Food: Gaslamp District, San Diego, Day 20

July 7, 2012 -- It was nice to sleep in this morning, especially after such a fun night!  I didn't want breakfast food, but didn't feel like fajitas or hamburgers either.  Whenever I'm feeling that way, shellfish is usually the answer.  Luckily, down the boardwalk of Seaport Village rests my destiny -- Joe's Crab Shack!  You really can't go wrong with steamed crabs, now can you!

Having my fill of seafood, I took a stroll along the harbor.  Get a load this, for lack of a better word, yacht.  That's a helicopter sitting on the helo pad on the back of the vessel.  The picture doesn't do it justice; that boat was big!

Later in the day, I met up with Rocco for dinner before heading out to the Padres game.  We ate at Henry's Pub on 5th Avenue.  The food was great, I had a chicken dinner, and we were able to sit outside in the nice, warm San Diego air.  After dinner, it was game time!

Event: Big Bay Boom Fireworks, San Diego, Day 17

July 4, 2012 -- After a successful sail on Mission Bay, we all went to the Tilted Kilt for wings, beer, and kilt viewing!  To be honest, we just needed some solid food and the Kilt did the trick.  We then said goodbye to Raul and Natasha, and after a few hours we found ourselves back at the Rockin' Baja for beers and Brooke! Our favorite bartender kept pouring the beers, which is what we love about her!  Alas, nighttime had come and it was time to head to the Seaport Village to see the Big Bay Boom fireworks.

OK, the Big Bay Boom was supposed to be a simultaneous firework display from five barges strategically placed in San Diego Bay.  It was hyped to be an unbelievable fireworks display, costing over $400,000 to put on.  Did you hear about this?  Five minutes before the show was supposed to begin, a software glitch triggered ALL the fireworks to go off at the SAME time!  The "show" lasted 14 seconds, leaving us all to wonder what the heck just happened!  After twenty minutes of waiting for the real show to begin, we and the rest of the crowd were told that the show was over!  What a bummer.  This looked like it was going to be a really good fireworks display, but nada, zippo, zilch!  Better luck next year!

Fitness: Seaport Village Route, San Diego, Day 12

June 29, 2012 -- AP is gone!  He's flying back to RI, just when I was rewarded with a three day weekend.  With the whole day ahead of me, the first thing I needed to do was get in a workout.  Behind the Manchester Grand Hyatt is the Seaport Village and along with that is a long walkway that goes on for miles.  However, on this morning I felt more like the Millennium Falcon avoiding asteroids!  This place is loaded with tourists, who I've dubbed "meanderthals" since they walk aimlessly around, oblivious to my jogging.

Tourists aside, the running route is full of sites, being right on San Diego Bay.  There are shops and restaurants all along Seaport Village, the USS Midway -- a retired air craft carrier, Embarcadero Park -- a beautiful area that juts out into the Bay, and much more.  Depending on your skill level, you can easily run for an hour without straying from the walkway.  Of course if you wanted to brave the city streets you can do that as well.  So, as you can see there's no reason for you to miss your running workout when staying in downtown San Diego.

Travel: Seaport Village, San Diego, Day 10

June 27, 2012 -- After settling in to the Manchester Grand Hyatt, me and AP ventured along the Seaport Village that extends along the boardwalk and San Diego Bay.  The Village reminds me of Brick Market Place in Newport, RI -- touristy shops, bars, and restaurants all along a beautiful body of water (yeah, that's my shadow in the photo below!)

AP, hungry as usual, led us to Joe's Crab Shack where we had pots of steamed crabs, clams, mussels, and shrimp, all layered in Old Bay seasoning.  We were so hungry that we forgot to take a picture of the food for the blog, but trust me it was delicious!

Lodging: Manchester Grand Hyatt, San Diego, Day 10

June 27, 2012 -- After nine wonderful days at the Residence Inn in La Jolla, I switched hotels to be closer to the Gaslamp District during the 4th of July celebration.  My hotel of choice downtown is the Manchester Grand Hyatt.  The place is absolutely huge, having two, 40-story towers with a 4th floor pool deck that includes a pool, hot tubs, rows and rows of deck chairs, and attendants to get you everything from towels to food and drinks.

Their fitness center is top notch, having plenty of cardio machines, Life Fitness circuit machines, and free weights, all overlooking Seaport Village, Coronado, and San Diego Bay.  This is the view from my hotel room -- spectacular!

Definitely stay here if you can -- I'll be here for the next twelve days!!!