Adventures in the USA: Rachel's Travel Diary

I’m currently in between two bumper weekends of fun – packing in as much as possible to my last month in the USA – I fly home in one month! I know it’s a cliché, but time really does fly when you’re having fun!

After my San Francisco trip I had a quiet week. I spent Tuesday catching up on some admin for the Cambridge University Engineers’ Association (I’m on the committee for CUEA which is an alumni group and I’ve just taken over as Marketing and Communications officer. Sent out the first quarterly newsletter which I authored this morning). On Wednesday, Chris and I got up early to play tennis before he went off to work – we both had tennis lessons when we were younger, but the last time we played was about 5 years ago and we got very frustrated with each other! We played again this morning and whilst we’re a long way off being able to play a game abiding by the rules of Wimbledon or the US Open, we did get a few good rallies going! It’s nice getting up early and making the most of the morning too! I’ve finalised the menu for my Girlguiding trip to Switzerland in late July now as well and I’ve started putting together a very lengthy shopping list to provide breakfast, lunch, dinner and snacks for a group of 42 for a whole week – I’m just thankful that I don’t have too many dietary requirements to juggle! 

I also made a skirt last week using up some leftover fabric I purchased at a market in Vietnam. It’s a slippery silk/satin type fabric (probably synthetic) in a pale green colour with white spots and I already had a skirt made from it when I was in Vietnam, but it doesn’t quite fit right and flares out at an odd angle – I need to try adjusting it when I get back to the UK. I’ve made a shorter one as well now, using a pattern similar to the one I used when making my pyjama shorts (waistband construction is the same). I had to make a couple of adjustments to the pattern as the fabric wasn’t as stiff as the cotton I used previously, so I had to add more interfacing to the waistband, and I added a lining as the green fabric is a little bit see-through. It was a tricky fabric to work with, but I’m pleased with the results again! 

On Friday I met a couple of friends from book club for a jazz concert in the gardens of the Los Angeles County Museum of Art (LACMA). We went to one of these a couple of weeks ago but I can’t remember whether I mentioned it in the blog then, so apologies if I’m repeating myself. Every Friday from May to October there are free jazz concerts from 6pm to 8pm in the gardens. On the two weeks that I’ve been the weather has been unseasonably sunny, meaning many people make an afternoon of the occasion and arrive several hours before the music starts! Last week we arrived at 4.30 and still didn’t have a clear view of the band. It’s a great atmosphere though and reminds me of the British crowds flocking to the London parks on sunny days!

On Saturday we went down to San Diego. We stayed two nights in Ocean Beach to the north of the city – it was Memorial Day on Monday 26th May so Chris had the day off work. Before we set off from the city, we went to our favourite cafe where I finally got my hands on one of their famous cinnamon rolls! It looks incredibly sweet and sickly in the photo, but it wasn’t overly sweet. The icing on top is a cream cheese frosting so has a distinct tang to it. On our way down the coast we stopped off first at Oceanside and stumbled across a house that was supposedly used in Top Gun as instructor Charlie’s house (although when we went to the Paramount Studios Tour a few weeks ago they told us that Tom Cruise and Kelly McGillis didn’t get on very well and refused to cooperate when filming on location, so a lot of those scenes were actually filmed in the studio in LA). Then we stopped a bit further south at La Jolla. This had been recommended to me by the president of CUEA as there are lots of nice restaurants with nice sea views and lots of seals and sea lions living on the rocks. There were even people in the water swimming with the more sociable sea lions! We finally arrived in Ocean Beach at around 5pm and settled into our seaside cottage, before taking a walk to the dog beach and meeting lots of friendly pooches. Then we walked along to the town centre for a beer and a burger at a New Zealand restaurant. I had a burger with a bacon and a ring of pineapple. I know pineapple can be a controversial ingredient in savoury dishes, but I thought it was DELICIOUS!

We had a fairly early start on Sunday as we headed to the San Diego Zoo! This was one of the top attractions on my ‘To Do’ list whilst out here and it did not disappoint! Highlights from the day were seeing polar bears, sleepy giant pandas, leopards and some very squawky flamingos! We probably only covered 70% of the zoo despite being there from 10am until 4.30pm, but it was another hot day and by that point we were tired, so we headed back to the cottage for a breather before going for a swim in the ocean (first time since arriving in the USA and it was cool but pleasant!).

We took it a bit slower on Monday, taking the time to explore the area a bit more. We drove down into San Diego itself to visit a famous pancake house which did baked apple pancakes, went up onto the USS Midway for a look at the bay (the museum itself it quite expensive and we weren’t really in the mood for a museum, but you can go onto the rear flight deck for free to look at the view) and visited the Gas Lamp Quarter, before taking a drive across the impressively high Coronado Bridge on our way to see some of the local beaches. We then finished off our trip with ‘Mike’s Red Tacos’ which started out as a food truck but now has two fast food restaurant locations. I’ll miss proper tacos when I head back to the UK – Mexican food is just so much better here!

Taking it easy again this week with more admin and Girlguiding prep meetings for exciting things happening later in the year, and I need to pack as we have an early flight to Las Vegas on Saturday. The weather forecast currently says 40 degrees for Saturday, so I think we’ll be splitting our time between the pool and the air conditioned casinos!

Signing off now from the across the pond,

Rachel