Catching up with pictures

A variety of not-necessarily-related pictures

The pink flower here is the angelonia that I mentioned to Mom that I've used in the garden a few times. I like the purple ones but wanted something different this year. They looked nice like the below at first, but now they look faded/washed out. I'm not sure if they need fertilizer or what.

This is Zhelka and if you can enlarge the picture, there's a duck in the pool that she's watching.

I put Money Piggy in my lap and Zhelka decided she wanted to be in on the action.

There's a moth here

That landed on my shoulder a moment later. Just fun.

This was the day we had hail. And my shepherd's crook got blown over.

Bela wrapped his leash around Cat Wrangler's feet.

Who me?

He loves exploring. 

And Zhelka generally lounges under a tree or shrub. 

Or they both hang out with the guinea pig. 

We got them a new scratching post a month or so ago. This is generally how they use it. 

For some reason Cat Wrangler thought it'd be funny to let Bela attack his head and then have me photograph it. It was... for me. 

We went to Madeline Island over the weekend and saw two sandhill cranes. They crossed the road, completely unconcerned about traffic. 

This is how Zhelka usually sleeps, with her tongue sticking out. It's adorable. 

CW decided to help Bela chase birds (not really... they birds aren't even a little bit at risk). 

And Zhelka wants to stay in the air conditioning but see and smell the outside. No kitty, we aren't going to cool the ourdoors. 

Family visit

It's the first time in our 11 years here that family other than our parents have visited. My cousin was in town for a conference in the week before Memorial Day, and his wife and kids flew out for the weekend. We got together with them on Sunday. We went to the airport where Cat Wrangler showed them the RV first. 

And then took T and the boys for a flight. Their little sister is in the stroller. She, M, and I stayed on the ground. The plane isn't big enough for 7. The flight was good but it takes a lot of prep and clean up time, and the kids got bored. I get bored, which is why I usually drive out separately once CW has done all of the pre-flight stuff!

We had lunch at the legendary Lion's Tap, the Eden Prairie News' number 3 spot in EP, following the high school and community center. We're an exciting city. Lion's Tap was opened in the '30s as a gas station by the Lyons family. Eventually food was added in the '50s I think and then purchased by a new family in the '70s who renamed it to Lion's Tap and made it a burger joint. They only have about 5 burgers and nothing else but they're darned good burgers. It was fun. 

We went to the arboretum in the afternoon and tried our hand at the maze, which involved more backtracking than one would really think necessary for the adults. That, and we completely lost all sense of direction. 

The real highlight for the kids, though, was finding tadpoles in one of the fountains. Who knew that the non-attraction would be the main attraction? T also liked the Japanese gardens and he and the boys meditated. 

They stopped by Paisley Park (Prince's home and studio) on the way back while we went to Naviya's Thai to get a table for 7. I wanted to get there before 6 because I'd forgotten it was Sunday night and wouldn't be as crowded as on a Saturday night. Everyone enjoyed Naviya's. 

We walked around Lake Harriet for a while after that. The evening turned really pretty. 

We headed for home when they headed for ice cream and the clouds started to roll in. The storm hit partway home in a complete downpour. We could see blue sky behind us and the sunset in front of us through the pouring rain. And it had stopped by the time we got home. 

Cat Wrangler took this picture while I drove. 

A fun day and a good time with the cousins. 

Snatch video

For Mom. Because Aunt Louanne on Facebook said you should see this.

Garden Start 2017

I added the annuals, plus some new perennials today. In the middle is lavender, which I always spell first like "calendar" and then have to fix it. In the upper right with the blossoms is ground phlox. I've wanted them for a couple years but they only had pink ones last year. These are very light lavender. Hah! Got it right that time. 

Lower right is something that neither my gardening neighbor, Jackie, nor I have heard of before. Something-wort I think. And two alyssum on the left because they smelled too nice to pass by at the garden center. 

The annual pot has angelonia in the middle, which needs to grow a bit to be pretty; yellow marigolds; white lobelia; and some of the aforementioned allyssum. 

I couldn't find a perennial I wanted to put next to the front door so I went with black-eyed susan vine. That's going to be pretty. 

For the her garden, I bought parsley, basil, dill, and oregano. 

One kale since I haven't gotten any to grow from seed yet without being eaten either by Zhelka or the garden mouse. 

And a new foxglove to replace the one I got last summer that didn't survive the winter. 

The already-tall clematis, no longer ready to take over and cover the front door. 

