Deja vu

Well, last year's blog post of Sunday, Oct. 14, 2012 indicated  that we set an alarm (on vacation? what?) so that we could make it to the 8 a.m. service at The Rock Church http://www.sdrock.com in San Diego.  The church, which has an affiliation with our church's mission's sending organization arm, Believer's World Outreach, had been in the news in San Diego, apparently, because the needs for parking for the 20,000 worshippers that attend every Sunday (5 services) exceeded the space provided in their huge parking lot and were spilling over into the surrounding neighborhoods and commercial spaces. Well, our aspirations weren't as aggressive or noble this year: we made it into town for the 12 noon service.  We were once again blessed with a primo parking spot, the service was wonderful, the hospitality exceptional and we were glad we were there. In addition, who should we see, but our own Debbie Tietsort of Believer's World Outreach, out here for a missions conference!  She said when she saw us, she stopped and thought to herself,  'Now, where am I?' 

The area that this huge church occupies and the surrounding acres full of shops, restaurants, and offices was once the site of the Naval Training Center. It was sold and became largely commercial property sometime in the '80s, but this was where your dad (Rob) spent Christmas 1968 (his first time away from home) in enlisted boot camp. Many of the walks and buildings and gardens are the same (but have been maintained/renovated) as were there then and even before so there's lots of history here. So naturally, we walked and walked and walked......and, if you really concentrate on this picture, you may be able to see Seaman Recruit Searcy OR Tom Cruise (remember the scene   from 'Top Gun'?) walking this promenade.......

So we once again enjoyed grabbing a Starbucks after church and walking the many promenades, enjoying the sunshine, reminiscing, and even happening upon a mariachi festival in one of the many greenspaces which now occupy the areas where the seamen recruits formerly marched to cadence.

There's even a Trader Joe's here now so we browsed there a while and picked up some tea to brew.  (I've been introduced, while out here, to hibiscus pomegranate tea and I'm gonna be 'on the search' for this till I can replicate that flavor.)

One stop that had made it toward to the top of our 'to do' list was a visit to In-N-Out Burger.  We'd heard so much about this iconic place and we knew we'd need some 'snackage' in between our smoothie in the morning and our dinner cruise, which wasn't to 'set sail' till 7p.m.

So we made sure the address of the closest In-N-Out Burger was logged in the Garmin the night before and we set our course for the source of the culinary fixin's for a picnic at Shelter Island.

 

And let me tell you......it's ALL THAT and a bag 'o fries!  Neither one of us are 'fast food burger fans' so when we endorse a burger (we had to wait for it, the lettuce was very crisp and the tomato tasted like it was from our garden!) you gotta know it's not your typical burger.  Yummers!

 

So we enjoyed our picnic at Shelter Island, a place so special to Rob/your dad as that's where he drove to for lunch every day, to park, facing the bay and open his can of tuna or eat his pb&j and do his Bible Study during the '74-'76 time frame when he was stationed at a  naval facility on Pt. Loma.

 

We walked and walked and walked and just enjoyed the beautiful afternoon so much.  Then we changed into our 'business casual' finery (yes, in the car, on Shelter Island, in the daylight.....no, not gonna elaborate on that here.....or anywhere, for that matter) and secured another amazing parking place just two blocks from the check-in point for our dinner cruise aboard the Lord Hornblower.

The dinner cruise was wonderful.....the food, the ambience, the energetic dj and fun music and, of course, the spectacular city lights.  Between each course we left our table and went topside to enjoy the lights, the reflections on the water, and cuddle in the increasingly cooler night air.  It was, all in all, quite a memory-making experience.

 Laura and Allyson, you guys may remember, on a visit here, naming the Coronado Bay Bridge the 'necklace bridge.'  We always think of that when we see it.  We've never seen it from this vantage point, though.  It lived up to your name for it even more.

This morning we used the last few hours of our rental car privilege to transport us to Mission Bay Park where we walked a brisk 6-7 miles and enjoyed the sunshine and the antics of kayakers (jealous!), sea-doo 'hot-doggers', and wind surfers.  And while we were at Mission Bay Park, we 'carpe diemed' the opportunity to do something that you pretty much have to wait until a school day to do:play on the swings!

Turned in the car this afternoon, ate here at the condo and then laid out by the pool in the afternoon sunshine (and both of us fell asleep with books in our hands!)  Good day!!