Friday morning found us still in Orange County, but anxious to get on the road in our rental car. We travelled down the Pacific Coast Highway through San Clemente and Laguna Beach and places like that, stopping along the way wherever we found something we wanted to look at. Really a nice, leisurely ride.

Deb was amazed by all the flowers everywhere all weekend long. Especially the way lantana grows like shrubbery there. We saw lots of these big snails in one planter. It was early in the trip, and we thought they were really cool, so I took a picture.

For some reason I didn't mind acting all touristy so far from home. We browsed through t-shirt shops and an art gallery, and got some great stuff at a little bakery.

People were nice wherever we stopped. Two teenagers at a Wherehouse Music looked through hundreds of CDs for me, trying to locate the one "Shrek" soundtrack that their computer said they had but that wasn't where it was supposed to be. Amazing. Teenagers doing their job. Who'dathunk.

I had chili verde (yes, I like to play fast and loose with my bowels on trips) at a little cantina in San Clemente. Jake and Sara had soup and salads and Deb had a marinated halibut salad. The waiter had a huge stain down the front of his shirt, but was exceptionally nice. Really good bathroom, too.

We made our way down the coast and eventually hit San Diego, city of perfect weather for Badsnake (overcast and cool). We wandered around one neighborhood for quite a while looking for the way to our hotel. I got used to this view:

But aren't they cute? I'm so lucky.

We finally found our way to the Embassy Suites and checked in. The view from our room was simply stunning.

We had fun undressing in front of the crane operator. The suite itself was great. Big sitting room and itty bitty kitchen with fridge and microwave. Jake and Sara went to the convention center to register for the marathon, giving us a chance to test the range of the walkie talkies. We sounded just like the idiots on cell phones that I make so much fun of, but I was having a blast.

Badsnake: *skkrch* Can you hear me still? Where are you?
Girls: *skkrch* Yes, we can hear you. We're on a bicycle thing headed down the street. Can you see us?
Badsnake: *skkrch* (goes to window with Deb; sees girls in street in rickshaw) Yeah! We can see you!

Very goober-y. This goes on until they're inside the convention center and we lose them at some point. Next, we called Miguelito to let him know we'd made it and that we would make dinner plans when the girls got back.

to be continued ...