Bill and Teresa's Excellent Adventure: 4) Hello San Diego

     It's not exactly around the corner, but the rigors of our three day, 1,116.3 mile drive to San Diego seemed like a piece of cake once we got our first glimpse of the Pacific Ocean.

Follow the Blue Line to the Beach

     Teresa visited the big ocean many years ago with her California family. I spent about 45-minutes on Huntington Beach a few years back when baby son Joe was involved in a high school program in Anaheim.

     To use the west coast vernacular, we drove in on "The-8," merged onto "The 805" and then headed north on "The 5." I don't know why folks in the west put an article (the) before each highway number, but they do.

    We quickly found out, whether it's I-5 or "The 5," we don't want any part of it. Apparently, the 75-mph speed limit is just a suggestion. Teresa drove a bit and it went like this....
Me: "How fast are you going?"
T: "85."
Me: "Slow down. The speed limit's 75."
T: "I don't care. They're gonna run over us if I go any slower!!"
Me: "Ok. You're a rule breaker."
T: "I am."

     Call it Kismet, fate or just plain good luck but we couldn't have timed our arrival any better to our place in Oceanside which is about 20-miles north of San Diego.

Oceanside Pier/Oceanside, CA

 
     See that pier?  There's a pretty good café way down at the end. I have no idea how they get the food out to it, but they do. I wouldn't call their menu life changing, but a pretty decent burger and fries combined with the Pacific as far as the eye can see makes/made for a great first impression.

     The icing on the cake for our arrival would come a few hours later just as the sun was setting.  Turns out every Thursday, that's EVERY, SINGLE THURSDAY... The city hosts a morning farmers market and then a sunset market.

Sunset Market/Oceanside, CA

     The night we arrived, an organizer told us they had 87-vendors that evening. He said in the summer when the crowds swell that the vendors easily increase to about 200.
     Teresa and I grazed our way through the market last Thursday. We started with Paella. Then we sampled a chicken Puck. A puck is a perfectly round meat pie kind of food. After that, Teresa settled for Tempura Shrimp and I gave a Kenyan Beef with Coconut Rice and Blackeyed Peas dish a try.
     The Kenyan food was a first. It really wasn't too bad, but I couldn't shake the coconut smell for about 48-hours.

     I'm pretty sure we couldn't have asked for anything more for our first night in SoCal. We thought we'd wonder and people watch after our global-gastro experience but the road and miles caught up to us very quickly. We called it a very early night to greet another day.

Bill Robertson