My friend Paul came to visit us last week. It was a great visit. We did all sorts of fun San Diego things.

We went to the zoo. If you come to SD, you have to go to the zoo. We actually joined because it was $86 for a membership for two people, and the regular entrance fee is something like $32 per adult, so now we can go every time we’re at Balboa Park if we want. While there we tried to see every cat, being big cat fans…and fans of big cats. Unfortunately the tigers were mostly hiding, but we got a great view of a black leopard.

We did see the Arabian Wild Cat, which, in case you’ve never seen one, is actually a housecat in a cage. I’m not kidding. There is no way that thing is a ferocious wild cat. It looks just like the cat on the Cat Chow bag. Benito, one of our cats, is probably bigger and definitely more evil.

On one day I took Paul up to the Cabrillo National Monument, so he could see the view. Cabrillo, in case you don’t know, is on the very tip of Point Loma, which is that little point of land that points straight south on the map and separates the Pacific from San Diego Bay. From there you get a gorgeous view of the Pacific, the bay, the city, Coronado, and even Mexico.

Then we went down to the tidepools on the Pacific side and looked for crabs and the like. It was a gorgeous afternoon. Hot in the sun, but the ocean breeze was perfect. I think we could have sat on that rock for hours.

Anyway, during the visit we also ate out a lot (including evil desserts at the City Deli), and just blew my diet all to hell. It was fantastic. We also went to bars. We did the Friday night happy hour at the bar atop the Park Hotel. It’s called the Park Hotel because it is right next to Balboa Park. The bar is on the roof, but the hotel is only about 7 stories high so I wasn’t expecting much. Yeah, it’s 7 stories high, but it’s also on a mesa that overlooks downtown and the Bay. The view was lovely.

The fact that we had to take the stairs down (the ancient elevator was acting up) didn’t even bother us after that view.

The next afternoon we went to a place called Bourbon Street; a lovely gay bar with a cute courtyard in the middle. We were just going to hang out and have cocktails with a guy Christopher works with and his partner, but we stayed long enough to get to participate in the early evening fun: Bingo. We played bingo with a transvestite nun caller with a voice like grating steel and a raunchy sense of humor. S/he also decided to pick on Christopher (probably the only straight guy in the place) after he called her a name for not calling the number he wanted. Hoot!

We’ll be going back for more bingo, I’m sure. It was tons of fun and next time I want to win something!

On Paul’s last afternoon here we did what everyone should do at least once on a visit to San Diego, even if it is touristy as hell: we had a drink at sunset at the Hotel Del.

For that Paul and I took a water taxi to Coronado (and back). Have I mentioned that the Coronado Bridge is just way the hell too high for me to drive across? Well, it is, so the water taxi was a great option–even if it was only a couple of days after the capsizing of the one in Baltimore. But that one was a pontoon boat and ours was a regular boat with a keel and everything, and the bay was nice and calm so no worries. In fact, it was over 70 when we left and bright sunshine. The water taxi is $5 per person, one way, from just about any place in the bay to just about any place in the bay. So we went from Seaport Village (downtown) to the marina just across the street from the Hotel Del. That meant going under the bridge (very neat). We asked the “driver” to pick us up at a certain time for the return, and headed for the hotel. A quick walk from the marina and one frou-frou drink later and you’re all set for the sun to do its thing. It did, perfectly, over Point Loma, and we sighed and walked back to the marina. The return trip was chillier (the temps drop fast after sunset) but still beautiful with the city all lit up.

Hard to believe he was here for a week. It just didn’t seem that long.

Just glad the weather was nice for him, ‘cause you know we always worry about that ‘round here.