Mission Beach, San Diego

I enjoy public transportation in big cities, but for some reason do not consider it a viable option in my own home town. In large cities the entertainment value gained from people watching is very high and is usually worth the fare on its own--even if you have nowhere particular to go. The opposite is true in Logan, UT where ninety-five percent of the riders are homogeneous group from one of two cultures, both headed to WalMart.

In San Diego and other large cities, there are literally dozens of cultures riding public transportation--also probably headed to WalMart. If you were to shake the contents of a San Diego trolley into a glass jar (poke holes in the lid first) you would find a very culturally diverse mixture of persons from different walks of life. While on the bus I did a short scientific study and determined that no one culture was better than another at sliding wrinkly dollar bills into the bus payment console. We are all terrible at it. One guy held up the bus so long that other buses began to pile up behind us at the same stop.

The purpose of my visit to San Diego was for the ESRI User Conference. When my daily conference duties where through I would cruise the city with my co-workers, and sometimes solo. Ignacio and I rented surfboards at Mission Beach and had a good time getting pounded by shore break. Statistically speaking, I think I swallowed approximately 1.5 gallons of sea water per 5 feet of surfing. I got up on the board several times, so do the math--that is a lot of water.

A different night I went down to Mission Beach by myself and walked around. I took a few pictures. None of the normal pictures struck my interest, but I liked a couple of the atypical shots.

I also need say something about the Mexican Food in San Diego: Excellent.