Saturday, August 12, 2017 – Pre-wedding meet-and-greet
After staying up till 2:00 a.m. drinking mead, I hoped to sleep in today, but no such luck. I was wide awake at 6:00, presumably because it was 9:00 my time, so I got up and made coffee. Brian, Mooney, and Carmen shortly followed. The temperature was very comfortable this morning, in the high 60s, and we sat out on the back porch and enjoyed the weather. Eventually, Tom joined us.
At lunchtime we walked three or four blocks over to University Avenue and to a little hole-in-the-wall Mexican place called Las Morelinas. The food was freakishly hot, but I liked it. The service was pretty bad, but I'll chalk it up to the language barrier, though I think they could have done better.
Looking for lunch
Cannibals!
After lunch, we bought some craft brew to go at Corey's Liquor Store, a couple of doors down from the restaurant. Then back at the bungalow, we relaxed for a couple of hours before heading to Ballast Point Brewing in Little Italy, where Chris and Kelsey were hosting a casual get-together from 2:30 to 5:30 for all of their wedding guests.
With Mooney now refusing to drive, Brian and I planned to order up a couple of Ubers for the five of us. We'd never Uber'd before, so today was also kind of a test run before relying on it to get us to the wedding tomorrow. Brian tried to summon an Uber, but the app failed for some reason, and there was no time to trouble-shoot, so he and Carmen called a taxi. I tried next, and my Uber arrived within three minutes.
I hated leaving Brian and Carmen stranded while they waited on their Yellow Cab (but yet I did). Tom and Mooney and I arrived at Ballast Point for the pre-wedding meet-and-greet just after 2:30, and Brian and Carmen were only about 15 minutes behind us. Their taxi cost twice as much as our Uber, but at least they made it! Later, Brian downloaded the Lyft app and had no further difficulties.
My brother Mark and his wife, Pamela, met us at Ballast Point. They'd gotten up super early and flown in from Oklahoma just this morning. Our friends Bill and Marcia had arrived on the same flight. My other nephew, Jacob, was there as well, having flown in in from Texas the day before.
Mark, Brian, and Matthew
Jacob, Mooney, and Pamela
Marcia, Tom, Bill, and Jana
Mooney and Brian
Chris and Kelsey had reserved an outdoor area for the gathering, and the weather was perfect, sunny and in the 80s. It was a fun crowd and the beer was excellent. I visited with Chris and Jacob's mom and stepdad and met Kelsey's family and many of Chris and Kelsey's friends.
The happy couple, Kelsey and Chris
Jacob, Brian, Carmen, Kelsey, and Chris
Chris, Kelsey, Brian, Jacob, and Jana
Ballast Point booted us from the reserved area at 5:30, as they had another group coming in, so our contingent, the five of us plus Mark and Pamela and Bill and Marcia, decided to go out to dinner. Nine people on a Saturday night can be hard to seat in San Diego, so we asked Chris for help, and he suggested Rare Form, in the Gaslamp Quarter. So Marcia and I ordered up a couple Ubers, and we headed out.
Rare Form is kind of an upscale deli/diner, with a rooftop Tiki bar overlooking Petco Park, where the Padres play. We went upstairs first for a cocktail and enjoyed the view of the ballpark, then headed downstairs for dinner. I got the tri-tip plate with potato wedges and cauliflower and a nitro peanut butter stout beer. Nice!
Cocktail time!
Brian, Carmen, Mooney, Marcia, and Bill at Rare Form
After dinner, we were all pretty tired, so we headed our separate ways, Brian, Carmen, Mooney, Tom and I returning to our bungalow. Chris and Kelsey had planned to spend time with all four sets of their parents separately this evening and were leaving us for last (cuz we're the most fun, I'm sure), but Chris sent a text saying he fell asleep in his Uber, so they didn't make it by. In any case, we'll see them again tomorrow at their wedding!
Uber (or Lyft) is the way to go in San Diego, and I'm now a big fan. I hired three different Ubers today, waited from one to eight minutes each time, and spent a total of $28 for all three rides. There's no excuse to drink and drive in this city!
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