After a quick stroll around the neighborhood, we decided to get ourselves ready for the beach. This time we'd head over to Pacific Beach (or PB as the locals say).
Somehow we ended up getting a fantastic free parking spot right on the beach. I guess we're just lucky like that.
We didn't have to walk far lay claim to a spot on the sand and just soak up the sun.
There isn't much to say about a day at the beach, but much like yesterday, it felt great to just relax. I don't remember who said it, but our time in San Diego on the beach has felt like a vacation from our vacation. We can't complain about that.
Throughout the day, we'd spend time riding waves (they're humongous!), laying out in the sun (it's not too hot!), or going on walks (so many little shops!).
The Runk's went on a walk to look for sandals for Ethan. Seriously? Who doesn't bring sandals on a road trip to the beach?
Anyways, as Cara and I were laying out at our site on the beach, this gull comes out of nowhere and hops right up on our cooler. He stayed there for about five minutes or so before taking off. He (or she) didn't seem to mind us, and it looked like he (or she) was just taking in the scenic view.
It was pretty crazy and funny to see. That is until he pooped on our cooler and almost immediately flew away. So now we're at war with a gull.
Once the Runk's returned, Cara and I ended up walking to a place called The Baked Bear, which was about a block away from the ocean and a roughly 15 minute walk from where we had set up on the beach. The Baked Bear was a recommendation from Katie, and it absolutely lived up to the hype. It's an ice cream place, but it's not an ordinary cone and scoop of ice cream place. There, you order customized ice cream sandwiches. You can choose from about 10 different tops and bottom cookies/brownies and 10-15 different ice cream flavors for the middle filling.
I went with the M&M cookies on the outside and salted caramel crunch ice cream in the middle. Cara got the namesake sandwich, the Baked Bear, which had a brownie on the bottom, Bear batter ice cream in the middle, and a cookie on top. Both were delicious! There's a reason we don't have a photo of the ice cream sandwiches. They were eaten before we could get back to our bags and phones.
When we got back, Ethan and I headed into the ocean - doing the "Stingray Shuffle" of course - to ride some waves that were getting big. I think we were out there for close to an hour having a blast, riding nice waves, and also getting crushed on some other ones. It was a lot of fun until after one wave, we both got pulled very quickly out further into the ocean. We looked at each other a little questioningly and decided that a rip tide had formed and our best bet was to get onto shore as soon as possible.
We were fortunate enough to catch a few waves and get back to shore. As we were walking in, there was a lifeguard about a foot into the water, waving for us to come in or move further to the side away from from the rip tide. It was a scary moment, for sure, but we both knew something wasn't right when it first happened. Thankfully, we did the right thing and made our way to the shore.
By the time we were on shore and back to our site, we decided we were probably done swimming for the day.
Katie ended up meeting us around 6, and we all hung out on the beach for about an hour as the sun was setting. By about 7, hunger was starting to creep in, and Katie took us to get seafood tacos.
We had two choices, but we decided on Oscar's, a hole-in-the-wall taco place that had high reviews. It was a few blocks away, but it was walkable.
When we got to the place, there was a line out the door.
The way Oscar's works is much like a Chipotle or Qdoba. You wait in line, get to the register, order your food, and wait to pick it up. We met Katie's friend, Eunice, at Oscar's as well. Quick side note: all of Katie's friends are as super nice and friendly as she is!
Cara and I each got a battered fish taco, spicy grilled shrimp taco, and a battered shrimp taco. Oscar's also has a bunch of sauces to try on your tacos.
I think we all made the mistake of adding too much of an extremely spicy sauce on at least one taco.
We were lucky enough to get a seat outside on the sidewalk to enjoy the setting sun and eat our tacos. By the time we were ready to head back, it was getting dark.
We ended up driving back to Katie's apartment and walked across the street to Raglan Public House, a New Zealand themed restaurant and bar, for an hour or so. The layout and decor of the place was really cool and inviting. All four us made comments at one point or another about how much we like the overall feel and atmosphere of the place.
It was a good way to end a good day.
I wouldn't be surprised if today holds something very similar for our last full day in San Diego.
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