San Diego Cherry Blossom Festival

When we were in San Diego in December, we found out that the Japanese Friendship Garden has a Cherry Blossom Festival every spring. Since I've never managed to get to DC at the right time for the cherry blossoms there, it seemed like a good choice. They didn't post the dates of the festival until mid-January; maybe they were waiting until the buds were a certain size to be able to predict the dates. Regardless, I booked my trip as soon as the dates were posted. I went on my own, with the plan to spend a couple days on my own and a couple days to visit friends.

I flew out early on Thursday morning, arriving on a bright, sunny morning just before 10 a.m. local time. Since I couldn't check in for a while anyway, I walked from the airport, which is about 3 1/2 miles. When I'd circled the airport to the far end and was a couple blocks from the end of the runway,  walking along with my roller bag, a retired-age gentleman coming the other way said, "Excuse me, did you walk from the airport? Can I walk to the airport?" with a nice British accent. I assured him it was possible and pointed out the street he needed to turn down and then just follow the curve of the airport fence. Nice to know I'm not the only crazy person who walks. 

A couple blocks after that, I stopped at a park to knit for about an hour. That might not have been the best idea since I hadn't brought sunscreen. The only sunscreen we had was a big bottle, and since I didn't check a bag, I couldn't take a full-size container. So my knitting time turned into a farmer's tan... I mean sunburn. But the knitting was pleasant.

From my previous solo trip, I knew of a gastro pub that I really liked, but I couldn't remember its name. Nor could I remember where it was. I continued down State, thinking maybe that was it. But when I got to Broadway, I thought, "No, this is it. I go up Broadway and turn left." Sure enough, I got to the block with the US Grant hotel and turned left, and there was The Local. They didn't have the lamb pita that I remembered, but they had a bahn mi sandwich that made me forget the lamb. And a pomegranate apple cider that made me forget everything with its 9% alcohol content!

By that time, I figured it was late enough to go to the hotel, which is only a couple blocks from our usual hotel. It was nice, on the same level as the place we usually stay but for at least $20 less per night this time. They let me check in at that point. 

I got situated in the room and then walked up to Balboa Park, another couple miles. At this point I'd changed into my Keds' (with orthotic inserts). While the arch supports kept me from having a flare up of plantar fasciitis, the Keds caused blisters in 5 places, which I then walked on for the rest of the trip. 

I knit in the park, sitting by the botanical gardens. Such a wonderful place to knit and people-watch. 

As it was week 3 of the CrossFit Open, I watched the announcement of 17.3. Dave Castro is a little crazy, but greatly entertaining. "Seventeen... point three... is..." Can you drag it out any more? The announcement made me glad that this was the week I was going to miss as I'd never have made it past the first 8 minutes, which hardly seems worth it. 

From there, I walked to Kettner Exchange, where Cat Wrangler and I had had our anniversary dinner in December. I sat at the bar and told the bartender I'd come back for the brussels sprouts with crispy pig ear. But they didn't have the sprouts that night. Boo. Instead I had a crab salad and an order of shishito peppers, which came with the aforementioned crispy pig ears. Not as good as the brussels sprouts, but still really darned tasty. The bartender comped my drink - their Kettner Painkiller which goes down way too easy - for not having the sprouts. Make note, this is free drink 1. This becomes a theme. 

On the walk back, I stopped at CVS and bought moleskin for the blisters and sunscreen. And a pair of kids' scissors to cut the moleskin in the hopes that the TSA would let small, blunt-end scissors through. CW looked online that night when we talked, and yes, scissors less than 4" are allowed. So now I have travel scissors. Because it's always good to carry moleskin and scissors.

Whew! Day 1 is done. This is why it's a month later and I'm just getting around to writing up my adventure.

Friday did not start well: it was the long-anticipated layoffs at work. I had people texting me by 6 a.m. Pacific time (of course I was awake because it was 8 a.m. Central and I had not adjusted to the time difference). I ended up on three phone calls and cried on the train to Encinitas. Some really good people were let go, and my former boss and mentor quit. Not a great way to spend a vacation day.

After that, I took the train to Encinitas to walk on the beach. I love the beach there. In December we had tried a fish restaurant in Leucadia, up the coast from Encinitas and I wanted to go there again so I hiked the two miles up the beach on blistered feet. Not the best walk I've ever had, but it took my mind off work. The fish tacos were completely worth it, the best fish tacos I've had anywhere. 

