San Diego

It's been over a week since I set off for San Diego and I have been so bad at promptly recording it on my blog. Better late than never though, so here goes. Let's just hope I remember the details.
Last Thursday morning, I picked Judy (one of my work colleagues) up at her home and we headed over to the airport for a quick flight to San Diego. This was pretty much an all expenses paid trip that Judy got as a reward for all the big bucks she spends at Harrah's casinos. There were some others on the flight who were part of the same group and at the airport, we discovered that there were in fact 73 of us in total! We loaded onto two buses and headed north, through Escondido and to the Harrah's Rincon Casino in Valley Center. The drive was bumpy and the scenery was a little blah, but we made it and were welcomed by a cold buffet reception which I found particularly satisfying as I was extremely hungry.
On to our room.

The room was just a little smaller than usual with full size beds instead of queen and a smaller sitting area, but the pillows were oh so soft and the bath tub was the biggest I've seen in a long while. Judy, however did not like it. She is a Seven Star player and is used to having a suite, but for me, it was just fine. We had a fruit basket delivered with a big bag of pistachios in it too, free soda and water and an elegant box of Belgian chocolates delivered to our room every day. That worked out fine for me as Judy gets bad migraines when she eats chocolates. Shame!
We dined in the buffet that night, then Judy set off to work gambling. I watched her for about half an hour but it held no appeal to me whatsoever, so I went to explore the gift shop then up to the room to relax and read my book. Judy got in at 1.20am! What a gal, I could never have stayed up that long.
The next morning, she went off to have a massage, so I filled up that bathtub with steaming hot water and boy, it was the best bath I have had in 8 years! Lunch was in the cafe and then it was out to the pool for some more r&r. There were a number of jacuzzi's dotted around the place, so we claimed one as our own. This is how it went: jacuzzi, sun bed, read, snooze, jacuzzi, sun bed, read, snooze...for over 4 hours. It was bliss! Dinner in some swanky steak and lobster house which had nothing I particularly wanted on the menu, so I settled for 2 sides of a twice baked potato with mushrooms and cheese and some steamed broccoli. It was lovely.
After dinner...you guessed it, Judy went gambling and I went up to read. I was really enjoying my book and having a really relaxing time. This time, I think Judy got in at about 2.30am. I sound like her mother, don't I?
Up early the next morning for our Trip to Seaport Village in San Diego. Oh no, another bus ride!
It was very pretty down by the harbor. We could see the USS Midway which is an aircraft carrier turned in to a museum, lots of boats out in the harbor and the village itself was lots of touristy type shops right on the waterfront with a pretty lake in the middle. I was the last of the big spenders and didn't buy a thing except my lunch. Talking of lunch, I made the big mistake of buying fish and chips! I don't know why I did it because I knew they would be terrible and they were. Who has ever heard of the fish being breaded and the chips being like french fries?The only saving grace was that there was malt vinegar!
When we got back on the bus, we were greeted by a very rude bus driver who proceeded to tell us that he had a very tight schedule and if we didn't hurry up, blah, blah, blah and we were not to leave any rubbish on the bus, blah, blah, blah. Then he decided to launch into a running tour operator commentary, which wouldn't have been so bad, except the sound of his microphone was extremely loud and he kept launcing into stories that had no relationship to anything we saw. And lets face it, what exactly can you say when cruising down the freeway?
We got back to the hotel, I went to the pool again, Judy went to the gift shop and treated her hubby to not one, but three Tommy Bahama shirt but my rumbling tummy eventually won and we went to the buffet again. I have decided that king crab legs are just not worth all the effort; too much picking and pulling and not enough crab meat. As Judy had no more gambling money left, after dinner we went out to the pool area to watch some people make idiots of themselves by trying to learn how to dance salsa. 1 2 3, 5 6 7 repeated the dance teacher over and over again; 1 2 3, 5 6 7. Why is there no 4 in salsa??? After an hour or so of that, Judy declared she was beat and we went upstairs. She was fast asleep within minutes, but I stayed up for another couple of hours reading.
The next morning it was back on the bus for the ride to the airport. The line at San Diego airport to get through security was the longest I have ever seen and we were beginning to doubt whether we would make our flight. Eventually though, more staff was brought out and we started moving a lot quicker. A Big Mac and a short plane ride and I was home. A short trip, very relaxing, 2 books read and a suntanned lobster chest as a reward. Thanks Judy, loved it!