This first trip started out in Vegas, went through Phoenix, over to San Diego, up to LA/ Orange County, and finally a couple stops in Central/ Nor cal.
Vegas and Phoenix were a lot of work, and A lo of driving, we really didn't get a chance to do much at all. the only place we ate of any Note was a out in Scottsdale called Uncle Sams, a pizza/ sandwich place that may have over done it with the Americana decor, but the tasty and in expensive hoagie style sandwiches made up for it.
Fast forward to San Diego. A couple of interesting mornings working at Lego Land, and a training at the Naval Base left us with a fair amount of time to explore. Friday morning we got done at Lego Land at about 11:00 and didn't need to be to the Navy training for a couple of hours, so our contact took us on a little tour. Cool stuff, the things their artists can build out of legos amazes me.
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| The capitol building |
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| A portion of the Las Vegas Strip |
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| The Mirage |
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| A New Orleans cemetery |
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| A sail boat, you can see the pulley system most of the boats and a lot of cars were mobile. Cool stuff. |
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| A little Star Wars action for the nerds |
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| And of course, I guy on a toilet in Grand Central Station. |
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No Trip to SD would be complete without a trip to one of my favorite restaurants; South Beach Bar & Grill, out on Ocean Beach. If you have any fondness for Fish Tacos, this is the place to be. These tacos are a little slice of Heaven on earth. My personal favorite is the fried calamari taco. Serious bliss. The service is horrible (at best) but it's worth putting up with a self important wait staff to experience the heaven that is a South Beach Taco.
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| One calamari taco, one shark taco, and one lobster taco. mmmmmmmm. |
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A dessert must is another of my faves on ocean beach. I've never known the name of the place, but it's right next door to South Beach, and it's home to one o the most delectable inventions known to man. The waffle ice cream sandwich.
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| My personal choice, the plain waffle with Huckleberry Heaven ice cream. |
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They take a waffle, there are several different flavor choices, sandwich it around the ice cream of your choice, and then throw it in a sandwich cooker type thing that is super hot so it warms up the waffle while keeping the ice cream cold. Seriously. Heaven.
On the recommendation of one of my customers, we tried out a So Cal BBQ chain called Phils BBQ. My test of any BBQ place is always the pulled pork sandwich. Phil's was great, But not the best I've ever had. But the Money maker? The Onion Rings. I don't know where they grow onions that big, but they were super tasty.
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| a "small" order of rings, after I'd already done a little work on them |
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We had to make a quick trip up to Encinitas to do a job one day, we got there a little early, so we looked around and randomly chose a diner to try. Definitely scored with "The Original 101 Diner". Super Friendly service, and the food was awesome.
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| One of the house specialties, "California Benedict" Normal bacon instead of that Canadian crap, and avocado. perfect. |
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I always say, when in doubt on where to eat, turn to Guy Fieri., we did just that one night in SD and he steered us back out to Ocean Beach, to a burger joint called Hodads. We ended up waiting in line for about an hour and a half to get in, but it was well worth the wait. All the staff was incredible and friendly, and the burgers were to die for.
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| The Guido burger, pastrami, grilled onions, and spicy mustard. Loved it! | | |
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DDD also sent us to a Mexican place near Old Town in SD called El Indio. Kind of a cafeteria type place with really tasty chips, and Horchata in the fountain drink machine. Horchata is one of the quickest ways to win my heart.
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| The "mini" Carne Asada burrito. |
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| El Indio |
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After SD we headed up the coast to LA for a couple of days of work. we arrived on a Sunday afternoon, just in time to catch a Dodgers/ Washington Nationals game.
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| LA in the process of beating Washington. |
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I was able to hook up with an old friend at the game, and we headed downtown for lunch. We hit up an awesome Gourmet sausage place in the art district called called Wurstkuche. Really hip place, backed up with awesome food. They had several different gourmet dipping sauces for their fries, and they were Delicious!
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My alligator sausage. You only live once right?
One of the best days of the trip was when we went to Santa Monica. We walked down the pier and checked things out, then, rented some bicycles down to Venice beach and checked out all vendors and shops. If you need some Bob Marley wall art, feathers in your hair, a prescription for medical marijuana, or cheap sunglasses, Dogtown is the place to go. A view down the beach from the Santa Monica pier
Me at the "original" muscle beach with my rented cruiser
The 3rd street promenade.
My kind of church. Well sort of
Where I work, usually, this is the worst part of my day, but it's over quickly, so I can't complain too much.
All in all it was an awesome trip, A lot of driving, and some stressful days of work, but in the long run, more fun than anything.
Finally, proof that Tanner occasionally works.... On Palm trees? | | | | |
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