The walk back was a bit easier as the tide had gone out and I could walk on more sand and fewer rocks. And I was full of good fish and knew there was ice cream at the other end. Plus, I paused regularly to watch the waves and pelicans. A middle-aged man at one of my stops complimented my ability to make a chair out of two rocks. When I moved on, I offered my rock chair to him. The waves and water were a good antidote to the emotionally painful morning; the ocean soothes my soul. I kept singing "It Is Well With My Soul" in my head. (Hopefully in my head. Passersby might have thought it strange to see a late-30s woman limping alone down the beach singing hymns. I guess being seen as crazy might not be the worst thing in the world.)

I had chocolate ice cream with peanut butter swirled through and brownie bits in a sugar cone at Handel's, which we'd tried in December. (I'm walking 8+ miles a day at this point... I can have an ice cream cone!) It gets busy on a beautiful, sunny Friday in the middle of the afternoon! Moonlight Beach was also packed, which is very different from cool December days. This was a sunny, 70-degree day in March. 

I took the 3:50 train back to San Diego. I really enjoy the train ride along the coast. I had happy hour at Half Door Brewery, which was nice, but nothing exciting happened. Then I went to Meze, where we've been a couple times before, for dinner. I had their hibiscus mojito with hummus with a side of sliced veggies and dolmothes. The bartender forgot to charge me for the side of veg, which are not included. Because of my honesty, she brought me a shot of ouzo. Free drink 2. And the third drink on Friday night! I went quickly back to the hotel before it had a chance to take effect. Since I'm not a licorice fan, I didn't really like the ouzo, but I'm glad to have tried it. 

Saturday, the train was shut down for track repairs so I had to take the bus to Oceanside. I grabbed coffee at Starbucks on the way and ate my homemade granola with a latte on the bus. We got to Oceanside early - no traffic at 9 a.m. on Saturday - so I had time to go down to the beach and watch the waves for a while, which was very nice. From there, I took the train to San Juan Capistrano. That part of the train ride is on Amtrak and is also amazingly beautiful and even closer to the water. When storms hit, the waves must wash over the tracks. 

My friend H and her friend Aki met me in San Juan Capistrano and Aki drove to Laguna Beach. We walked down... and down... and down the bluffs to the tide pools on the beach. I haven't explored tide pools before. The anemones were curled up with all their tentacles inside, and they looked like rocks, but if you poked them they were squishy. Really cool. There weren't star fish or sea urchins. Hopefully those will come back. We walked along the main street in town, occasionally ducking in to shops, including one that used to be owned by the Fingerhut family, but, as far as H and I could tell, not the one we worked for. They had Dr. Seuss artwork because he spent his adult life there. He grew up in New England but moved to California. Some really fun stuff. 

We picked up sandwiches and had lunch on the beach. H caught the first glimpse of a dolphin. We thought there was one... then two... and then realized there were maybe half a dozen, just having fun in the water. They kept popping up and disappearing. H and Aki said it was a rare treat to see dolphins there. 

Most of the beaches we go to have good city- or state-owned restrooms. But Laguna Beach doesn't have a state beach so no public restrooms. After consulting Google maps (aka Gertrude... thanks, Mom for naming the direction-giving voice on our phones), we ended up at Ralph's. The restroom was in the storage area in back. Someone was in there and took a very long time - turned out to be a mom and maybe 8-year-old kid - and there were 3 of us waiting, plus another group of 4, possibly German, tourists showed up. The town should really think about public restrooms. 

We met their friends James and Stephanie at another set of tidepools near The Castle. It was fun to see an area and a natural formation - tide pools - that I hadn't seen before. Even without the starfish. 

We went back to San Juan Capistrano with plenty of time before the train was due to arrive and shared Greek appetizers at Hummingbird Cafe. A train pulled in, heading south, and H said "You should jump on." But my ticket was for a later train, and I was on the wrong side to get on anyway. That was a mistake. A few minutes later as we were walking around the charming Old Town of SJC, I got a text from Amtrak that my train was 2 hours later. Bah! We talked about options. The Amtrak station in SJC was already closed. While H offered to take me with them up to Santa Ana where I could get on the train (same train, just get on a few minutes earlier), I said, no, I'd rather be alone after a people-filled day. 

There was a Spanish tapas bar, Guapas Tapas, next to the station so I ensconced myself at the bar there. I had a Ward 8 drink and vegetable paella. They were very busy on a Saturday night and were training a new bar tender. Somehow in the hussle, a drink was left that no one wanted. The waitresses talked about it a bit, all saying, "It's not mine." I pointed it out to the head bartender. He looked at the printed-out ticket with it, had the trainee take it to the table on the ticket, but they said it wasn't theirs. He told the trainee to dump it out, but then turned to me and said, "Unless you want it." So I got drink number 3 for free on the third night in a row, all for different reasons. I think the lesson is that it's good to sit at the bar and talk to the bartender. 

