Deep Sea Fishing

I've also never been a huge fan of fishing. Unlike my day at the beach, my day fishing didn't really change that. We got up and were on the road by 4am. We arrived at the check-in building at 4:45, left dock at 5:30, left the bait barge by 6, and were on our way. It was cold. I was cold. But the sun was coming up, and by the time we started fishing at about 7, I wasn't too cold anymore. The first place we stopped, my older brother, Brian, and I dropped our bait fish into the water and they were almost immediately snatched up. I found myself wrestling a yellow-tail tuna, and he struggled with a barracuda. We reeled them in and each thought to ourselves (at this rate, we'll each catch like 10 fish!).

I didn't catch anything else worth keeping, but Brian caught one other fish, I think. Aimee, Brian's fiancée (congratulations!), caught a bass near the end. My little brother, Jake, was the big winner, catching a tuna, two barracuda, and a bass.

Overall, I was a bit bored moving from location to location, hooking bait fish after bait fish, throwing back 8-inch mackerels, and in general just standing around. Perhaps it would have been better if there was a nice sink that I could wash my hands in, so I could cleanly eat my lunch and snack food. Or if I used a lure instead of having to sacrifice tens of tiny sardines and anchovies. It was slimy, wet, hot, and boring. But I'm glad I went.

One lesson learned was to fish early in the week, rather than at the very end. Having caught so many fish (and I have the feeling the average day probably results in a better haul), Friday was spent eating fish. Fish for lunch, fish for dinner, and Brian even ate fish for breakfast on Saturday morning. Now, I've never been a huge fan of eating fish, but this was downright tasty. Perhaps it was the freshness, perhaps it was the bread crumbs and frying, perhaps it was just my taste buds changing since childhood, but I like fish! Not enough to go out and buy it on my own, but enough so that I won't be upset when I have to eat it.

Not a bad trip, all in all.

The Beach

I've never been a huge fan of the beach. It's sandy, hot, the water is salty and cold, and there's sharp things to cut your feet. Wednesday's trip to the beach, however, was thoroughly enjoyable. We hiked from our car up some trails and then back down to the beach, where we made our way back to the car. The sand was very fine, the sharp things were easily avoidable, the water wasn't too cold, and since I only went in up to my calves, for the most part, the saltiness didn't matter. Except for the cuts on my legs - saltwater is not comfortable on cuts. Luckily, I have nothing against pain and even enjoyed trudging along through it.

We had some fairly decent Mexican food for dinner, and then made our way home for a quiet evening. It was by far the most relaxing day of the vacation. I'd be up for another beach excursion, so long as I wasn't expected to swim. Fun times.

Climbing a mountain (and golf)

Tuesday morning, my little brother, Jake, and I went to an hour-long golf lesson on the full swing. I got to touch a 3-iron, but no golf balls, and no full swings were taken. It was just a guy talking about golf grips and hip movement. Not very exciting.

To liven up the day, Jake and I decided to climb the mountain behind our resort. I didn't have a whole lot to wear with me, so I chose shorts and a short sleeve shirt. It was a bit hot out, so I thought I was well prepared. The movies never prepared me for climbing a real southern-California mountain, though. The steepness, the rocks, the loose dirt, those aren't the problem. The problem is plants. Burrs. Pokey things. Thorns. Surprisingly, even though there was always a bee within a couple feet of me, I wasn't stung at all. But, I was still left with plenty of cuts and scrapes.

Getting up the mountain took about 2.5 hours and was a lot of fun. I'm a little bit afraid of heights, but I found that I could control that - sometimes with an effort of will (DC 10). Often, I would be in an uncomfortable position with one foot tenuously perched on a small toehold a few feet away from my other foot. I wouldn't be at all comfortable with staying still or moving forward, but invariably, once I threw my weight toward that foot, it supported me and launching up to the next resting point was easy. I'm sure there's a life lesson in there somewhere, but at the moment, I'm just happy to know that I can climb a mountain as long as it's not too steep or too tall.

There was a road to the left of the mountain as we climbed up. It was our plan to take that back down. Unfortunately, getting from the very top back to the road (maybe 100 vertical feet down after ~1000 feet up) took a full 2 hours. There was a solid covering of thick bushes on that side and we had to tear them apart with our feet and hands. It was very slow going, not at all helped by our encounter with a rattlesnake and what Jake said was a sand boa. We got down without getting bitten, and without too much other trouble. It was just slow going - and after we were already tired and thirsty from our climb.

Even including all that, I had fun that day and would recommend climbing a mountain at some point. I suppose it gave me a bit of confidence or something.

3 Days in San Diego

It's my third day in San Diego, and so far the trip has been pretty fun. I'm glad I have my work laptop here - I don't think I could relax as much if I weren't able to keep up with work a bit. Internet wasn't included in the package, so I'm going to try and expense the $40 connection charge for the week. It really is a legitimate expense, though, since I wouldn't have gotten it except for work.

Anyway, Saturday was spent flying to San Diego via Chicago (seems out of the way to me, too). Sunday was a relaxing day at the beach. We walked a few miles along a boardwalk spanning Mission Beach and Pacific Beach. We ate lunch at a nice pizzeria, then picked up hamburgers to cook on the grill outside our building at the resort (which we've agreed to call "The Compound" even though it doesn't resemble a compound). We didn't spend all that much time on the beach, though, because it was chilly enough that the water was uncomfortable cold. I had fun kicking sand around, so it wasn't a total loss.

Today was spent at the San Diego Zoo's Wild Animal Park. I'm not a big fan of zoos, but it was pretty enjoyable. I learned first-hand that lions have round pupils as opposed to the slits my cats have. I haven't looked it up yet, but I have a couple theories as to why they might have evolved differently. There were plenty of cute baby animals, and the petting area was nice enough.

The best part of the trip so far would probably be the Vietnamese restaurant we ate dinner at today (Royal Pho Vietnamese Restaurant). I was thoroughly impressed. After some order confusion, they brought out our spring roll orders. They were large, had whole shrimp, some beef, and were accompanied by my favorite: peanut sauce. My rice noodles, shrimp, charbroiled pork, egg rolls, and other miscellaneous things were comparably excellent. I'd be happy to go back again this trip, and if there was a place like it in Kansas City, I would patronize it frequently.

Tomorrow, I have plans to attend a free golf lesson. This will be my first introduction to golf outside of putt-putt-style places. Wish me luck!

Vacation(s)

I'm leaving for San Diego on a week-long family vacation. After that, I'm headed to Orlando for most of a week for Microsoft's TechEd. You can blame TechEd for my recent lack of posting. I've been crazy-busy at work getting ready for that. But, if I have internet access in San Diego, I will do my best to do a couple posts from the road, if for no other reason than to say I've blogged from San Diego.

Have a good week, all!