My official vacation day

Yep, a vacation day and I planned on enjoying it! First I was supposed to get my car tinted. Unfortunately, they double booked or something and weren't able to do my car today. I say "or something" because I was actually relieved when I learned this and stopped listening at that point. It gave me one more day to obsess over the tinting percentage and brand before I actually commit. I am an obsesser. I like it that way.

While in the parking lot holding up bits of tint to the car windows, this guy in a van rolled up and said, "Hey, want to buy some meat?" Of course, Apollo instantly forgot about the tint and walked over to see what the guy had. He was selling everything from top sirloin steaks, mahi-mahi, wahoo (what's that??), pork loin ribs, ground round, and more. We ended up buying 4.5 pounds of Pork Country Style Ribs.


I did some research and discovered Barry of "Barry's Meat Company" actually buys his meat from a wholesale distributor, Heartland Meat Company, in Chula Vista. OK, I admit it was easy to figure out since it says Heartland on the side of the box. The research part was finding out if the company actually exists. I was relieved to find that yes, they do. You can never be so sure when buying meat products from a van in a parking lot. :)


Next, I decided to treat Apollo to a little place called Abbey's Bar-B-Q in Kearny Mesa just off Clairmont Mesa Boulevard and the 163. Again, I have to thank Faythe and Ryan for introducing me to this restaurant. Apollo has never been there and probably doesn't remember my talking about it three or so years ago. Faythe, has it really been that long? *sigh* I had just talked about going to Ranch 99 so he was a bit confused when I pulled into an unfamiliar parking lot. Of course, like any good blood hound, he knew exactly where we were going when he saw "Bar-B-Q" painted on a window. Apollo cracks me up sometimes. He was talking about something when we opened the door but the aroma of smoked meat stunned him into silence. Only a few things can stop Apollo from talking. The aroma of properly smoked or grilled meat which has the capacity to make you forget anything else you were thinking about apparently is one of those things.

We both got the $7.50 lunch special which consists of a sandwich with the meat of your choice (we got pork), a side dish and a drink. I love that this place is low key. They don't need anything fancy or special to encourage people to come in. No, a paper plate and a styrofoam cup will suffice. The meat was tender and tastey but not overpowering. I usually don't like bbq sauce, but this stuff was perfect. For the first time ever, Apollo didn't ask for tobasco sauce. He said it tasted great without it! SHOCKING!! The owners 12 year old son took our order and served us. He even came by to see if everything was ok and if we needed anything else. He was so cute!

After lunch, we went to the beach in Coronado. Just as we arrived, it appeared there was some sort of lifeguard emergency. Sadly we did not hear the Baywatch music or see any hard plastic bodies running across the beach but we did watch as the lifeguards hopped on their boards and retrieved a few swimmers who were too far out. On a side note, I would be embarassed driving around a Subaru truck/car if I were them. It just seems...inappropriate. You can sorta see two of them in this photo.

I didn't see him until it was almost too late, but this guy took his two parrots for a walk. Interestingly, not many people stared or even looked at him twice. It appears tourists have seen everything.

If you've ever been on the beach in Coronado, you're very familiar with the various jets and planes coming in for a landing on North Island. This one was particularly loud, it looked old. At first it looked like it was heading right towards us, but we were only momentarily alarmed as it loudly roared over us and into the mysterious depths of the base.

For some reason Apollo doesn't want a tan. HAHAHA! We brought two umbrellas. Towards the end of our stay we took one down because I was getting cold and didn't need it. But Apollo with his sensitive skin stayed well within the shade. Maybe I should have brought him a bonnet. LOL!

It's funny, I've lived here in San Diego for years but I rarely go to the beach. Today I went swimming for about forty minutes! Yay! I had forgotten how nasty salt water tasted but it was worth it. Sure, I had a few bouts of irrational fear at first. See, yesterday I saw Pirates of the Caribbean and for some reason it triggered my fear of deep water. Aimee and I are both afraid of bodies of water where we cannot touch the bottom with our feet. It's almost worse when the bottom is covered with something like weeds, leaves, etc. Monsters can be in there!! *shiver* I think this fear was caused by realizing crawdads hid in the mass of leaves that collect at the bottom of the creek. We knew that if we stepped in it, we were running the risk of something pinching us. Man, the thought of it just made me shiver again!!

You're going to laugh when you read this, I actually freaked out a little when I saw my shadow! After realizing that subtle dark area in the water was my shadow and not a monster about to eat me (it took several minutes to calm myself down), I felt much better. And it didn't help when some seaweed washed in and wrapped itself around my legs, ohmygod, that was terrible! As you can see, I survived. Nothing ate me or took me out to sea. :)

I'm always fascinated by the Coronado Bridge. Even when I lived in Coronado I was like a child trying to look over the edge. Thankfully Apollo was driving this time so I really got to take a good look!

For the first time in years, I have a sunburn. Hopefully it'll turn brown by tomorrow and I won't look so sickly. That's right, I said sickly!! I haven't been this pale in years! Anyway, it was a great day. It was nice to get out of the regular rut and do something a little different. I didn't even think about work once!