San Diego Day 1

A few weeks ago Katie had a conference in San Diego so I tagged along and set up some business meetings for Smart OES. We headed out Wednesday evening and that night we had two surprises: 1. Now that we are on the east coast, it takes much longer to fly to the west coast than it did when we were in the center of the country. That should be obvious but this was the first time we really felt it. 2. San Diego tap water tastes nasty! It may be temporary and due to drought conditions but we were both blown away by how bad the local tap water was.

Thursday started off well. Katie went immediately to her conference but I met a friend and Smart OES investor for breakfast. There are certainly worse places for investor meetings than the rooftop of a hotel that overlooks the San Diego bay!

Later I had a lunch meeting at Monello, very near our hotel in Little Italy. Although it was hardly traditional Italian, I couldn't help but be impressed by the quality of the food: hand-made pasta, innovative flavors, and all quite delicious.

When Katie returned from the conference, we took advantage of the great weather and walked to/around Balboa Park. I hadn't realized that there were so many museums and other attractions in the park. We could have spent all day there! Instead we wandered around the rose garden and took a nap on the lawn - not a bad way to spend a California afternoon!

Finally we wrapped up the day with dinner at Davanti Enoteca, also near our hotel in Little Italy. For a place that calls itself an Enoteca we were pretty disappointed in its very limited wine selection. Fortunately it more than compensated with fantastic tapas-style plates. Our favorite by far was a savory house-made ricotta served with grilled Pugliese bread and fresh honeycomb. Mmmm!

It was an outstanding first day in San Diego - but there was plenty more to come.