We've made an interesting, fun discovery on this trip.  Historically, we've failed to make time, when we've been at a resort, just to lay out by the pool and read, talk, and soak up the sun.  Now this has partly been because our focus has been to get out, see the sights, explore the city of our destination.  We also try to be careful about excess sun exposure and 'getting a tan' has never been high on our lists of priorities.

But on this trip we've come back on several days, after having walked our 6+ miles, either in San Diego or walking north to Cardiff-By-the-Sea or south into the village of Del Mar and enjoyed the sweetest time out by the pool.  We've been careful to wait till after the high risk hours of 10am-2pm, in fact, we usually have caught the last few rays of warmth before the sun dips below the treetops.  And now that fall break is here, we'll probably have more than a little bit of competition for those poolside chaises for the rest of our stay.

We were just marveling last evening, as we walked to Fletcher Cove for sunset (stopping by the post office to drop of postcards for Silas and Kady), what a blessing the discovery of this particular beach community has been for us.  It's so totally do-able without a car.  It's true that for the 14 days we will have been here, we have had the use of a car for 4 of those days, but that was for events and activities well beyond the reaches of this area.  So thankful for legs and feet that work the way they're designed and there's nothing like depending on one's own ability to get you from here to there and back to fill you with an on-going sense of gratitude.

Our last ROUND TRIP (from Solana Beach into San Diego) was a couple of days ago.   It was Keith and Laura's wedding anniversary and we thought it only fitting that we should celebrate FOR them with a meal in the Little Italy section of downtown.  I mean they love pasta, we love pasta, who doesn't love pasta?  So we enjoyed the busy activities of the Embarcadero once again (never gets old) and were glad to see the the 25-foot statue both called 'The Kiss' and 'Unconditional Surrender' had been returned to its pedestal in Tuna Harbor Park next to the USS Midway after a year of refurbishing.

It was fun to just watch various couples and groups positioning themselves, some successfully, some hilariously, to have their pictures made in front of the statue.

Naturally, it reminded us of that brisk October Sunday morning in 2003 when we went with Tim and Allyson to meet the camera crew from Community Spirit magazine for a cover shoot.










We thoroughly enjoyed the music of the 'buskers' (sidewalk musicians) along the way, dodged our fairshare of skateboarders, and wondered (thankfully) that with the numbers of seabirds swooping overhead during our various jaunts, we haven't been 'hit' by their wayward 'deposits'.  (hope I haven't spoken too soon!)

When the thought of that pasta meal began to occur to us more frequently, we made our way back toward the USS Midway and our crossover to the downtown area, stopping by another awesome brass sculpture entitled The Homecoming......

 

We got confirmation from a 'local', a lady in a visitor center booth at the Santa Fe Station, that what we'd read on Trip Advisor and Yelp about a place in Little Italy called Buon Appetito was the place we needed to target.  So we headed that way, with great anticipation.

 

 

 The streets of Little Italy were a mix of quaint, old world and modern....open air markets and stalls, lots of mid-afternoon dining and examples of folks who really seemed to feel 'at home' here in this little bit of 'home away from home.'  It was also fun to be surrounded by so many conversations in a language with which we have no familiarity at all.

Even once we were seated in the small restaurant and had interacted with the wait staff all of the conversations around us and among the wait staff were in Italian.

And the reviews on Trip Advisor and Yelp fell short of describing how wonderful the food was at this little place!  Oh My!  We had two ravioli dishes: Rob's/your dad's was filled with salmon and mine with lobster.....and these little heavenly 'pillows' were floating in the most decadent cream sauce, his with peas and mine with asparagus.  And, of course.....the bread.....and the wine....and the shared tiramisu......my.oh.my.......just throw us in a wheelbarrow and roll us back to the train, please.

Sweet dreams are made of this;)