Tuesday, February 13, 2024
Sometime in the not-so-distant past, something brought to my attention that vacationing and traveling are not the same thing. I have always used the term going on vacation for whenever one goes somewhere. I guess the distinction can be made that vacationing is settling in somewhere comfortable and staying put; giving you a break from you regular life and responsibilities. You want to return home relaxed.
We don’t vacation. I always say we need a vacation from our vacations, but we are usually pretty tired (well, historically. We’re much lazier now). Anyway, traveling is “about the journey”, stepping outside your routine, embracing adventure. I never think we are really very adventurous. We know we are wimpy travelers, and we seek help whenever possible to get us safely and educationally around.
This all brings us to this San Diego jaunt. We picked San Diego because we have never been here and because it seemed that because we could leave cold (historically) Minnesota in winter and come to the always-sunny-and-warm (historically) San Diego. Keith would work, I would read and watch movies (generally vacation, as defined), and we would tourist around in the evenings. Our canceled week (last week, during the rain) we were supposed to be downtown San Diego, seeing museums and cultural stuff, while this week we were going to be here in Oceanside and go to more outlying bits and whatnot. We never got specific about the bits and whatnot, and it turns out there aren’t a whole lot that are grabbing our attention. So, we are just doing not much.
I was wrestling today with finding something “to do” when Keith finished work at 2pm (we are keeping to Central time for ease of Keith’s meetings, and it opens up several hours every day for doing something while it is still light. We have hilariously been going to bed at 9pm. Keith woke up at 3:30am today and just got up and started working because his brain was full of ideas and he’d had 6.5 hours of sleep. I was watching episodes 3 and 4 of Band of Brothers at 6am. It feels just right). We went to the beach, and we drove around Oceanside seeing some things and we walked. Keith said it was okay not to DO. We could just hang around all day and then do nothing. I said, “Like spending the day at the pool and NOT going to rides at night? Is that allowed?” He said it is. Huh. We are on vacation.
We drove 15 minutes down the highway (down, because we were going south) to go to the Crack Shack for dinner. It is a local chain and came recommended by a local friend of Keith’s, so we had to try it. The food was very good. I had a Coop Deville – fried jidori (like I know what that is. I looked it up and I forgot what it said – something about a kind of chicken from Japan, but then it also said delicious chicken. I don’t think they are sourcing their chickens from Japan, but maybe. I thought it tasted like chicken. Delicious chicken. So, we’ll go with that. Sounds fancy, doesn’t it. I’m going to make jidori chicken some time. I’ll have you over) chicken breast, pickled Fresno chilis, pickles, lime mayo, Napa cabbage on a brioche bun. Keith had Señor Croque – fried jidori (there I go again) chicken breast, bacon, fried egg, cheddar, miso-maple butter on a brioche bun. We shared Mexican Poutine (because poutine is a must have word) – fries with pollo asado, jalapeño cheese whiz, cilantro (I removed it).
It was an interesting place. We ordered from a window in the side of the outside of building. If you want to take your meal to go, you wait and go. If you want to eat in, you take your number to a table inside. Most of the external walls opened up to the outside. There were built in heaters in the ceiling that were on. We picked a table close to one of the heaters; it wasn’t that it was really cold enough to need it, but it felt cozy when we walked by. Most of the people there had kids with them, apparently because there is a strange piece of astroturf (about 25 feet long inside and outside) running from outside into the restaurant and the parents just abandon their kids to run and roll and scream on the astroturf. It was loud and chaotic and was probably why everyone there had kids. Kidless people just take and go.
Tomorrow we might do something, but probably not.