Memorial Day

On Monday we did what any good American would do, we grilled meat and played some football. Lee, Sam, Derek, and I all drove out to Cuyamaca Rancho State Park and had a cook out. The park is about 40 minutes inland from San Diego and is enormous. There are plenty of hiking trials and camping spots. A couple years ago this was a spot hit hard by a wild fire. You can still see some of it on the trees.
I made friends with a squirrel while we were there. He clearly has learned to spot suckers like me. He came up looking real cute so I gave him a chip and a small potato, in exchange he posed for a few pictures. He looks like he should be wearing a bikini rolling around on a beach, he was eating up the camera, until he decided he wanted more food in exchange for more photos, then he ran away. While we were there a family came along with the same idea. They brought along a stereo and played the strangest radio station I have ever heard. The first three songs in order were: Groove is in the Heart by Dee-Lite, What's Up by 4 Non Blondes, and Hanging Tough by New Kids on the Block. It then went to Billy Idol, Salt N Pepa, Madonna, and Bob Seger. Apparantly wild life is not a fan of this mix as none of them came out until after that family packed up and left.

Here I am playing football, notice it is Nerf (I am still afraid after the softball to the face incident.)
It was a good day, lots of fun and good food!

Nine Inch Nails

So I wasn't planning on making a post about this, but Derek said he likes the blog and was disappointed I hadn't mentioned the concert we went to. On May 20th we went up to Irvine to the Verizon Amphitheater to see Nine Inch Nails and Jane's Addiction. The tour is so cleverly named the NINJA tour.
Nine Inch Nails do not want any epileptics or migraine suffers to see their live show, they are very heavy on strobe lighting! My camera had a really hard time dealing with all the flashing lights. There was also a timing problem, I ended up with many pictures of nothing but a white flash.This was the first time I had ever been to an event where the men's room line was double the women's. It was a lot of fun, but we only stayed for a few songs of Jane's Addiction. The four of us that went aren't big fans of theirs so we decided to go as Perry Ferrel mush mouthed his way through the songs. Here is a shot of the theatre crowd. It was still early at this point, by the time it was dark the grass was completly packed with people. I am of the opinion it was larger than Nissan Pavilion, but not really sure.

Petco Park

The San Diego Padres need to get butts in their seats so they are offering all kinds of deals on tickets. Derek and I paid $12 each which included: the seat, a hot dog, and a soda, pretty good deal. We decided to try out the public transportation and took the Coaster (train that runs the length of the coast in San Diego county) to the game. We don't get many opportunities to ride this train because the last train leaves around 9pm most Saturday nights. On game nights it goes till 50 minutes after the last pitch or midnight whichever comes first.


The Coaster on game day is a party train. We didn't see hardly anyone without an alcoholic beverage riding the train. Funny because as we stood in the station the guy at the loudspeaker said riders were not allowed to drink on the train. Two guys then pounded the wine they had with them before boarding. Transit police saw everyone drinking and didn't say a word so I guess there are just too many people to try and fight it.
Anyways the game was fun. Their mascot is this guy:This was the only time we saw the Friar, before the game started. We never saw him in the stands or on the dugout, the O bird is so much better.

Seats were nosebleed, but the view was incredible. This is the Coronado bridge from the walkway up to the seats. This was the view directly behind our seats. It is the convention center at the end of the Gaslamp district.We could also see the planes coming into to the airport. I didn't get a photo of that. Here is the wave going around the stadium. It was actually a pretty good one, but it is hard to get a photo of it.
Since it is Petco Park they had great signs all around the stadium. This is the only one we got a picture of though. Should have tried this shot while the sun was still out. The game went into 16 innings! I have never been to a game with some many pinch hitters and pitching changes. We left after the ninth inning, but the Padres ended up winning in the end.

Party in L.A.

After the Air Race we went home and started getting ready to go up to L.A. One of Lauren's good friends lives in L.A. and invited us to her birthday party.

On the drive up we hit not one, but two accidents. During one of the slow parts there were some fireworks going on so at least we had something to watch.We also drove down Santa Monica Blvd. so I had to get a picture.The party was at Formosa Cafe. I hadn't heard of it, but it has its own Wikipedia page. There is on old Hollywood studio right out back so lots of stars have been to the Cafe.Here I am with the birthday girl, Jada. The party was 80s themed so that's why the wig and turquoise dress. And you will recognize the rock star below. We had to get a picture of this. We were in L.A and only paid $3 for parking!Then there was the after party. A late night run to Hardee's of the West Coast, Carl's Jr. We were starving and facing am hour and half drive home. We asked for small and got the biggest cup I have ever seen. I hate to know what a large looks like.

Red Bull Air Race

Saturday was a ton of fun and I have lots of pictures so I will post it in two parts. During the day we went to the Red Bull Air Race. They are only hosting six of these races this year so we jumped at the chance to go see this since it was so close. It was awesome, those pilots are insane!


This is the media helicopter flying through the course so we could see what it was like from his perspective. This helicopter was up the entire day getting shots of the crowd and the course. He was flying incredibly low to the ground for some of the crowd shots and what looked to be dangerously close to some of the planes that were maneuvering around the course.
Here is a shot of one of the planes going through the course. For some of the gates they had to go through vertical and others horizontal. Time was added to their run if they didn't line up correctly. They also couldn't fly too high or too low or time would be added. This is me freezing because the clouds came in late. It was hot in the morning and then the temperature just dropped.
De Plane De Plane!Here is some video Derek shot.

Tonight

Kari: "Ya know, I have decided, slugs are ugly, but snails are kind of cute."

Derek: "It just goes to show, no one likes a homeless animal."

Festivus Maximus

Last weekend was the weekend of festivals. On Saturday we went down to Old Town San Diego for the Cinco de Mayo festival. There was lots of live music, horseback riding, hooked up cars, oh and of course a lot of trinkets for sale. There was a sign directing us towards an area where we could learn about Mexico gaining independence from France, but I never did find such an area. Even if the sign lied they did offer a whole lot more than just alcohol, I was impressed.

Look a heart healthy meal!

On Sunday we went to the Carlsbad festival. After retuning and comparing my pictures from Saturday to Derek’s from Sunday I learned he should be in charge of photos, I forget to actually take them. This was a much bigger festival. Vendors probably lined four blocks and every inch was full of people. It was a good time people watching, but most of the vendors were just selling the same wares over and over again.

I like how this photo shows the sadness in the dogs eyes about wearing this silly outfit in public.

Not sure if you can tell in this picture, but the tents and people just keep going...

The next best thing to Sham-Wow, it's Chamois!

This was pretty neat you could get a sculpture done, I have no idea how long it took though.

Best part of the weekend was Sunday night nachos! We took a picture they were so awesome. Nachos should have fresh veggies, beans, sour cream, and cheese. None of this just chips and cheese crap for me!