I got on the train at 8:30, usually the time I'm turning in since it's 10:30 at home and I don't want to get too far off my normal schedule. And then I heard on the train that the delay was caused by a fatality earlier in the train's run. Well, that made me feel bad for all the negative thoughts I'd had. 

I got back in to San Diego at 10 and still had to walk back to the hotel, about a mile and a half. Plus, it was the night to switch to daylight-saving time, which meant it was quasi-11. So much for staying more-or-less on Central time. 

Sunday I slept in and read a book in the morning. Then I walked to Balboa (not in Ked's) and knit. I ran into my friend Miki while walking to Barrio Star where we were to meet. They weren't quite open yet, but there was another group also waiting outside in the beautiful weather. I had their pineapple mint agua fresca and a Brazil bowl (rice and veggies) with carnitas. I think they've made it bigger, and it really was more than I should have eaten, but very good. 

Miki didn't want to leave her car on the street so we drove into Balboa, but that was a mistake because all of the parking lots were full. We ended up parking at the zoo, finding one of the last spaces, which was probably further away than where she'd been originally. 

The cherry blossoms were lovely. The Japanese Friendship Garden is in a sort of canyon (a small, green one), and it's lined with cherry trees. There aren't a lot of cherry trees in Southern California, but they've done a nice job of planting them there and caring for them, and they were in full bloom. The garden was packed because of the festival. With everyone sitting on the grass and milling about, it was reminiscent of Seurat's Sunday on La Grande Jatte. We also watched a kimono display with about a dozen women in various types and colors of kimono, which was really interesting.

After Miki left, I walked back into downtown and ended up at The Local again, reprising my meal of the bahn mi and pomegranate apple cider. I asked if that cider was bottled and shipped to other places, but no, it's only sold in kegs locally. Boo.

Monday morning I decided to walk back to the airport, having too much time to kill to want to just hang out at the hotel, but too little time to do anything else (and it was too early for anything to be open). On the way, I picked up some spring rolls at the nearby Ralph's - in part because the natural food store, Jimbo's isn't open until 9 - and coffee at Starbuck's. I got to the airport in plenty of time, which was good because I'd left my full water bottle in my backpack so I had to go out of security, dump it, and go through the line again. But at least they were completely unconcerned about my small, blunt-tipped scissors. 

And then I found out that the fog, aka the marine layer, meant that few planes were getting in and there were already-grumpy people in the waiting area. Even though my plane was still purportedly on time, the anxious air in the waiting area made me nervous. But those times of delays are when strangers start talking, and I chatted with two Southwest employees and an older woman who were all waiting. My plane was close to on time, and we left in good time. I managed to snag an exit-row seat, which means more leg room, which is nice for a 3-hour flight. 

It was a really nice trip and I'm really glad I decided to go. 

Christmas Eve and Day 2016 with kittens

When it was really cold out a week ago, I could open the outside door, and the kittens would look out but not go out. I thought with it still snowy if warmer, they'd still avoid the snow. Nope.

At least Želka shows up in photographs well against the snow!

Béla took a tour around the yard, walking on the edges of the raised bed, the air conditioner, and the downspout. From there, he could get under the overhanging tray on the right side of the grill, which protects the catnip from the cold. It's still green and he chomped on that for a while. 

Then, fortified with catnip courage, he dashed out of the yard, across the sidewalk, through the snow on the other side, under the arborvitae, under the fence, and into the pool area. He climbed onto one of the tables and then this stack of chaise lounges. (Left side by the umbrella.)

Then he gingerly climbed onto the fence and tried to get the bird in the arborvitae. The bird, unsurprisingly, flew away. And then Béla did not know what to do. He didn't want to drop into the snow and get his feet wet! 

I had to rescue him and get my feet wet. 


Christmas morning, they weren't too interested in the packages, but they liked the wrapping paper, ribbons, and boxes very much. Želka put one on like a cowl. 

And then couldn't get it off. 

"Here, let me help you!" Except Béla  shoved it on more, rather than helping her get it off. 

Eventually, she did get untangled (with some help from Cat Wrangler) and Béla ended up with it on instead. They had a fun morning. 

In the end, Želka was all worn out and fell asleep in my arm. She does have beautiful coloring. And is really sweet. 

