San Diego 2013 Part I

This year for our annual vacation - a celebration of Tyson's birthday and the fact that he has a brief break between summer school and fall semester, we returned to San Diego, but this time stayed in a beach cottage instead of a hotel. I was excited to learn the beach cottage allows dogs, so we were able to take Vader on a once in a lifetime vacation.

We rented a van to fit three adults, a three year old, and a dog. We packed up the van, making a bed for Vader, and I coaxed him to climb up into the van. After multiple attempts, a running start, and finally making it into the van, I helped him settle in, feeling sorry for this poor geriatric dog. A few minutes later, I returned to the house to collect last minute items, while Anne Marie stayed with Tyler and Vader. I returned to the van, and she went back into the house. When she got back, Tyler suddenly asked, "Where's Vader?" Neither of us heard him leave, and had no idea how long he'd been gone. I sprinted down the block, and neighbors called out, "A dog ran that way!" One visibly pregnant woman actually apologized and said she tried to catch him but couldn't keep up. (Here I thought people would be annoyed by a loose dog, but instead they were compassionate. Go Northwest Tucson!) I caught sight of him, continued running for a while, then finally met up with him in the wash. He happily returned to me, and when we met up with Tyson in the van, Vader easily leaped into the van. The look of relief on Tyler's face was priceless.

Six hours later, we arrived at our destination - an adorable little cottage in Ocean Beach, CA.

The first night, we followed other people with dogs to a beach, thinking it was the famous dog beach. But there were lots of people at the beach without dogs, and people looked annoyed if Vader approached them. We felt very out of place, not knowing the etiquette, and it gradually dawned on us that we were at the wrong beach.

The cottage was a block away from Pizza Port Brewing Company. Great pizza, great beer, and only a block away? Heaven. We drank beer there while waiting for our pizza, then brought the pizza back to the cottage to enjoy a quiet meal together.

Sunday morning I took Vader for a run, and discovered the real dog beach, as evidenced by signs saying "Dog Beach" and lots of plastic bag dispensers that serve as a subtle hint to pick up after domesticated animals...

After Vader was good and tired from running, the rest of us went to a local breakfast joint, then spent the day alternating between walking around the town, along the beach, and hanging out in the yard of our cottage. We ended the day at the dog beach, building sand castles, trains, sea turtles, and whales.