Today is Monday and I helped my friend packing her kitchen. After three hours I left wanting to cry from how tired I was and how overwhelming it is to be in a pack-rat's apartment. Every drawer, every cupboard, every freaking shoe box is stuffed with things. Hours and hours of work and there seems to be no progress. It's awful!!!!
OK so, anyway, back to my Tour Guide story:
What and where? Walk from Pacific Beach to Mission Beach
Why? Luckily my friend was more interested in not missing his morning workouts, rather than going out every night. So this morning I left him at the corner of Garnet Avenue & Everts Street in PB with instructions to walk all the way to the beach, turn left and walk/jog until he reached Mission Beach, which he would recognize when he saw Belmont Park's roller-coaster. That would give him a few miles of walking, plus an added challenge if he did it directly on the sand. My friend had a blast looking at the cool shops, the beach, the girls in bikinis and he did some shopping. He was a happy camper!
What and where? Lunch at Roberto's Taco Shop
Why? There are tons of great taco shops in San Diego, but since my friend was already in Mission Beach and we were both famished, I went for the shrimp burrito while he had his first fish tacos of the vacation.
What and where? Old Town!!!
Why? San Diego's birthplace, with several haunted dwellings, like the Whaley House, some houses at Heritage Park, among others. This place started back in the times of the Wild Wild West and it looks very cool. Even though I like this area for its historical value, I don't necessarily like to eat or shop there, too much of a tourist trap for my taste. I've read several books on San Diego History, so I can give some interesting information about the area.
Money saving tip: The Casa de Estudillo is a free museum open until 5 PM, it's an old adobe house from a very prominent Mexican family back in 1827. It's beautifully kept and even though it's free, I always like to leave a donation. It's also rumored to be haunted, I think I'll be updating the Wikipedia page pretty soon.
A view of the old cemetery
The grave of Yankee Jim, one of the ghosts that haunt the Whaley House.
Check out the grave behind this one, weird reflections there.
Courtyard of La Casa de Estudillo
My friend Tom checking out Lucha Libre masks in Old Town
What and where? Window shop at Las Americas Premium Outlets in San Ysidro
Why? Actually I had to do an errand in San Ysidro and since we were already there we went to the outlet center. My friend got to see the border crossing and the fence, even the McDonald's there looked different to him since everyone around us spoke Spanish. We did go into several stores, but we didn't see too many deals, so it was more of a window shopping trip.