Today there is a street fair in Rolando St which is only a couple of minutes from the Best Western Hotel in El Cajon Blvd.

We head down the road at about 10am and not all the stall holders have set up as yet. After strolling down through the rides and stalls we go up the road to Ralph’s to get something to have for lunch later in the day.

We want to do some work and are hoping our room is cleaned by the time we get back. Unfortunately it isn’t. We are finding that housekeeepking comes around really early when we are getting ready to go for breakfast and if you aren’t ready they don’t come back until late in the afternoon. This works fine for the week days but on Sunday when we want to work this isn’t convenient as it breaks into our work time. We wait around for housekeeping to knock as they are just next door, but they move up to the other end of the units.

So in the end we go out to the street fair again, to give housekeeping more time to clean the room, and this time there are lots more people enjoying the beautiful day and taking part in the activities.

Almost everyone seems to have brought their dog with them for a day out and there are plenty of stalls with dog related clothing and toys.

There are also a variety of food and drink stalls, a music stage, and activities  for the kids such as face painting and rides. 

The police have a recruitment drive on and they are all very smartly dressed with their shiny badges.  The officers mingle with the crowd and they are very approachable and friendly.

When we arrive back the room still hasn’t been cleaned so rather than keep waiting we settle in to work and will make do with the room not being serviced.

Paula is busy working on the changes to our cookware website. I’m just relaxing writing posts for the travel blog.

The beauty off having an affiliate business means we can work on our websites wherever we are in the world.

After reading some of the reviews on the internet about Tijuana we have decided against going there today and instead we went into the Gas Lamp district to have a look around.

Now that we have worked out the bus system, we caught the No. 1 bus right across the road from the hotel and this took us to one of the trolley stations. Unfortunately the bus doesn’t stop at the trolley stop we were going to, 70th Street, on Saturdays and we ended up at the Amaya Drive stop.  Here we hopped onto the Orange line trolley and this was a totally new experience from yesterday.  The young girl across from us had a radio blaring which she proceeded to sing along to.

Although there are signs everywhere stating that patrons must use earplugs with radios etc, have drinks covered and not put their feet on the seats, a number of the patrons on this line ignored all three instructions.

This line goes through some shopping areas where we saw the 99cent shop, the commercial area, past the cemetary, and less tourist related areas. There is a fair amount of graffiti on the buildings which we didn’t notice on the trip into town using the green line.

The trip on the orange line also takes longer to get to Downtown.  We get of at the Gaslamp Quarter which is across from the Convention Centre which is an outstanding looking building, as is much of the development in the Downtown area.

Fifth Ave is cordoned off today and there are stalls set up in the middle of the road selling paintings and bric a brac.  We go into the Hard Rock Hotel which was opened last year, to buy some pins for our collections. This is a stunning looking hotel and very close to the water and transport.  One of the pins we purchase is a split pin of which one half is the sun and the other is the moon. 

We can only get one half of the pin set and have to head off to find the Hard Rock Cafe 5 blocks away to buy the other half. An excellent merchandising ploy on behalf of the Hard Rock Cafe group.

As always the directions are very vague, “It’s 5 blocks away”, with a wave of the hand in a general direction.  It is also in 4th Avenue not 5th but we find this out later after we have been unable to find it and have to go to an informtion booth for further directions.

On the way we stop to check out a store that sells clothing where nothing is over $5.99 and although there are some good buys we leave without making a purchase.

After finally finding the Hard Rock Cafe we end up only buying the one pin each, simply because the staff behind the counter are too busy interacting with each other and leave us standing for so long we become disinterested.

Then it’s off to lunch back at Anthony’s Fish Grotto once again. We request a table by the window so that we can look out over San Diego bay.  The meal is as delicious as yesterday’s and today we are given the bonus of two delicious rounds of bread with butter that has been mixed with sun dried tomatoes  – delicious.

For the return journey we take the blue line trolley and change to the green line at Old Town San Diego then catching the No 1 bus at Amaya Drive which drops us right at the hotel door.

We are up early today so that we can fit in our last buffet breakfast before heading to the airport. Played a last round at the Wheel of Fortune but lost once more. Sad really as we have been having such a great winning run on this machine.

Our flight to San Diego is with US Airways. We were unable to book in at the booth as our trip ends in Vancouver so we have to go to the counter to be booked in and the lady behind the counter puts us in different rows. So once we have gone through the necessary checks to get into the airport lounge, I go up and ask at the counter if we can be seated together. The trip seems to go quicker having someone to talk to during the flight.

So they print out both tickets in my name, when I sat back down I said to Paula “there is going to be a problem here”.

And sure enough once we board there is a lady sitting in Paula’s seat and she has a ticket with the same number. So after some discussion it is decided that the other lady will be moved and Paula and I will sit together. Then there is a call for Paul C. which of course is meant to be Paula. With both tickets now in my name they were unsure if she had boarded.

So we settle down for the flight when the good looking young man next to me says “Are you married?”. Well after recovering myself from such a forthright question I answer in the affirmative and add “But Paula’s not”. Now where is this leading to I wonder.

It turns out that Eric, as the young man’s name turns out to be, has a friend, Sheryl Jo Harris who has written a book named ‘The Guide to Getting Your Man’ The MAN-ual, which he hands to Paula for an opinion. The book is all about how to obtain and maintain a relationship and the manual is separated into sections to assist you to identify what catagory, such as ‘Mama’s Boy’, the Jealous Guy, the Controller, the Married Man etc and how to identify and deal with your relationship situation. So check out her website where you can buy a copy.

The time flies by as our new friend keeps us entertained with anecdotes of his travels, with his employment in the golfing industry, to Hawaii, Hong Kong, Thailand, Europe and he even spent a year in Melbourne.  Paula and I have also visited these places so we have much in common to talk about when it comes to travel.  His stories are funny and entertaining and we tell him he should document his experiences on a blog for others to read. Eric is charming, engaging, articulate and very talkative and before long the plane is ready to land. We part company and Paula and I set off to find a shuttle to the Best Western Hotel.

So here we are in San Diego at the start of another adventure. Our hotel turns out to be miles from anywhere, it is ideal for someone with a car but otherwise it is out in the sticks. We go for a walk to find something to eat as it is now 4pm and we haven’t eaten since breakfast.  The only thing that is open is the Pizza Hut, a big comedown from the buffet meals we have been having in Las Vegas and it costs the same price.  There doesn’t seem to be anything in this area in the way of restaurants so we brought some snacks at a garage until we can suss things out a bit more tomorrow.