San Diego

John was kind enough to schedule a trip to San Diego to coincide with the “Gator by the Bay” blues and zydeco music festival. It was a little odd because they were doing a Mardi Gras theme in the middle of May, and there are definitely no gators in San Diego, but whatever, we went with it. I’m not much of a zydeco fan, but I am definitely a blues fan.

We split the vacation into two parts. We spent the first few days at a resort that John’s been interested in staying at, and then for the weekend music festival we switched to a hotel adjacent to the festival.

When we first got to the resort, I thought it was a little bit hilarious. It reminded me of a Tiki bar from the 1960’s. I kept looking around thinking I’d see my grandfather and his buddies playing poker and drinking Bloody Marys.

But I have to admit the place was pretty, if a bit overdone. I’m beginning to think that faux tropics within driving distance are better than getting on a darn plane nowadays anyway.

The tiki bar vibe was complete with caged parrots.

These egrets and herons appeared to be actual legit wildlife.

The resort also had a retro arcade room, much to John’s delight.

It turned out the clientele was surprisingly diverse, and better yet, the location was excellent. The ocean was one block to the west, and the bay was one block to the east. There was a grocery store, a pharmacy, and plenty of great restaurants within walking distance.

Unfortunately it was a little hard to appreciate the restaurants because I had completely and absolutely lost my sense of smell, and therefore my sense of taste. In theory could taste sweet, salty, sour and bitter, but in reality, nothing tasted like anything. A strong cinnamon tea tasted like hot water. A decadent, and according to John, very cheesy restaurant cheesecake tasted to me slightly salty and slightly sweet. However I can tell you it had a very impressive creamy texture! I could not taste the cheese, or the raspberry topping. I have never lost my sense of smell so thoroughly and completely. What a waste of great San Diego food!

At the worst of my loss of smell, I could not smell even the strongest scents. I put my face to a bottle of vinegar – nothing. Vics Vaporub – nothing. Eventually peppermint essential oils were the first thing I could finally smell.

Here I am on the beach in my ear warmers. I didn’t go anywhere without them.

After a couple of days in San Diego, my doctor sent a second type of antibiotic ear drops out to a pharmacy near our hotel, because my ears were not improving. And I was definitely struggling with exhaustion.

One day I just rested in the hotel room while John went on a tour of a aircraft carrier.

I think we snapped this next picture because we were like, wait – what? Why is the sail up with the boat cleated to the dock?

This was the bay on one side of the hotel. That is our resort you can see in the background. We weren’t in the tower, we were in a lower building without a water view.

Here is the view out our window.

I sat inside and looked out this window a lot. Unfortunately it was just a little bit too cold to sit on the patio while we were there. The weather warmed up considerably by the weekend and it was overly hot at the music festival. Sometimes you just can’t win!

I’m glad I felt well enough to get out onto the beach a few times.

At least once John went out and took pictures of the sunset without me because I didn’t feel well enough. He borrowed my phone, because it has a better camera than his phone, so now I can’t remember which of us took these awesome pictures. But nowadays it doesn’t take a lot of skill to get awesome pictures. I love the camera on my phone, and I love that I almost always have it with me.

I kept thinking I’d feel better in time for the music festival on the weekend. And I was a little better, but not much. I was so grateful that our hotel was within a short walking distance to the festival! It was so convenient!

We bought a three-day wristband, so we could come and go as we wished. I like that kind of festival so much better than the kind that only allow you in once and you can’t come and go. If we got hot or tired or we didn’t like any of the bands, we just walked back to our room for awhile and came back later! It was wonderful for me because I did frequently get tired.

Here you can see how close we were to our hotel. It was so excellent.

This was just one of several stages along Spanish Landing Park, which is a long and narrow park along the edge of the bay. If we didn’t like one band, we just walked to another stage.

And the advantage of having completely and entirely clogged ears was that I didn’t have to wear ear plugs, lol. This experience with impaired hearing has made me realize that if I start having trouble hearing as I get older, I am absolutely getting hearing aids. I will try every kind they make until I find something that I like. I will buy the best dang hearing aids on the market. I hate not understanding what people are saying around me. I also hate hearing noises and not having any idea what the noise is or where it’s coming from. It’s more than disorienting, it’s actually anxiety provoking for me.

Our hotel room next to the festival also had an absolutely gorgeous view from the balcony.

I love, love, love city lights views. In addition to beaches and music concerts it’s probably my favorite thing! Oh yeah, I’d go back here again!

One night John took a walk around the marina to take more pictures of the lights for me.

Now you know what I meant a couple of posts ago when I said it was a great trip even though I was too sick to enjoy it! I need a repeat next year, for sure.