2012-366 Day 94 – San Diego Vacation I (The Surprise)

So, for reasons that are hopefully obvious, I didn’t advertise it on the blog, but last Thursday through Sunday Jess and I took our annual first quarter of the year Anniversary trip down to the San Diego area. Since we have Cesar Chavez Day off (thank you State of California) and it fell on a Friday this year (also cancelling teaching class), we decided to take a slightly extended trip.

In looking for lodging I was struck by a sudden spark of inspiration. Rather than just getting a conventional hotel room, why not look at renting a vacation home? It was only a week or two ahead of time, so quite a few places were already booked, but there was one place on the upper end of what I was willing to pay nightly that seemed like it would fit the bill. After comparing what I could find on high end hotel rooms (most in the downtown area) and finding out that they all charge parking on top of their room rates, the house was looking like a decent deal (especially since they were running a 20% of special).

After getting in touch with the owner and getting a price quote, I decided to go for it but not tell Jess (the titular surprise). I actually offered to tell her the night before when we started to pack, but she wanted to be surprised (which is somewhat unusual for her). She finally guessed on the way out of Disneyland on Thursday, when I told her we had to call someone (my “contact” – the owner for the keys) when we got into San Diego.

I called on arrival to a quiet secluded street in an area where all the street names up to our area where either Presidents or States. The owner met us ten to fifteen minutes later and took us on a tour of the house. It looked to be a one bedroom, one bath house that had been expanded with converting a basement to a second bedroom and a closet into another half bath.

This was actually the clincher for me, as the view out the back door was amazing. The fact that the home was literally built on the side of a hill in Southern California was a little worrisome, but, as mentioned in the Mountaintop post, I like being on top of everything.

The whole house was very pleasant, this was the living room. We really did enjoy the space, and the bed was actually amazingly comfortable. Another plus over the standard hotel room.

This was the part that amused me the most. This bathroom had to have been a converted closet. I cannot convey to you how tiny it was via picture. I barely fit in it if I turned sideways. I’m pretty sure bathrooms on airplanes have more total room than this. Seeing as there was a full bathroom immediately on the other side of that wall with the mirror, it was absolutely nothing to complain about, just amusing.

In all, Jess and I decided that, as nice as it was, it was probably too much room for two people, especially seeing as we spent most of the days out and about. Definitely would recommend for two couples though or just a group of friends to hang out.

Weight: 232.2 Loss: 7.8 lbs – Running Yearly Mileage: 81.7 miles (+3 miles)
Fitocracy Level: 17 (32455 points, 2395 to next level) – ID: disciplev1
Soccer – Last Game: L, 6-9 (Record: 1-4) Next Game: 4/15 – 5:50 pm