store to pick up some things for Lee's fridge and cupboards. I'm told that I'm not allowed to make it seem that she doesn't have food so I'll just leave it at that. We enjoyed shopping in the strip malls of California and headed back to rest a little before meeting Lee's friends Terry and Carl for dinner at Burger's and Brew. This hamburger joint did not disappoint and the company was pretty good too. We spent a couple of hours chatting, eating and emptying out the place. What a wonderful way to spend a Friday night.

Saturday - 2/7
Today was a day spent being "lump like". We stayed in our pj's and watched Tivo (I want one!) most of the afternoon. It rained all day so we didn't feel too guilty about laying around. We didn't leave the apartment complex at all so luckily we had prepared for a Saturday like this and had bought everything we needed to have a pasta night. Spaghetti and garlic bread really hit the spot. I can't even tell you how much I have missed having a kitchen and being able to cook.

Sunday - 2/8
The sun was out intermittently throughout the day so when we got up we decided to take our first walk down to the beach. We ate a quick lunch of Kraft Mac and Cheese (oh how we have missed the blue box) and headed for our walk. The Pacific Ocean is beautiful. Lee lives right near the beach so it was only a couple of blocks walk to the bluffs and then a couple of miles down to the actual beach. We enjoyed the bluffs and seeing the differences between the Pacific and the Atlantic Oceans. We made sure to take our flip flops off and sink our toes in the sand. I wish we could have had more days on the beach but unfortunately, Dave's power is still strong and it began to rain after our walk. We did enjoy seeing the sun for a couple of hours and a quick walk through Del Mar. Dave grilled BBQ chicken on the apartment complex's communal grill and I kept him company by soaking in the hot tub close to the grill. We marinated the chicken with the sauce we got from Dreamland BBQ and invited Lee's friend Terry over to dine with us. We had BBQ chicken, au gratin potatoes, sweet peas, salad and bread. We finished our meal with some brownies Lee made the night before. We have made sure to feed Lee well while we are here.

Monday - 2/9
We originally were going to leave today but the rain stopped us. We also had to go through the boxes we had shipped here back in December. We started off the day with a trip to Bruegger's (I had no idea these existed outside of Rochester) and I finally caught up to the San Diego part of our trip in my journal (Dave's still a tad bit behind). When we got ready to leave we looked out the window to see a small hurricane brewing and hurried out in the storm to make it to the shelter of the post office. We finally sent out the very last of our postcards so keep your eyes out for mail! I had been craving sushi for a few weeks so we took Terry's recommendation and tried out Matsuo's in Solana Beach on Highway 101. We were the only ones there and enjoyed spicy shrimp and tuna rolls while watching XMen. Can you believe Dave is not only eating fish but sushi too!? After that we headed back to Lee's apartment and waited for her to get back from work. After a short hiatus we got back up off the couch and she took us back to where she works at UCSD so we could see the experimental aquarium as well as take a walk along the very exclusive Scripps pier. What a treat! Even though I still don't quite understand what Lee does or how her mind is capable of understanding it we both enjoyed seeing her home away from home. We then took a little side trip to Fry's (a huge store just for electronics) and helped Lee do a little flat screen TV shopping. She used Dave as her personal shopping guide and picked out one she liked only to find that that particular model was sold out. It's a sign! Back to the apartment where Dave made us some very yummy meatloaf and broccoli while I handled baking the potatoes. Mrs. Edsall you would be so proud of Lee she actually ate the meatloaf even though it was ground turkey and Mr. Edsall you will be interested to know Lee had no ketchup in her home so she had to trudge back out into the rain to go get some for our meal! We vegged out in front of the TV the rest of the night switching between Family Guy and Terminator 2. Our time has been very well spent in San Diego, I just wish I could have seen more of the beach. Oh well, there's always next time.

Tuesday - 2/10
You stay classy San Diego (We'll be back).

Del Mar Beach.


Looking out over the bluffs of Del Mar Beach.


Dave and Lee (Yes that's Dave rockin' a mustache).


All in!


The Scripps pier.


Emily "smarting" it in Lee's lab at UCSD.