Being so close to La Jolla, I had wanted to check out Wayfarer bread and pastry after watching a youtube video about the location. We would be arriving in the afternoon and fairly close to closing time so I wasn’t expecting to see much in the way of variety/product left but figured we’d give it a shot since we were so close. We picked up a croissant, cardamom bun, cookie, and baguette.
We had some time to kill before checking into our AirBnB so drove into La Mesa to visit my old apartment and Lake Murray where I spent many hours running around the lake. Definitely nostalgic and made me miss my time living in San Diego. We checked into our place in Southpark near Balboa Park. The accomodations were perfect – located in what was either a converted garage or just ADU it had a pullout sofa bed, kitchenette (with sink, two coffee makers, hot plate, fridge, microwave, etc), TV, bathroom, and a cute outdoor sitting area.
For dinner we headed into North Park to Caffe Calabria (and pizzeria). We had some tasty cocktails and two delicious pizzas (Margherita and Carbonara).
The following morning we had our pastries from the bakery and then headed to the San Diego Zoo (we always try to hit up the zoo while visiting). Another bonus is that the Giant Pandas are back! That was our first stop and both of them were out and about. The weather was overcast and had some light rain but overall wasn’t too bad. I was glad we also had the opportunity to see some of the big cats (often times they aren’t in view when we visit).
Lunch was at Oscar’s Mexican Seafood (in Hillcrest). Now these fish tacos were delicious and I would argue better the previous day’s. They also give you a cup of seafood consomme with your order that tasted like the sea. In the same strip mall is Uncle Biffs California Killer Cookies and we picked some up for my old work place (the reason we came down).
We stopped by my old workplace and saw a bunch of people that are still there (I last worked there in 2011). I came down to see an old mentor who is retiring and moving up to northern CA. It was good seeing everyone. They’re also moving to a new building soon so I wanted to visit the old haunt before it is gone.
Afterwards D and I headed over to the San Diego County Administration building to revisit the site of our wedding. We were married on the waterfront there (there was some sort of event in the area they were getting ready so had blocked off the actual site and we weren’t able to get super close). And since we were in the area, we walked over to Extraordinary Desserts and picked up a slice of the same cake we had on our wedding day.
We were still recuperating from our first bout with COVID so took it easy the rest of the day. For dinner, we headed back towards North Park (very close to our AirBnB) and had dinner at Cori Pastificio Trattoria. We shared a fish (I don’t remember which type) carpaccio, then I had the Pappardelle with Wild Boar Sugo and D had the Agnolotti with braised short ribs. Everything was quite tasty.
The next morning we got ready, checked out of our AirBnB and stopped at Patisserie Melanie before our drive back home. Overall it was a nice quick trip. I feel very at ease in San Diego and enjoy the mix of nature with city life. I think we both were still a little low energy and recuperating from illness so didn’t push too hard on trying to fit in more stuff while we were there. Luckily it isn’t that far so hopefully can make more treks down there (and also see more friends that we didn’t).
-StewsCat
StewsCat 