Back Blog: San Diego, CA - August 2-4,2013

Imagine if you would, 7 grown adults in just 1 van, making a 5 and a half hour drive to San Diego for an entire weekend. That's what Robbie and I did with 5 of his coworkers this particular weekend in August. Do you have any idea what it's like to get 7 people's schedules to mesh??? Well, everyone's schedules finally aligned, and we were on our way. The big reason we went was to see a Padres game in Petco Park. Everyone else wanted to make it worth their while and go when a good team was visiting, which happened to be the Yankees, but me? No. The quality of team who is at an opposing stadium is not a top priority for me. Heck, I'm going to get to check one more stadium off my list!!! I'm definitely in!!

The trip down there was very fun, and quite cozy, as you can imagine. We had a lot of laughs, and we sang the entire catalog of Glee music along the way. When we weren't singing Glee, we were being entertained by a wonderful duet   (<---- double click this link). Pure enjoyment!! Thanks Robbie for letting me share this! We also had a gorgeous sunset on our way down as well!

Being we only had one vehicle for all 7 of us, making a group decision of what to do the next day (Saturday) before the game was hard. In the weeks before we left, it was the general consensus that we would all go to Coronado Island and spend the day there until the game. Well, that decision was changed at the last minute on our way down there, and the majority of the group wanted to go tour breweries all day long. Booor-ing!!! This really put a wrinkle in our Robbie and I's plans because we did not want to spend a gorgeous Saturday afternoon in a brewery when we were in beautiful San Diego. We lucked out that our hotel was really close to the San Diego Zoo, so we had our designated driver drop us off there for the afternoon while everyone else went on their merry way.

 

 

 

 

I'm glad we separated from the group for a while because now we were at the coolest zoo in the country. This was Robbie's first time at the Zoo, and my second. We saw most of the exhibits, from the tigers to the elephants to the koalas! It was really great to be there again!

 

 

 

From the Zoo, we darted on over to the ballpark area. It was still a little bit too early to get into the gates, so on a suggestion from a Zoo employee, we ate at this really good sports bar just down the street from Petco Park called Bub's at the Ballpark. I can't vouch for any other food besides the Philly Cheesesteak, and let me just tell you....I'd go back there right this second for another one of those!! The baseball energy was really cool, and I couldn't wait for the game! Like always, we were inside the park with plenty of time before the first pitch, so we had a lot of time to walk around the park and watch batting practice. For BP, we decided to sit behind the plate for a good view of the city!

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

One of the cool features in Petco Park is the Western Metal Supply Co. building in the left field foul territory. Way back on April 30, 2012, Ryan Braun hit 3 homeruns in Petco Park, and one of them hit the façade of that building. So, of course, I wanted to sit where I could see that building.

 

 

 

 

After batting practice, we met up with the rest of our group at our seats, which were in right field, upper deck. We all decided on modest prices for our seats, which actually worked out well because we could see the whole field, the Coronado Bridge behind us, and part of downtown to our right!

 

 

 

 

During the game, there wasn't too much offense by the Padres as the Yankees won 3-0. However, being that was the final score, we got to see the greatest closer of all time, Mariano Rivera, save the game for the Yankees which turned out to be the last time we would ever see him pitch in person (he retired after this season)! That was pretty cool for me. Even though I dislike the Yankees so much, I respect Rivera for what he has accomplished in his career. Below is a succession of one of his pitches!

 

 

 

 

The next day, we all headed over to Mt. Soledad for a while. I'd like to preface this by mentioning that last year for my birthday, Robbie made me a travel bingo board, and it has 25 sights to see at different destinations, and Mt. Soledad was one of them. (A photo of the travel bingo board is below). Mt. Soledad is a Veteran's Memorial for those that served in the Korean War. Atop the mountain sits a cross that has been a point of controversy between religion and government. The view of San Diego from Mt. Soledad was gorgeous, and apparently on a clear day, you can see into Mexico from there. Unfortunately the fog hadn't lifted yet that morning....

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

After Mt. Soledad, we headed the beach in La Jolla. A leisure trip to San Diego is never complete without a trip to the beach. A few of the people from our group were native San Diegans, so they knew the perfect spots! We spent a good amount of the afternoon at the beach, and even did a little cave exploration!! It was a perfect ending to a pretty fun weekend.

 

 

 

 

 

 

Now to venture back home in a van with 7 people....