Adventures of David and Paul

Sunday, March 18, 2018

¡Vamos a México!

In February we took a short trip to Mexico with Alejandra and some friends (Monique and Julie) to celebrate her birthday. We've been talking with Alex forever about making this trip to Tijuana and Baja, so we were thrilled it was finally happening. We flew into San Diego on a Wednesday, spent time with Alex's family, then crossed the border early the next morning for some tacos, wine and a good time for a few days before heading back to San Diego for a big Mexican birthday cookout. This was a short trip, but very memorable and fun! This first post focuses on our first evening in San Diego and our first day and a half in Mexico - hanging out in Tijuana and driving down to Ensenada.

We had a beautiful view of sunset over downtown San Diego while flying in.

We were greeted with tacos upon arrival at Alex's parents' house. These were the first of dozens of tacos...

We stopped by a liquor store and got some California beer. Tacos and beer within hours of landing? Paul was happy!

Thursday morning we took a Lyft to the border, crossed on foot, and then took an Uber to a rental car building. Unfortunately they didn't have power, so they drove us to the airport where we were upgraded to an SUV. More room for the five of us! We went straight to a late breakfast at Café de la Flor, which turned out to be one of the best meals of the trip. Everyone was in love with the mole chilaquiles. After eating we stopped by a bank ATM to get some pesos, then went to Venus Chocolates. Alex had brought us some of these delicious chocolates before, and we knew we had to go back. They have a wide variety of little chocolate truffles, some of which are flavored with liquor or local wine. Our favorite is the tequila con cajeta.

A mural in Cafe de la Flor.

Mole chilaquiles. Yummy!

And fancy drinks too.

Venus chocolates!

Our last stop in Tijuana for the day was Mundo Divertido, a small amusement park. Of course Paul needed the roller coaster credits! It was actually a nice little park, but was very empty because it was the middle of the day on a weekday.

Paul and Alex with some kind of purple monster.

Paul and David on the roller coaster.

Paul getting his wacky worm on.

We loved hanging out with mister purple monster.

After getting our fill of Mundo Divertivo, we drove down to Ensenada via Playa Tijuana. Alex grew up in Playa, so it was cool to see her old neighborhood. We drove along the border to get there, and saw some interesting art on the wall.

The highway that heads west along the border. USA on the right.

The border wall actually juts out into the ocean.

Social commentary on the wall.

Paul with some ocean friends.

For a world without fences/borders.

The drive down to Ensenada passed inbetween the oceans and mountains, through a few towns.

We arrived in Ensenada in the early evening, checked in to our AirBnB, and went to dinner at Manzanilla, a fancy restaurant in the port area. After dinner we had a few beers at Cerveceria Wendlandt, then wandered around the Carnaval celebrations in downtown. It was the 100th anniversary of Carnaval in Ensenada, and a huge stretch of the main street was closed down for music, games, rides, and drinking.

The lovely ladies at dinner.

Yum!

Had to try every type.

Carnaval was busy, even on a chilly Thursday night.

We got beer and a minion drink.

OMG! GIANT BEER!

Ready to celebrate!

The next morning we took a walk down to the beach and explored a bit more of Ensenada before spending a day in wine country.

A mural near our AirBnB.

Alex on the beach. It wasn't exactly beach weather, even though it was sunny.

Downtown Ensenada has a nice tourist street.


We had breakfast at the new restaurant version of La Guerrerense. The original is a food truck. This is the owner/chef, Sabrina.

The group with Sabrina! Kind of.

Delicious octopus tostada.

Smoked fish and octopus tacos.

We also stopped in Hogaza Hogaza, a bakery.

Our next stop was wind tasting in the Valle de Guadalupe... to be continued in another post!

Tuesday, February 20, 2018

Citrus Bowl Victory, with Bonus Penguins and Roller Coasters!

On new years weekend 2017/2018 we drove down to Orlando to see Notre Dame vs LSU in the Citrus Bowl and spend a little time relaxing in warmer weather. We used Hotwire and ended up with a room at Rosen Shingle Creek, a great hotel that we've stayed at a few times before. It turns out it was also the official Notre Dame team hotel. Arriving in Orlando on a Saturday evening, we went to Fun Spot in Kissimmee to ride the new Mine Blower roller coaster, then visited with David's uncles for a while before going back to the hotel.

The Rosen Shingle Creek Resort.

Mine Blower was a very fun coaster! One of the best in Florida.

On Sunday, our only full day in Orlando, we started off at Sea World. We got there at 8:30AM, and there was already a line of cars waiting to get in. Orlando was incredibly busy in general, because it was a holiday weekend and there were a lot of events in the area. We rode the new Mako coaster and the new virtual reality addition to the Kraken roller coaster, and had some local beer and saw some adorable penguins.

Not sure what Paul is doing here.

The new(ish) penguin exhibit lets you get really close to the penguins, with no glass between you and them!

Sleepy little fellow.

Beluga in the Arctic exhibit.

We caught the tail end of the Sea World Christmas festivities.

Mako and Kraken with Christmas trees.

Sea lions always look so sassy.

Caught mid-yawn!

Let's pretend this seal and sea lion are best friends.

Journey to Atlantis ride. It was just a little bit chilly for this, but Paul still rode!

Paul feeding a shrimp to a stingray.

Manta is one of the most visually impressive coasters.

Local beer! It was just OK.

After spending about 4 hours at Sea World, we had a late lunch at Sofra, a Lebanese restaurant in the new tourist complex around the Orlando Eye. The service was bad, but the food was delicious. I wish we had better Lebanese food in Atlanta! In general, Orlando has really stepped up in terms of dining options. I think tourists are getting more picky and starting to look at online reviews and choosing local options. After eating we wandered around for a bit, and noticed a lot of Notre Dame and LSU fans. Turns out the plaza/park in front of the giant ferris wheel was hosting a big pep rally. We watched the Notre Dame band march in and heard Brian Kelly speak. We went back to the hotel for a bit and went swimming in the pool, before dinner at Sushi Kichi, which was an excellent izakaya. Great takoyaki! Paul's brother and sister-in-law just happened to be in Orlando too, so we drove to their hotel and hung out with them for a while and had some drinks, before watching fireworks from our hotel room, where we could see multiple fireworks shows including Universal Studios and International Drive.

The Orlando Eye, one of the tallest ferris wheels on earth.

Pep rally time!

The Notre Dame band marching in.

Lots of people at the pep rally.

The great thing about Florida is you can swim on December 31st! Ok, it was a little bit chilly.

Dinner at Sushi Kichi.

Our hotel at night

View of new year's fireworks in the distance.

On Monday morning we had breakfast with David's uncles, then drove to the bowl game near downtown Orlando. We found parking for $10 a short walk away, a much better deal than the official $30 parking. While Sunday was pretty nice (60s and sunny), Monday was pretty miserable. It was cold, rainy, and windy. It was in the lower 50s when the game started, and the temperature kept dropping, ending up around 46 degrees by the 4th quarter. The game started slow and sloppy, but Notre Dame had a great 4th quarter with an exciting last minute touchdown. Victory for the Irish! David was not enjoying the weather, but Paul had a great time with Notre Dame's win. After the game we drove all the way back to Atlanta, stopping for dinner in northern Florida and making it home after midnight.