Saturday, June 29th – Sunday, June 30th, 2013
Since we were getting close to the beach again, I shaved my legs in the Walmart parking lot as to not startle other beach goers with my werewolf legs. We made a brief Starbuck’s run in El Cajon before entering San Diego, CA. After finding a place to park, we walked to Padres Stadium which was set up super nice! It was neat to be able to basically walk into the stadium without even having to pay. We wandered around the Gas Lamp Quarter and eventually grabbed lunch at “Gourmet India” which had an awesome buffet.
Then we strolled around the Convention Center and over to Seaport Village which was super touristy, but fun! A pair of gymnast street performers got booted out while we were there for busking without a permit.
We took a water taxi across the water to Coronado, CA where there were a lot of weddings taking place, and we did some window shopping before heading back to the pier to wait on the water taxi to return. While we waited, we chatted with a large family who were quite impressed with Trevor’s beard.
A group of people showed up late for the taxi and were determined to cut in front of us even though we all had been waiting for quite some time. Their attempt to cut in line failed, and ended in a huge ordeal between the group and the boat crew. Random note: one of mates resembled Nicholas Cage. Maybe it was Nicholas Cage. Let’s just say it was.
Regardless of their temper tantrum, they were told by Nicholas Cage and the rest of the crew to wait for the next boat. As we made our way back, we heard one of the guys that was forced to wait got his panties all in a knot, and tried to make up a false story about the captain in attempts to get him in trouble. The entitlement of some people absolutely baffles me sometimes.
We headed back to the van and made our way to Mission Beach, CA, where we checked out a few board shops. As we strolled along the boardwalk, three kids who couldn’t have been any older than 12, stopped Trevor to ask him a few questions about Christianity. According to them, we were going to burn in hell with all the other non-Christians if we didn’t go to church to pray for forgiveness immediately. I minded my tongue keeping in mind that they were just children, but left feeling a little annoyed with humanity. You can believe that the world was created by a God with the head of a walrus with dreadlocks and the body of Kim Kardashian. I don’t care. Believe whatever you want to believe in, it’s your belief. But when another person tries to shame me for thinking differently, especially when it’s a child clearly being put up to it by close-minded adults, it grinds my gears. My faith in humanity was redeemed shortly afterwards when I saw a guy walk up to a random homeless man and hand him a huge plate full of food.
We watched the sun set on the ocean as people surfed, then hit the road. The rest stop we planned on stopping at either didn’t exist, or we never located it, but fortunately I noticed a train/bus station with free parking in Solana Beach, CA before we passed it by. After finding a space to park, we walked around the Design District and window shopped. All the shops were closed since it was so late, but we planned to return in the morning. Before heading back to the van, we listened to the muffled sound of a Rolling Stones cover band as we passed by a small club.
A crowd of street cyclists woke me up as they gathered in the parking lot we slept in. We headed back to the Design District to grab coffee before heading across the highway to the beach.
After watching the surfers float around, we returned to the Design District and wandered around all the shops and through the Farmer’s Market which was set up nearby. Then we ate lunch in the van before driving to Cardiff by the Sea, CA to check out the Patagonia store, board shops, and thrift stores there.
A girl named Theresa that went to high school with Trevor had heard we were near her neighborhood and asked us to stop by. We felt awkward entering her gated community in San Marcos, CA since our rusty van didn’t belong in such a high end neighborhood. I warned her of my stink as she greeted us with hugs once we arrived.
Theresa and her husband Steve were incredibly nice and welcoming! They let us shower before they cooked kebobs on the grill and insisted that we stay the night, so we took them up on their hospitality. It was so nice sleeping in such a comfy bed for a change, rather than the bouldering pads in our van or the usual lumpy spring-mattresses of the cheap motels we vacated.
Jump Back to Part 58: Joshua Trees, Dead Fish & Space Ships
Jump Ahead to Part 60: Stars, Ants & Slapstick
OR
Start Over at Part 01: The Blue Bubble, Freebies & A Rude Awakening
Stubbs Rambles On 