Six Days in San Diego
Senior spring has been kind—no classes on Mondays, Wednesdays, and Fridays means that I've got plenty of long weekends to take advantage of. This past weekend, I flew out to visit my brother Oscar in San Diego. It's not like I have a spare $600 lying around for a plane ticket though; I spent some of the reward points that my family's racked up while using our Chase Sapphire Reserve cards on air travel. No joke, this card has the best perks if you're a road warrior and/or big spender—10/10 recommend. I redeemed 33,000 points for what would've been a $500 flight. It was my first time flying Jetblue (nonstop!) and it def won't be my last; they've got free in-flight wifi, free on demand TV, and A+ snacks (uh, hello Terra chips & Pop Corners!)
Wednesday March 14: boarded my 9am flight from Logan to San Diego, arrived at 2pm, ubered to Oscar's job, and hung around till he got off work. We picked up a lunch for his fiancée to eat during her night shift (she's a nurse!), then checked out Fletcher Cove, got dinner at Flower Child ($10 for a vegetarian bowl = 3/5 stars, but their chili-mayo sweet potatoes are BOMB), and shopped for groceries at Vons. Oscar lost his phone sometime between Fletcher Cove and going home after groceries :(
Thursday March 15: lazed around during the day and went for a run at 3pm, came across a dog beach at Del Mar Beach (lemme add, dog beaches >>>> dog parks), and grabbed Phil's BBQ for dinner with Oscar. The trick to not waiting 2 hours for their signature mesquite-barbecued babyrack & beef ribs is to go to their off-main locations. We went to the one at 17051 W Bernardo Dr, San Diego, CA 92127. Afterward, we came home and prepped one of the family meal kits from Blue Apron. All in all, a solid day.
Friday March 16: met up with my friend Stephen for a late breakfast at The Brazilian Guys + checked out Balboa Park. We grabbed lunch at Poki One N Half, then Oscar, Kaori, and I drove out for our evening event: March Madness first round session 2 games held at Viejas Arena at SDSU! We watched Auburn beat College of Charleston and saw Clemson defeat New Mexico State. Post game nibbles at Picante Taqueria.
Saturday March 17: spent the day at Knott's Berry Farm with Oscar & Kaori; we bought a $30 tasting card to try out all the boysenberry-themed foods and waited two hours to ride Ghost Rider. I failed miserably at the three-point bball challenge but Oscar made enough baskets to win a brick plushie. You would NOT have known I played basketball in high school...We grabbed dinner at Súp Noodle Bar, shopped at Daiso, and headed home. Caught #3 seed Michigan State's Jordan Poole score a wild buzzer beater, netting them the win against #6 seed Houston and sending Michigan to the Sweet 16.
Sunday March 18: Oscar and I woke up at 6am to arrive early and beat the crowd at Mt. Woodson, a popular place to hike because Potato Chip Rock is super Instagrammable. We made it to the top, I scrambled up and down ginormous boulders to get my photo op, and we had a puppy-filled hike on the way down. After an afternoon nap, we foodventured around Cardiff and checked out the Solana Beach farmer's market. Came home with full bellies, a bag of chili lime pistachios & three layer feta-tomato-pesto dip from the market, and more groceries from Von's. I cooked salmon, steak, and potatoes (prepped three ways—sautéed, mashed, and baked!) for dinner, with the leftovers as lunch for the couple's rest of the week.
Monday March 19: Last day in SD :( went for one last run around the neighborhood; visited the dog beach at Del Mar Beach and played with Lily, THE cutest Irish setter puppy. Took a pit stop at Rudy's Taco Shop to buy a carne asada burrito to eat on the flight, packed up my stuff, and Uber expresspool'd to the airport for my 2pm flight. The burrito was d e l i c i o u s and such a good idea over the pre-packed jetblue meals. Can't beat $7 for a 1lb burrito filled with carne asada, salsa fresca, and guac. I worked on my 20.380 team presentation during the flight and most likely got weird looks for Googling things like "current treatments for bacterial vaginosis"...all in the name of science, man. An uber from Logan back to campus would've cost $23 so I took the lengthier but free way home—silver line bus to South Station & red line T from SS to Kendall/MIT. Counting down the days till spring break in Mexico next week!
recipe from Blue Apron