Day 16 of 111. San Diego, California
We signed up for the Old Town Trolley Tour in San Diego. I thought it would be kind of dull since I have worked for one week each summer in San Diego for the past four years, but it was really great. We had a special charter trolley and our guide took us to little out-of-the-ordinary spots with great views and fun information. As we passed the beach, we saw sand dunes that were arranged to spell Coronado. The houses along the beach were nice and apparently amazingly expensive.

On the Sea Day, there was a cooking competition between two teams of crew members. Two of these guys were British and two were Norwegian. The judges were the captain (waving), the head chef, and the chief engineer. The two teams had 25 minutes to cook and each came up with creative dishes. The twist was that they HAD to incorporate ice cream cones and octopus into their dishes. The British won out on this round, but everyone seemed to have a great time.

Day 14 of 111. En route to San Diego
On Sea Days I have been taking watercolor classes. We are mostly learning techniques right now, such as how to draw swirling water and mix black/gray from blue and orange (ultramarine blue + burnt sienna). We were supposed to see dolphins as we passed the coast of Cabo San Lucas, so we traced and colored in these little dolphins to create a nice picture.

Day 13 of 111. Off the coast of Cabo San Lucas
Ron has a mild cold so I went to the Mexican Feast cooking class on my own.
Menu: Zucchini, corn, black-bean and jack-cheese quesadillas; Scallops with Avocado Salad; Meat-Stuffed Poblanos with Cilantro-Lime Sauce and Chocolate Flan. The class held 10 people. We worked in four teams, reported to the others about our dishes (I made the scallops) and then we went to a fancy dining room and had the same meal prepared by the chef. It was great fun. I’ll have to cook for everyone when I get back. 😀

I also included a picture of the dining table group we eat with each night on the ship. All of these ladies know each other well. They all come from Canada. It has been great meeting up with them each evening and finding out how the day has gone. Three of the ladies are debarking here in San Diego. The others will leave the ship in Hong Kong.

(Day 13 of 111) Since we visited Puerto Vallarta last spring, we did not book any sort of excursion today. We were told that there was a Walmart in walking distance so we did a little shopping and found a nice restaurant with free WiFi. It is free, but not very fast, but still, free. My shopping list now includes some art supplies to practice my drawing and watercolors, some new earphones, sunglasses and other things I forgot to pack.