Catching Up

Room with a View

I've spent the past 10 days far, far away.

I absolutely cherish the first seven days, having discovered and fallen in love with San Diego. This isn't an exotic location for many, but it was my first time south of LA. Unfortunately, I had to blend in some work with play, but I actually enjoyed both.

In so many ways, San Diego stands in a sharp contrast to Newburyport: West vs. East; New vs. old; Car Culture vs. Walking City. But we felt strangely at home there as well. Downtown San Diego managed to capture an essence of its East Coast counterparts with tight streets, mixed use buildings and a nice walkable feel. Even Petco Field, home of the Padres, is shoehorned in a squat set of city blocks ala Fenway.

The family came with me, so we found settled on a hotel outside the downtown right on Mission Bay. You can see the view from our room up above. The picture doesn't capture this, but the waterfront reminded us all of Newburyport in the summer time: warm waters, a sea of boats and the gentle arc of a bridge just off to the left.

At nearby Mission Beach we found an old amusement park complete with an old-style roller coaster that brought back memories of Revere Beach. (I never rode that roller coaster but I do remember it standing.)

We spent the eight day driving across the desert to Las Vegas where I had to work for two more days while the family romped around a ridiculously large hotel room. Vegas never reminds me of Newburyport although it did cause me to wonder if we should build a volcano on our waterfront.

We came back yesterday morning on the red eye. The boys slept in this morning so I've had some time to catch up on newspapers. Now I'm just reading about all that has kept my blog mates busy.

I hope you're all well. If you're headed to San Diego drop me a line. I'd love to share recommendations (Balboa Park and Luigi's at the Beach would be my favorites.)