Fun in Old Town

My husband had business in San Diego earlier this week, so after visiting Corey at the Camp from 8 am till 2, we made the 4 hr drive south. We arrived at our hotel , The Hacienda, in Old Town, a wonderful district of the city that is actually where San Diego got its start. Over the years the area has been restored, there are original buildings dating back to the early 1800’s and the main street is lined with wonderful restaurents, shops, boutiques, and museums. An altogether fun and happy place to spend time.

I highly recommend The Hacienda! Besides being a beautiful Mission-style hotel, it sits on the hill just above Old Town, right in the center of town so is central to everything one wants to see while there. We could walk out the Hotel and whichever direction we headed we had any number of entertaining and interesting shops, museums, and restaurents at our disposal. An added bonus was the spectacular view of the city of "Dago" off our veranda!

The second day of our stay, while Rod was off instructing a Safety Class, my friend Susie drove down from Carlsbad and met me at my hotel room. After taking a tour of the newly built and opened Mormon Museum, just across the street from the hotel lobby, we walked down the street to Guadalahara Restaurent, where, in the sunlit, brightly colored Spanish décor we lunched on Chili’s Relenos (Susie’s choice) and the huge chopped chicken/avocado salad I had ordered, topped off with lime and crisp, red tortilla strips. Yum! The rest of the day we wandered around enjoying the warm, sunny day, the boutiques and shops, and even the restored, magnificent Victorian houses at Heritage Park (which is, incidentally, directly across the street from our Hotel.

All too quickly the day passed, and Susie headed home with jars of my homemade Asian Plum Sauce and Vanilla Plum syrup, little gifts from my pantry I had brought with me for her to try. I had a bumper crop of two plum varieties last summer and put up several jars of the preserves. I have already gotten a thumbs up on the Asian sauce, am waiting for her to try the syrup, with club soda and ice it makes a light and refreshing Italian Soda.

California is a queer place - in a way, it has turned its back on the world, and looks into the void Pacific.... It's sort of crazy-sensible. Just the moment: hardly as far ahead as carpe diem. ~D.H. Lawrence