Group Awe

Good Morning -

I'm sitting in the courtyard of our new hotel, La Pensione, in the Little Italy neighborhood of San Diego. It's fantastic and much more my style in hotel (I like the easy outside access one has when not a long hallway and elevator ride and walk through a big lobby distance away like when one stays in a big hotel - oh, I haven't had my coffee yet because the cafe doesn't open until 8).

Our room is small and simple - monastic, one might even say if one ignored the TV and phone. It's a good bed, a small desk, and a full bathroom. This is all I ever need in a hotel - a clean, safe room with a comfortable bed and a place to wash up after a day of exploring.

Let's get to the Virgen because my partner is sitting here and I'm ready to enjoy my morning and coffee with her. The image behind the Virgen is of a panda from the map of the San Diego Zoo, which we wandered all around yesterday. It's a great zoo and set in a big park (Balboa Park), so there's lots of green and trees all around - not to mention lots and lots of hills. The pandas were great, as were the koalas, bears, eagles, hippos, lions, etc. One of the lionesses was missing an eye and her area had a great sign about how just like not every person is physically perfect but deserves to be treated with dignity, so too are the animals. Wonderful.

After the zoo, we were tuckered out, so showered off the day's humidity and then napped for a bit before heading down the street to Buon Appetito for our dinner. My partner had found this place in her research at home and it lived up to every good comment listed on it. The food was fantastic - I had a linguine with scallops and shrimp in a tomato cream and brandy sauce and my partner had giant roasted scallops and veggies. Fantastic.

After dinner, we got a cannoli and some coffee to go and walked down to the water to watch the fireworks over San Diego Bay. Hands-down best show I've ever seen. We sat on a wooden block at the edge of the sidewalk, our feet dangling over the water and watched the magnificent colors reflect off the water. They do a really smart thing here in that they set off the same fireworks in staggered time across the whole bay, so no matter where you are, you can see the good show.

It was wonderful and so much fun to hear everyone "oohhh" and "ahh" over the display of colors. Growing up, we used to tease our mom for the noises she made during firework shows, and now I find myself doing the same thing. I even welled up a little last night at the fireworks - they were just that beautiful and to hear everyone so delighted set off every one of my community-loving, teamwork-inspired tear ducts.

Okay - today we're having breakfast with a friend then the farmer's market in in Little Italy then the beach.

Here's magic and group awe to each of you.