things i'll miss about san diego #13

About 12 years ago, Charlie and I took a spur of the moment trip to Baja California, Mexico. We loaded up our Chevy Blazer with camping equipment, coolers with ice, and ocean kayaks. We brought along our dogs, Monty and Molly, and then we drove down past San Felipe and pitched our tent on a desolate beach along the Sea of Cortez.

And that is where we stayed for the next four days.

In the morning, we would drag our kayaks across the sand to the water, and we'd spend hours paddling up and down the shore, while our dogs swam alongside us. When they were tired and would start to sink - we'd pull them up on the hull - and then tip them off once they'd recovered. When we'd get hot, we'd flip our kayaks over and swim in the cool water. In the hot afternoon, we'd take refuge in the shade of our vehicle and eat kudos bars and sip ice cold milk. And at night, we'd sit around our primitive camp fire and watch the stars.

One day as we were kayaking around, just up the beach from our campsite, we discovered a small palapa that was selling ice, beer and fish tacos. Each item was $1.00. Realizing that we had $18.00 in our pockets, we spent the rest of the afternoon slugging back ice cold beer (which delighted us even more than ice cold milk) and consuming fish tacos.



When we finished our beer, we filled the empty bottles with seashells that were laying around our tanned feet. And when we returned home, we capped the bottles and they've been our on our desk, as a reminder of our epic trip, ever since.

It stands to reason that the cuisine in San Diego is heavily influenced by our neighbors to the south. In our home, we always have an abundance of tortillas (chips, flour and corn), tomatoes, jalapenos, sweet onions and Corona with lime. We are forever whipping up batches of fresh pico de gallo, guacamole, salsa and fajitas.

And while we have learned to replicate a lot of the Mexican foods that we have come to enjoy over the past 16 years ...

I highly doubt we'll ever be able to replicate carne asada burritos.

Or zesty fish tacos.

Or, the mixta molcajecte.

We'll even miss the vertically challenged waiter, who are children have since come to love. It's really no surprise they eventually bonded, since Mommy and Daddy eat at the exact same restaurant all the time.