San Diego

We made a quick trip down to San Diego this last weekend. Our main reason for going was to get out of town and to cheer on a good friend who was running his first marathon at the San Diego Rock-n-Roll Marathon. We also used it as an opportunity to visit some family and friends. My sister and her husband had us over for dinner in La Jolla on Friday night. Two great friends of ours drove a couple hours to have dinner with us in Hillcrest on Saturday evening.

When we travel, we make it a point to try to patronize and stay at gay owned businesses. We booked a room at a place in the middle of the gay district, Hillcrest, called the Hillcrest Inn. The place advertises itself as “location, location, location … our most obvious asset.” That was its only asset. It is basically a transient hotel that saves a few rooms for unsuspecting gays. I would not recommend it but was convenient for the weekend.

A good portion of the weekend was spent walking. We explored from one end of Hillcrest to the other. Friday night we walked all around the area checking out the different gay nightlife (clubs & bars). The area seemed almost as large and lively as the Castro in SF. We stayed out until 2am! Saturday morning we walked to Balboa Park and visited the San Diego Zoo. The new Monkey Trails exhibit was our favorite.

Sunday we were up early (6 am) to see the start of the Rock’n’Roll Marathon. Our friend was one of about 20,000 runners that morning. We missed seeing him at the 1-mile marker. Everyone was too bunched up. We did see him at the mile-10 marker. Interesting, that location was the San Diego Frontrunners’ water station. They were celebrating their 25th birthday. From there, we then walked across Hillcrest, Mission Hills, and parts of Old Town to the finish line on the Parade Deck at the Marine Corps Recruit Depot at Point Loma. After congratulating him on his accomplishment (4:37 time) we then hiked back to Hillcrest. We met him, his partner and his mother for dinner on Coronado Island. We flew back Monday morning. We had a great time.