The best unknown BBQ in the country (I think??)

Hello 80 degrees. Last weekend was to say the least.... beautiful. It was the type of day where the pacific was extraordinarily blue and you could see all the way to Catalina. So with the celebration of this gorgeous weather, we thought we would take a quick trip to San Diego.

Every time we go to San Diego, we go to the same restaurant in Old Town called Cafe Coyote. This time we were determined to try a new restaurant explore other options if you will. When we got down past LaJolla, we checked the iPhone for a good recommendation on a Italian place in Midtown. It had great reviews all around but when we called, you needed a reservation to even get in. Strike 1! Well that won't work so we checked into the hotel and there was a BBQ place that was across the street which smelled amazing. We crossed the street, the line was over 3 hours long! And it was literally a line that wrapped around the entire building. I was shocked. I had never seen a line that long for a BBQ place. I thought wow well the BBQ must be amazing. Strike 2! Well we'll try it tomorrow.

So we ended up going to Chili's which was next door justifying that we would go to Phils BBQ tomorrow. The next day we wake up early to try to get to the BBQ place, it had an hour line to get in (waiting in line in the 78 degree sun) and it had just opened for the day. WOW! To try to rectify the situation, we tried to go to a breakfast place in Hillcrest and it had an 2 hour wait. So where did we end up going??? Denny's for breakfast. Our mission failed. Not only did we not get to try something new, we went to 2 places that are within 2 miles from us here at home :( Moral of the story??? If you go to San Diego and want to eat at a non-chain place, be prepared to wait!

South Bay Expressway

Currently we are going through a living room decorating transformation. Last weekend we decided to go to a couple of stores in Rancho Palos Verdes, which then wound up in Torrance then happened to finish in Santa Monica. Total items purchased….1 a floor lamp. We actually wanted to find a rug, but that didn't turn out. However I did get to see the South Bay side of California. I went through places that I have not seen for awhile. Redondo, Hermosa, Manhattan…I saw the refinery where dad works at in El Segundo. Which is a lot nicer than Carson, but dad does have to deal with that commute. By the time we got to Santa Monica, Brent was grumpy, but Chipotle cheered him up. Chipotle the remedy for all grumpy South Bay Expressway travelers.

2011 duds

Happy 2011. I thought I would get one blog in before starting the first week in the new year. Not much to report on 2011 so far, but things are going to be happening soon in January. Had a great new years celebration with the family. It has been awhile since I have brought in the new year with teenagers. I believe Stacey left out the best part of the night in her blog about Spencer's "amazing" flare gun. It was supposed to be the flare gun of the new year. bright sparks everywhere the eye could see. People from around the neighborhood would watch in amazement as spencer pulls the trigger and light would dance around. 5...4....3....2....1 Happy New Year!!! Spencer pulls the trigger and plop....... one teeny spark shoots out about 1 inch and fades into the cold ground. Well so much for a grand entrance into 2011, but maybe that is what 2011 is all about. Simplicity. or just a bunch of duds.