When I got up this morning it was 68 degrees in my house. Pete must have been a little off because it was only 50 outside and I'm pretty sure that it wasn't 90 here yesterday, so no 40 degree drop in temperature (but close). But it did get a lot cooler. I don't tell you all of this because I think you all are terribly interested in the weather in Dallas or because I aspire to take Pete's job. I tell you because sometimes Dallas isn't such a horrible place to be weather wise.
Back in the days when I still worked for the employer who shall not be named in my first years at the home office I was on the salon team. In those days salon was great. I couldn't tell you if it was great in recent years but in the early 2000's it was great. Each year salon had this thing called Personal Best that the best salon managers in the country came to. It was held at a different place each year and the home office team acted as hosts. My first year in salon, Personal Best was held in San Diego. I had been to San Diego a couple of times while in previous positions at the employer who shall not be named. Each time was just for an afternoon though. See, they used to send us to Buena Park for meetings but flights to LA from Dallas were super expensive. So, if you stayed over a Saturday night, the price of the flight dropped so low that it covered a weekend at the hotel and a rental car price so they would let you go out early and spend the weekend there when you had a meeting on Monday or Tuesday. So on a couple of occasions, we took our rental car, went to San Diego for a day and did all the touristy stuff. I liked San Diego. I wasn't in love with it, but I thought it was nice.
So in about April of 2000 or 2001 I along with a couple of hundred other people were all set to visit San Diego for a long weekend. I was looking forward to it and packed what I imagined would be appropriate clothing for a weekend in southern California in the spring. The week before we left we were in the 70's and 80's here in Dallas all week. So, I was in that spring state of mind. A few of the salon big wigs had to go out early to make sure that everything was ready. On Wednesday, one of the guys Dale, who was a terrific guy who passed away a few years ago and I still miss very much, called the office and told us that the weather was pretty cool and we should pack accordingly. Well, I was flying out early the next morning. I had already been shopping, I was packed. I wasn't going shopping again and I wasn't packing again. Besides I figured, it's southern California, how bad could it be???!?!?! But at the last minute I decided to throw a cute little rain jacket that I had recently gotten in my suitcase.
I flew out the next morning. When I walked out of the airport, it was in the low 50's and sunny. It was only about 9 a.m. Pacific time. So I figured it would warm up during the day like it does in Texas and be in the 70's by mid afternoon. My capris and short sleeve blouses were going to be just fine. By that afternoon, as I shopped with one of the other salon people in the Seaport Village shops, walking from shop to shop I noticed that it had become somewhat overcast and the temperature was still only in the high 50's. Pretty cool for capris and sandals.
The photo below was taken from the hotel that we stayed in. My room wasn't this high up, but it did face the harbor and yacht club. So, my view was just about this nice.... when it wasn't raining cats and dogs....The next day, was Friday and back in those days, we had options of excursions to participate in during Friday of Personal Best. So, a friend and I chose to do a city tour and a visit to the San Diego Zoo. We got up that morning and it was pouring rain. We basically had HOHO tickets for a trolly and then once we got to the zoo, they gave you a wristband. I wore my cute new rain jacket along with capris and sandals. I never watched a weather report that day. But it must have rained 8 inches while we were hopping on and off buses and trying to get a glimpse of Panda Bears at the zoo. I froze my butt off all day long. My feet were blocks of ice with sandal straps across them. The worst part was that everywhere you went all over San Diego everyone you encountered said the same thing..... "It's never like this here!" I just wanted to scream at them, REALLY YOU IDIOT???? IT'S LIKE THIS RIGHT NOW!!!!! But we just smiled and moved on so that someone else could tell us about how perfect their weather normally is. We ate lunch at a Mexican restaurant where we were going to attempt to thaw out and dry off, but everything in San Diego is open air and so even though were sitting sort of inside, there were basically no walls, so we continued to freeze. Our waiter tried to make us feel better by telling us "It's never like this here!" Yea, whatever dude!
I would like to tell you that we spent a lot of time at the zoo and saw everything there was to see there. But that would be a lie. We stayed only long enough to see the pandas. I do not recall seeing any other exhibits while we were in the zoo. We spent more time in the zoos gift shop trying to warm up than at any other place in the zoo. I was cold an wet and miserable. You NEVER want to be around me when I am like that.
The next day a big group of us got in a rental car, went to Fashion Valley Mall and shopped for a few hours not because we wanted to spend our time in San Diego at a mall but because it was still cold and miserable and we had not brought appropriate clothing. I bought two sweaters that day that I still wear often, you know in the winter when you are supposed to wear sweaters. Each time I put one of them on I think of April in San Diego and and get a cold chill.
After the event was over on Sunday everybody starting making their way home. I unlike the rest of the group from Dallas had a late flight home. I wasn't leaving until late afternoon and had time to spare. Sunday dawned clear and with a temperature in the high 50's. I began my day by checking my luggage at the front desk and then walking along the harbor to a really pretty little open air restaurant for brunch as I watched the naval hospital ship Mercy leaving San Diego for places unknown. I would like to be able to tell you that I took this picture, but I didn't. I didn't own a digital camera then. So, although I took a lot of pictures that weekend, I have none to show you because quite frankly, I don't even know where any are so that I can scan them into the computer. But I did watch this ship leaving San Diego bay.After brunch, I walked through the Seaport Village shopping area and bought a few souvenirs to take back to Dallas. By noon, the temperature had made it into the 70's and I still had hours before I needed to leave for the airport. So, I bought a ticket for a harbor sightseeing cruise for later in the afternoon. While waiting for my cruise to leave, I visited an old sailing ship and a maritime museum among other things. I also had my very first fish taco that day that I got at a sidewalk cafe. It was delicious. I still order fish tacos every chance I get to see if it can be topped. It hasn't happened yet. The harbor cruise was one of the best I have ever been on taking us past lots of naval ships. It was as close to an aircraft carrier as I have ever been. The weather was perfect for it and the beer that they served on the top deck of the tour boat was ice cold. If you are ever in San Diego and the weather permits, I highly recommend the two hour full bay tour. By the way, I got a slight sunburn on the top deck. The next day everybody at work was shocked to see that I had gotten a sunburn in what we had all come to think of as Arctic Region of San Diego after they had left.
Apparently, the weather that I experienced Sunday after everyone else left is what the weather is always like in San Diego. But even if you go for 4 days and only get one like I had on Sunday, it would still be worth it. I hope that you have a perfect weather day wherever you are! Happy Tuesday!
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