We had duck for dinner with sage-brown butter roasted butternut squash and spinach salad. Merry Christmas!

Kittens 4 months

I missed month three.

The kittens are very playful and like to wrestle. Želka gets the worst of it, but she's often the one who initiates it too. 

She's also getting a starring role this month. Usually she's hard to photograph, but she's been photogenic this month. She's been a ham. We also found that she like black twist ties. Béla started fetching with a ball a couple months ago, but she wasn't interested. But once we found that she likes twist ties (black only), she took to fetch immediately too. 

They both like Cat Wrangler a whole lot. (Želka is on CW's lap on his stomach.) 

I finished another baby blanket for a baptism at church. I really like this yarn, which is really soft and squishy. 

I poured bird seed into the feeder outside before the snow. A bunch of seed fell on the table on top of the first layer of snow. More snow fell on top, but some of the birds must have dug out the seed. That's the hold in the side of the layer of snow on the table. The junko doesn't look super fat here, but it was very puffed up against the -20 degree temperature weather on Sunday. 

I've also had a rabbit coming to eat the birdseed. 

This must be how he gets in. 

This was early in the morning after the snow. It's not completely black; if you look closely, you can see the snowy outline of the birdfeeder roof and a rabbit to the left. The rabbit has to jump up on the raised bed, but that's easier in the winter when there's snow on the ground. And I guess the poor guy must be hungry if he's eating bird food. I've tried putting out hay from the guinea pigs' stock to distract the rabbit from the much-more-expensive bird seed. I'm not sure how well it's working. 

San Diego 2016

We went to San Deigo for our 6th annual anniversary trip for our 10th anniversary. We left on Wednesday, the 7th and arrived right around lunch time and tried a Korean/Thai restaurant near our hotel for lunch. Cat Wrangler had their bibimbap which didn't quite hold up to our local Korean restaurant but was still decent, and I had a nice tofu curry. 

We finally checked out the little local museums, the Gaslamp Quarter Historical Foundation's museum in the Davis-Horton House and the San Deigo Chinese Historical Museum. Both were interesting and informative. The Davis-Horton House included historical newspapers, which was fascinating, and information on Bum the dog. He'd been something of a community dog in the 1800s, roaming around independent and being fed by everyone. That explains the statue of the dog we'd seen on the grounds of that house. 

We had dinner at Cafe Chloe, which is the only restaurant we've visited on every trip. We started with their macaroni and pancetta gratin, which is not to be missed. Then I had salmon, and CW had a pork chop. It says something about the quality of the Bar 5 pork we get at home that, while the pork chop was good, it wasn't better than what we make at home. Since I can't cook fish well, my salmon was considerably better than what we'd have at home. 

I watched people working out at Bear Republic CrossFit across from Chloe while we ate, and I intended to drop in the next morning, but on all of the mornings when I could have, despite going to bed early, I slept for 10 hours and didn't make it there. 

Thursday we took the train to Encinitas to walk on the beach. It was a beautiful day for sitting in the sun, in the low 60s with little wind. 

We watched water run off the bluffs and deposit sand on the beach. It was fascinating. 

There were a couple rock stacks (I know there's a real term for it, but I don't remember it.) so CW made one too.  

We walked a couple miles up the beach and 101 to Fish 101 for lunch and had possible the best, freshest fish tacos of mahi mahi I've ever had. CW  had a rice, veg, and fish bowl that was also good. 

After walking back and spending some more time watching the ocean, we stopped at Handel's Homemade Ice Cream. They have about 50 flavors. I had a chocolate with peanut butter chunks that was excellent with just enough saltiness in the peanut butter. CW had chocolate with brownie chunks. I kind of wish we could go back to try a few other flavors. By the time we make it there again next year, I'll just want to have the chocolate PB again since it was so good. 

We watched the sun set on the train ride back. It was nice when I visited in May/June to have long days instead of sunset at 4:30. We had a late dinner at Harvest, which is the new restaurant in the old location of our much-loved and short-lived Table Ten. CW had their fattoush and I had their Moroccan spiced flat iron steak. And we had some cocktails. I had The Lady Wears Red, which is Gin, Raspberry Brandy, Hibiscus Flower, Lemon, Sichuan Peppercorn, and CW had a gin mule. Mine was really good. 

We spent Friday morning in Balboa, admiring the roses and listening to the hummingbirds. We then had lunch in Little Italy at Ironsides. I had fish tacos again, which were fine but not as good as the ones the day before at Fish 101. CW had grilled swordfish, which was very good. 

