I left for San Diego after a couple of hours at work, and it was 105 degrees outside in the IE. Nasty. Drove to the hubs' place of employment in SD and left my car there, so we could at least drive together to where we were staying for the weekend. Humphrey's Half Moon Inn and Suites is right on the marina at Shelter Island, and it was a lovely resort. We got a ground floor room that led right out to the swimming pool area and a little walking path that overlooked the marina, and I was immediately regretting not bringing along a bathing suit. Then we waited for my in laws to arrive, and left for dinner at Top of the Market restaurant by the USS Hornet for dinner.
After a lovely dinner, we decided to walk around Seaport Village since we were right there. I tried to locate a store which sold some bathing suits, but sadly, the pool and I were not destined to meet this trip. We headed back to the hotel after walking around for a little bit, and decided to check out the Backstage Lounge at Humphrey's for a nightcap. There was a cover charge for the Dennis Jones, the blues guitarist from LA that was playing that evening, so we were thinking it was going to be good. The lounge wasn't very crowded at all, but service was terrible! We would have stayed much longer and had a few more drinks and even some appetizers had the waitress been a little bit more attentive. We left less than an hour after we got there, only because of the subpar service. We all decided to meet at 8.30 the next morning to start our day.
Saturday dawns, and it looks to be a cloudless, sunshiny day. It was a lot more humid than us inland folk were used to, being right on the water, but the weather was still so much cooler than what was predicted for our area. Since it was the hubs' birthday weekend, and he wanted to go to the zoo, we headed on over. I was prepared with our caps and sunscreen, and boy did we need it! We took the bus tour around the zoo (I always love the bus tour), and sat on the open air top deck, so it was a good thing we did it early before it got much warmer. We got to see the polar bears while they were awake this time around, and that was a treat.
We huffed and puffed our way around the zoo, and saw most of what all of us wanted to see. I think the hubs' and I were spoiled since our last trip to the zoo was on a weekday, with a lot less people. We didn't stick around some of the exhibits for very long because it was crowded with nowhere to sit. We were all exhausted after being at the zoo for 6 hours, compared to our 12 hour trip last August. I even managed to hunt down a souvenir travel mug I wanted that I could not find at the gift store. We headed back to the hotel to freshen up and figure out dinner plans.
I immediately jumped into bed to grab some shuteye, even though I was feeling rather icky from being out in the sun, pespiring, and all that sunscreen I had slathered on in an effort to keep from burning. Hubs wanted to eat at Bali Hai, but after calling them off and on and trying to make reservations, he was feeling pretty frustrated that he couldn't get through. We all decided to head over anyway, just in the off chance that they had an open table, and Downtown San Diego was plan B for dinner.
Lo and behold, we heard that there was a power outage that downed all their systems (hence not being able to get through on the phones or online), and that their kitchen was 30 minutes behind. They said we'd have a 30 minute wait if we wanted a table still, so we hung out in their bar/lounge area while we waited. Service was definitely a lot more prompt than at the lounge the previous night, so we all decided we could wait for a good hour if they kept our glasses filled.
Dinner was a fantastic experience. We sat outdoors and got to enjoy the beautiful evening, the food was fantastic, and dessert was divine. We wanted to go to the Backstage Lounge again for a nightcap, but it was standing room only, and no one bothered to come up to us when we were waiting at the bar, so we ended up just leaving.
The hubs' parents made reservations at Humphrey's restaurant for their Sunday Brunch, something that both his folks remembered from way back when. The dining room was beautiful, and overlooked the marina. Champagne or mimosas were offered when we first sat down, and then we proceeded to check out the buffet. There was a really large selection of breakfast and lunch foods, and manned omelette, carving, sushi, and dessert stations. There were a lot of seafood offerings, but breakfast foods and dessert were my favorites. They had fresh-made waffle cones! Yum. I had to waddle back to the room.
We went over to the Museum of Natural History next, and walked around for a few hours, before deciding to head home. Our last stop was at a local 99 Ranch asian market, where I stocked up on things near and dear to my stomach that I have a difficult time finding closer to home. I was a happy girl :)
All in all, a very fun weekend with lots of walking and sightseeing, good food and company.
