San Diego in a day, freedom and rice

"Got on board a westbound 747

Didn't think before deciding what to do ...

... Seems it never rains in Southern California"

— Albert Hammond, "It never rains in Southern California"

Those lines describe our recent trip to just south of La-La land. We went to San Diego for a friend's wedding this past Saturday. In my mind, SD would be nominated on a short list of "perfect" cities in which to live. I always maintained, after I visited there the first time, that I would never live there because the weather is too mild. I'd need my snow!

I'm getting old. Now, I truly think if I had the chance (and the dough) I'd be out there.

The wedding was on a Saturday; we landed just before noon on Friday. That gave us a whole day to recreate — but aside from tickets to a night baseball game and a reserved rental car, and the fact that both of us had been to San Diego only once prior, we really had no plans.

And it was a great day.

We first checked our map, then headed toward Coronado Island — which is famous for the Hotel Del Coronado. Here's a picture that we didn't take because we forgot our camera battery:

We went there after a little walk around a shopping area and lunch at a pizzeria that featured a "Rocky" movie poster on the menu. Can't go wrong there.

We hadn't yet found a hotel in which to stay, and "The Del" was certainly out of our price range, but it had a lovely beach you could walk to for free as long as you found a parking spot — also free. This "free" thing will be a theme throughout the post.

We waded in the water a bit, and I faced southwest to wave at all my friends in New Zealand. As we were leaving, we saw two LOUD fighter jets fly overhead — from the nearby naval base — and realized maybe it was best not to stay in that particular inn.

We then drove up toward Old Town San Diego and found our place to stay for the night. We then walked around the historic Old Town sites for a short time before we headed to the game.

We had a light-rail line to take us out the the ballgame, $4 round trip, which sure beats at least $10 for parking. On the train, we met Dave and Mary Jane, a lovely older couple — natives of Ohio and seasoned Padres fans. They told us where the best place was to eat before the game, and as we were about to get off the train, they invited us to come with them to Dussini's, which had half-price, fully delicious hot dogs, burgers, etc... before the game. And our new friends picked up the tab for us. It was a wonderful gesture and made me a believer in good-ol' Southern (California) hospitality.

Then it was off to the game — Padres vs. the New York Mets — which was great. It was a pitcher's duel: Randy Wolf vs. Johan Sebastian Carlos Santana. Wolf was a Phillies fan favorite who had an interesting fan club. It featured some stellar defensive plays and clutch hitting. The Pads took a 2-1 lead late in the game, and the ninth inning brought Trevor Hoffman — best closer in baseball history — to the mound. And with that came one of the best entrances in all of sports.

Hoff shut down the Mets 1-2-3, and I cheered along with the Padres fans in appreciation for their helping my Phillies.

So somewhere along the line, we acquired coupons for 20 percent off ice cream at Ghirardelli's — an offer we couldn't refuse. Walking through the rowdy San Diego nightlife, we found the bastion of chocolate and ice-cream greatness. We ordered a "Haight-AshBerry" sundae, and several minutes later, found that two had been made inadvertently. We were given that second one — say it with me — for free.

For those keeping score at home, that's free parking at the Hotel Del, free access to it's beautiful beach, free dinner as a treat from our new friends at the game and a free ice-cream sundae.

Now, getting all this free stuff could make someone feel either grateful or guilty ... or both. But it's prompted me to share something with you loyal TrishTrib readers — especially the "word nerds" among you (and you know who you are).

FreeRice.com is a Web site in which you guess (multiple choice) what a certain word means. If you are right, 20 grains of rice are donated to the U.N. World Food program to help alleviate world hunger. We usually try to get up to 500 every time we're on there. Yes, you can use your "word nerdery" to contribute to a worthy cause and not just to impress/talk down to your friends like I have done sometimes.

That's a long post, maybe we'll have Part 2: The LBC later this week.

Oh, and it didn't rain.