"If I could make days last forever..."

This morning we s-l-o-w-l-y made our way to breakfast.  Not sure if it's lingering jet lag - or vacation mentality - but we haven't been getting out of the hotel room each day until nearly 10.   Since it was Sunday anyway, we opted for brunch.  After some discussion, we settled on Croce's, a wonderful jazz club and restaurant sitting on a prime corner on 5th Avenue.  The evening before, I had read about how Ingrid Croce started this restaurant to honor her husband, after they had both bemoaned the lack of a great place to eat and hear music and had dreamed about opening such a place of their own.  A week later, Jim died in a plane crash.  The walls are covered with Jim's hand-written lyrics and gold albums, and the live piano music provides just the right background for conversation. 

After brunch, we headed to Horton's Plaza, the ingenious shopping plaza that is integrated into the heart of the Gaslamp district.  Somewhat like Sunset Place or Cocowalk but even more a part of the surrounding area, this plaza was built to rejuvenate the area back in the 70's, and it worked like a charm.  Throughout the day, as we took an Old Town Trolley tour and learned more and more about the way San Diego has emerged through the decades, Dana would comment that it wasn't difficult to see why California is broke.  The state devotes oodles of money to restoration and renewal, which may or may not be money well spent for the state but is certainly a visible investment. 

Before we bought our trolley tickets, we spent some time in Sam Goody, the "largest music store in San Diego."  As Dana and I felt nostalgic walking around and looking at the posters, t-shirts, record albums and assorted goodies typically housed in such record stores, Maddie was absolutely awestruck.  As we watched her near reverant stare, we realized that this may be the first time she has been in such a record store - at least since she's been old enough to appreciate one.  At one point, she asked if we could leave her there and come back in a few hours.  Luckily, she instead decided to join us on our tour.  Later that evening, appalled that Dana and I had frequented such stores as teenagers when now there are so few, she looked over at me in a panic and said, "that won't happen to bookstores, will it?!"

The Old Town Trolley tour, meanwhile, is as dependable as your favorite pair of jeans.  We've taken these tours in Key West, St. Augustine, and Savannah, and always find their guides charming and informative and the ability to hop on and off, catching different parts of the tour with different guides, quite effective.  Since we didn't start the tour until 2:00, we decided only to get off at one stop - Old Town, appropriately enough - but otherwise enjoyed learning about the history of San Diego, from what hill Tom Cruise drove his motorcycle up in Top Gun to how the city emerged with a distinct "Old West/Mexican" flavor that provided a stark contrast to its Eastern counterparts.  The drive back and forth over their amazing bridge also afforded some world class views.  Among the points of interest: Little Italy (where we returned for a wonderful dinner), Balboa Park (where we will spend Monday exploring the zoo and countless museums and parks - this is the crown jewel of San Diego and likely the magnet that draws so many people to want to move here), and Coronado (a fiercely independent city, with its own police force and school district, the "best beach in America," according to Dr. Beach - Dr. Beach  - and exorbitant real estate)

We got a great feel for the city today and are looking forward to exploring Balboa Park - if we can pry Maddie out of the record store.