California Fun

Wow, I can't believe its been 2 1/2 weeks since the San Francisco Marathon! You'd think that my feet would look normal again by now .. but anyways. David's brother Ken flew out to San Francisco for the weekend of the race and then came down to San Diego with us to spend a week escaping the East Coast heat. This was reminiscent of two years ago when he came out for a week starting with me running the Rock N Roll Marathon as a member of the Foot Locker Challenge Team, ending with us heading up to San Francisco for the weekend. It was like the same trip in reverse! (More on my blog A Week of KA in CA)

RNRSD 2009 Foot Locker Challenge Team

Ken flew in late Saturday night and David and I picked him up at the airport after having our carbo loading dinner with Christina at Unicorn. He was pretty hungry from traveling all day so where did we go? Where out of towners who love burgers always want to go - In N Out! (I totally don't get the obsession with In N Out ... but whatever.) We had dinner, came back to Christina's to prep for the race, and before you know it alarms were going off at 4am and it was time to get ready for the San Francisco Marathon. 

Doesn't this sound like a great way to start off a vacation? Fly cross country, go straight to bed, wake up at 4am, and then stand around and traipse all over the city watching two people run a marathon? THANKS KENNY for your support! :) Anyways, fast forward through the race, my BBQ, the drive back down to San Diego .. and it was finally time for the more fun part of his vacation to start. (More details on the SF Marathon race weekend here on my blog San Francisco Marathon - The Big #14)

My Dad & The Allen Boys 2011

My Dad & The Allen Boys 2009

After a long day of driving we didn't have much energy to do anything too big, so on Monday night we went to go see the movie Captain America. I was hoping to go see the Smurfs in 3D while the boys watched Captain America, but David talked me into joining them at the last minute. *yawn* The movie was okay. I still wish I saw the Smurfs. :(

The next day I had to head back to work and David and Ken went to Sea World to hang out with Shamu. We were also planning on going to Universal Studios later in the week and the guys scored by buying a package deal on the tickets for the two parks. When I got home from work we all went out to eat a Buca di Beppo. I hadn't been here in YEARS and just remember the place having horrifyingly large dishes. Buca seemed to be *the* place to have a birthday dinner when I was in college since everything is served family style. We ordered a salad, two pasta dishes ... and then a brownie sundae. Oink. We didn't finish either pasta dish but mowed down the sundae. Yuck, good thing I just ran a marathon. 

David's Scared of the Brownie Sundae

Not sure if it was because the guys were in a food coma from the Buca dinner, but the next day they took it easy and hung out at home for most of the day. When I got off work they picked me up and we headed north to K1 Kart Racing in Carlsbad. When we got there we were disappointed to find out that there was a 2 hour wait before we could race. ARGH!!! So ... we headed off in search of food to kill some time. We ended up at a place I had driven by many times but had never tried - Joey's Smokin' BBQ. It wasn't great, I should have driven by once again. 

The BBQ was okay and it felt like the food took FOREVER. The onion rings that we ordered to share were also startlingly huge. Perfect example of why America is fat. Why would a restaurant create such a monstrous dish? Gross.

Monster Onion Halves Rings

We finally got to race and ended up in the same circuit as a bunch of pretty serious looking racers who came with their own helmets. Uh oh. Right before our group went we also saw a bunch of people crash and two women walk off the course. Errr... this made me pretty nervous and toned down my driving a bit. The race went pretty fast and my main goal was to not finish last. Thankfully, David came in last! haha. ;o) xoxo David.

Getting Ready to Race!

1st, 2nd, and 3rd Place

Since I had worked two days that week so far it was obviously time for another day off. ;o) I took Thursday off and we all drove up to LA to spend the day at Universal Studios. We left mid-morning and I didn't expect to hit much traffic, but of course we did! Ugh. It took over 3 hours to get there. By the time we got there it was lunch time so we had lunch in Universal City at Karl Strauss (on IPA Day!) before heading into the park. 

$15 Off Universal Studios w/a Coke Can!

David and I had come to Universal Studios a few years ago and had instantly thought that this was a place his brother (a movie buff) would totally enjoy. It was smoking hot this day in the valley (mid 90s) but we had a good time at Universal Studios. My favorite ride by far (and not just because I'm a Simpsons fan) was the Simpsons 4D experience. 3D movie with a 4th dimension of movement and feeling. (Stuff blowing at you, spraying at you, and smells.)

Just Chillin' at the Kwik-E-Mart

After a full day at Universal Studios, another meal in Universal City (yeah, we eat a lot), and we headed back to San Diego. Thankfully we didn't hit traffic on the way home. 

Universal Studios Hollywood

David Shunning my Kiss at Dinner - haha

The week went by way too quickly, and soon it was Friday. Ken was heading home on a redeye that night so the guys had the day to hang out before picking me up and work and us all heading north for my friend Devika's birthday happy hour. Thanks to traffic (I am so sick of California traffic) we pretty much did a pop-in at her happy hour before heading down to Del Mar for our "fancy" send-off dinner at Poseidon. 

Happy Birthday Devika!!

Poseidon is one of the nicer restaurants I've been to in San Diego and is a great place to take out-of-towners since you get to eat almost on the beach and get the feeling of really being in Southern California. The food and service at this restaurant are top notch, and watching the sun set over the beach is amazing! If you haven't been here, go check it out.

Another meal complete .. and it was time to take Ken to the airport. Hopefully he had a fun time and will come back in a few years!