Tuesday 30 August 2011

San Diego Sunshine!

I'm back! Well many of you already know that as I've been tweeting and blogging again. We actually got back on Thursday afternoon but are still suffering from the inevitable jetlag. And you know what we tried to do? We tried to go to Reading Festival on Saturday... which was a mistake! First of all, I'm still on crutches, second it was raining, third it was incredibly muddy and the little stool we'd brought for me to sit on would have been swallowed in the mire. So we reconsidered and came back to London where we vegged out and watched Battlestar Galactica. Which is my new favourite programme even though they finished ages ago. In case you haven't seen it before, I thought I'd add a video clip to get you interested... We're presently coming to the end of Season 3 and I was in floods of tears earlier at one of the episodes.


Anyway, back to the main reason for today's blog post...

I'm sure some of you would like to know how it all went in San Diego at my friend's wedding. It was GRRRRRREAT! Spent the days running up to the wedding running around with James doing last minute shopping, errands, making place cards etc while also being entertained, and entertaining, various family members and friends. Andy and I have now been 'adopted' by James' mum and dad who are great and her aunt Mary is an absolute gem of a character. We really enjoyed the trip.

The bride and me... in our usual poses!

I discovered on the Monday before the wedding that it is traditional in the U.S for Maids of Honour to give a speech.... WHAT??? That was total news to me so I inevitably stressed and pondered and stressed some more before finally writing a few notes at 6 am on the Saturday morning. I think it went OK although having nothing to go by I don't really know. I did a whole play on the British/ American language thing and ended by making everyone toast the Queen... I mean, the happy couple. 'Twas amusing for me at least. The wedding itself was a huge success - we had lots of fun, danced, ate AMAZING food and enjoyed ourselves immensely. There was possibly the best steak I have ever eaten...mmmm. We got back to our hostel and collapsed, and were then up the next morning for brunch with lots of the wedding guests again in an old lighthouse on the bay. Gorgeous setting, eat all you want buffet which had so much food I couldn't even begin to think what I should try next! But oysters featured...

Jade (another bridesmaid), James (bride) and myself at brunch the next day

As for San Diego, I can officially say that I have been to many many shops but not a single tourist attraction. We did go to the beach on Monday after most of the guests had left which was pretty nice and I managed to burn in small patches despite wearing factor 75 suncream and sitting in the shade for the most part... damn that fair skin of mine!


Coronado beach was a huge, beautiful, white sandy beach on Coronado Island. We had to go over a crazy curved bridge in order to get there - apparently there used to be a subsidy if bridges were over a certain length so the architects made the bridge longer just so they could get the subsidy. It's quite cool (and featured in my last San Diego post here.) Once at the beach I was determined to swim, even though I was warned how cold it would be. What I really liked was that in the water, the sand sparkled and looked almost like flecks of gold. It was pretty cold in but once you got used to it, was quite pleasant really. Amazing waves but then I guess it is the Pacific coast, right? We ate huge icecreams with random toppings - Andy tried Apple Pie flavoured ice-cream which scarily did taste like apple pie... weird!

What else? We went for sushi, drank lots of American beer, remembered why we don't drink coca-cola in the U.S but did manage to get Mexi-Cokes (Mexican Coca-Cola) which was better if not quite right. I really don't understand the need to use corn syrup instead of real sugar. And after everything had quietened down, James and I went shopping... I usually hate shopping but having someone like her around is great: she just picks out all my clothes for me and persuades me to try on things I would never dream of! I will have to do a 'fashion show' post at some point!! Mostly it was just great to catch up with our friends, meet some new people and relax. Definitely a much needed holiday!

4 comments:

PoetessWug said...

Ohhhh! I'm so glad you had a good time!!! Thanks for the photos too. California is 'West Coast'...completely in an area of the United States I have never been. I will though...ONE DAY!! ^_^ And about the Coke, it tastes different in the U.K.?!!!! That was news to me!...Lastly, I used to watch Battlestar Gallactica when I was a kid. I LOVED it11 That's why I would never watch what I call 'the jacked-up remakes' that are on now!! LOL But to each his own! :-)

Ange said...

Sounds like you had a wonderful time. I'm glad you enjoyed your time in the States. :)

Creating Trouble said...

Debbie - I have never seen the original Battlestar so this series it pretty good for me. And yes, Coke tastes VERY different in the UK and Europe. It's made with real sugar and not corn syrup that is unfortunately heavily subsidised and therefore used in a lot of products over with you guys. While you can never call coke 'natural' it doesn't taste quite so artificial over here. Give me real sugar any day! On the plus side though, it does mean I drink a lot fewer fizzy drinks when I'm in the US!

We had such a good time and it was great to have a bit of a holiday from our flat - while I love our flat, I do get bored sitting in here day after day!

Ana Goncalves said...

Many happy congrats to your friend for getting married! Sorry to hear about your accident at Reading Festival. Hope you are okay now?

Also very happy to hear that you had a great time and came back after a much needed rest. :)

P.S-I also got sunburn end of August in East Sussex of all places, and my skin complexion is olive. So goes to show the sun wherever you are is pretty strong. :)

Look forward in seeing your new necklaces, heard that you were working on them via Facebook.

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