Cali...

So I finally made it to California. The weather was less than desirable this past weekend, certainly not the sun soaked California Coast I was hoping for...but I enjoyed it none-the-less. I could definately live there...who knows if, or when that would possibly occur...but the atmosphere is definately conducive to gettin my learn on in grad school. heh. We had somewhat of a wacky travel plan, arriving saturday evening and leaving early Tuesday morning...but these whirlwind trips are somehow fun because you haven't the time to exhaust all explorative possibilities. And despite the inclement weather, we still got out of our hotel room by 7am Sunday Morning to find breakfast. This took us to our first beach locale...Mission Beach. Not only did we find a kick ass retaurant (creatively named "The Mission")...but we also beat the rush and had quite possibly the best pancakes in existence. Banana and Granola pancakes...all perfectly stacked and equivalent in thickness, with a diameter of atleast 8 inches. I couldn't finish mine. The granola and banana were poured on top of the batter once in the pan, thus the crunchiness rested on top...which i liked...a lot. A circular pat of butter situated in the center created a little syrup ditch. I'm not sure if it was strategically placed there, or just a result of the butter pat being too heavy in relation to the soft, fluffy pancakes. mmm, good. So we drove around a bit, had a nap at the hotel, then ventured forth to Torrey Pines Nature Reserve. The Torrey Pine exists in only two areas...the reserve, and an island of California (Santa Rosa I think). So we drove up through the reserve...and from the top I saw my first view of both beach and mountain together in California. Quite a site. I took way to many pictures for an overcast day...but overcast was what we were dealt, so i accepted it and clicked away. Gladly, we awoke to sushine on Monday mornday. Even though I had appointments at UCSD for most of the day... I enjoyed trolling around campus in the sunshine. That night after dinner (we ate in La Holla Village), we drove up to Mt. Soledad for a beautiful 360 degree view of San Diego and vicinity...though cold, and suffering from blistered feet (i wore stupid heeled shoes for my interviews)...it was an amazing view...a breath-taking end to a whirlwind vacation.