We relaxed in the afternoon and then went to an early dinner for our anniversary at Kettner Exchange. It's a small plates restaurant, so we ordered multiple things to share. There were tuna tacos with the tuna ground into a pate that paired very well with the guacamole on it. The duck meatball was on really creamy, smooth polenta. The best dish was roasted brussels sprouts with crispy pig ears in a Thai sauce. The sprouts were perfectly cooked, browned but not mushy. The thin slices of pig ear had been braised and then fried and really were crisp, not chewy. The sauce was also an incredible flavor. I wish I could bring it home and make stir fries with it. 

We both had cocktails that night as well. I had their KEX Painkiller, a combination of 7 rums, pineapple, lime, passionfruit, and coconut. It was pleasantly sweet and not knock-out strong. CW had a PD Collins with gin and cocchi rosa. 

Dessert was a chocolate lava cake paired with vanilla ice cream and crunchy chocolate cookie bits. It was perfect. 

I am recording what we ate and drank because on this trip, I looked back at previous years' entries to see what we had gotten and liked (or not) at a couple restaurants. Unfortunately, we don't remember everything so it's nice to have a source that I can reference remotely. 

Saturday morning we got on an early train to LA to see Hava. She met us at the station and took us to Sqirl for brunch. I love going to Southern California because they always have healthy options and if it's not egg-free, one can ask for it to be vegan, and no one bats an eye. I had chickpeas in a Middle Eastern-spiced sauce with greens and a really long piece of French bread. Kind of fun to slice the bread lengthwise. 

CW had a sandwich with prosciutto, and all three of us shared a thick slice of brioche with ricotta and apricot jam. 

We went to the Petersen auto museum after brunch. They have a Batmobile from the movies, which was incredible, even as a non-fan. Just really cool to see a slice of American cultural history. They also have a Delorean, which I have seen before, but theirs is from Back To The Future with all of the lights and wires for the time machine. They also have an impressive collection of Bugatis. 

We then went on to the La Brea tar pits, which was what I really wanted to see. It was fascinating. The whole block smells like tar. They have lots of animal bones displayed that they've found in the pits, and there are places to see what they're working on now. I'm glad we got there. 

We went to Little Tokyo for dinner at an udon noodle place, which was good, and then Hava showed us her apartment. It's amazing how much less one can afford in LA than in Minneapolis! 

Union Station is beautiful and was beautifully decorated for Christmas. 

We didn't get on the train until 7:40, putting us back in after 10:30 with a half hour walk back to the hotel. I wish we'd kept the day shorter as It was hard to walk back when that tired. 

Sunday started with brunch at Cafe 21. They had a beet and quinoa "tartare" which was wonderful and just what I needed. I may try to replicate their spices in the dressing for my own beet/kale/quinoa salad. They also had a coffee-chai combination, which I replicated pretty well this morning at home.  

We went back to Balboa park for a tour of their Japanese gardens. Our arboretum membership got us in for free, which was nice. We hadn't gone before because we didn't want to pay admission. Yes, we're cheap. They're lovely gardens. Despite it being December, there were just a couple cherry blossoms here and there. 

When we left the part, we went to the redwood circle, which we hadn't even known was there on the north end of the park. Our hotel was featuring a local artist this month, and her paintings were of Balboa. One of them was of the redwoods so we sought them out. 

There was a nice view from there back to the tower on one of the buildings in the park. 

We had lunch at Bario Star, which is near the park and has nice healthy Mexican food. 

We've seen the signs the last couple years for the pet parade but have been there on the wrong weekend. This year, we hit it right, and it was even more delightful than we'd imagined: people and their pets dressed up and walking down the street. There were also many more people and pets than I'd expected, making it even more fun. 

We got to watch them go up one street and back the other one, a block over. 

After dark, there was the San Diego Bay Parade of Lights, with boats strung up with lights parading in the bay. It reminded me of Minneapolis' Holidazzle parade but on the water. Very family-friendly, everyone out to have fun and enjoy the season. 

We finished at Meze, a Greek restaurant nearby and shared hummus, a spice feta dip (yum!), and dolmas. And then went to our hotel bar for a drink because as members of their loyalty program, we get a free drink with our stay. That was also quite nice, and a nice, quiet way to end the trip. 

We flew out Monday morning, being delayed for mechanical reasons that put us into Phoenix with just enough time to go to the bathroom and then walk to our gate and get on the plane to MSP. 

Another fun and relaxing trip.