San Diego Trip

Well it's been several days since my last posting, but I would do the last several days all over again. Let me give you some sound advice: when you have the opportunity to spend time with friends, don't pass it up.

Now I hear you thinking, this isn't about wine. Well, yes and no. Now I hear you thinking, that's a hell of an answer. Let me explain.

One of the reasons I like the atmosphere surrounding wine is that it tends to bring family and friends closer together. But we should all remember that those opportunities for family and friends are not strictly associated with one catalyst.

Last Thursday, Ana and I along with our friends Chico and Ceci, went to San Diego to visit their son Francisco and his wife MaryAnn. The occasion was simply to see them before MaryAnn delivered her first child. We left early Thursday morning taking I-5. The trip down was all too quick, but isn't that the way time is when your having fun?

Our first night in San Diego was an adventure of sorts. It was around 11:00 p.m. when we decided to look for a bar near our hotel (within walking distance). We walked for a half hour before we came across a seedy looking lounge that you had to enter from the back down a long dark alleyway. Because we hadn't seen any thing else we decided to take the chance and walked with great caution into the dark. Sure enough, the entrance was at the back and to our relieved souls there was a light and a gentleman at the back entrance to greet us.

There was a small charge per person to enter and we handed over that amount to the doorman. Upon entering the darkened establishment we saw a short hallway. Both sides of the hallway were drapped with red curtains which reminded me of a bordello. We continued with some apprehension untill we entered a larger room with a well worn pool table and that led us into the actual bar area. It was Ceci who read a small flyer that was on the small round table. She pointed out to us that tonite's charge was free to women. I volunteered to go back out and collect the overcharge.

Walking through the back door I found the doorman sitting down and I didn't hesitate to tell him of his mistake. When he asked me how much he overcharged me I told him that I had walked in with three women so, he owed me $15.00. His response was a tilt of his head as if questioning me. "You came in with two women and another guy." That's when Chico came through the door. Talk about an inopportune time.

"That's the other guy," the doorman said as he flipped his finger at Chico.

"This person?" I remarked, pointing at my friend. Then looking at Chico I surprisingly asked, "Are you a guy?" Chico nodded affirmingly with a smile not knowing all that was going on. "I swear, I'm learning something new everyday," as I told the doorman it was my mistake and accepted $10.00 from him.

Chico looked at me with a face of confusion which he held until later back at the little round table I told them of what took place. After all was told, Ana and Ceci turned to Chico,and as if in a chorus line "Are you a guy?"

That's the way our trip went. It was fun to be around great friends.