Drinking in Cali...




I know this post doesn't have a rat's ass to do with Kansas City, but hey, it's FUN! So DEAL with it.

Toured the San Diego area over the weekend with my pal Bryan, and we enjoyed some cervezas at the San Diego Brewing Company on one of our (many) stops. I was honestly only impressed with the NAMES of the beer…for example, the "Choco-Latte," the "Hopnotic," and the "Hopopotamus" really struck a chord. And the "Old Town Nut Brown" really got me excited, and NO, not just because it talked about nuts….but that was half of it. The BEST part of visiting San Diego, however, was the trip on the trolley (and ¿dónde, oh dónde? is KC's light rail????!!!!) was the 30-minute jaunt from downtown San Diego to the border of Mexico. We walked across and were able to sink our teeth into 3-4-$1 tacos and $1.00 Coronas! What a sweet, smokin,' freakin' deal! It would be completely worth it to take Southwest or Midwest Airlines (the best direct flights to the West Coast ever) on a daily basis to eat cheap Mexican food and drink the sweet elixir of life that we all know as CERVEZA. I'd better sign up for some frequent flier miles, and MUY PRONTO (that's "muy fasto" for all of you Spanish slackers out there).

We ate dinner one night at Brockton Villa overlooking the sea with some relatives in the ritzy suburb of La Jolla--which I think is spelled wrong. With my rudimentary knowledge of español, it's "la joya" which means "the jewel". Who the hell knows where "La Jolla," pronounced lah-hoy-ya, came from. Ya'll holla back now!

Smoked salmon, steamed mussels, and halibut accompanied tall glasses of a Karl Strauss Amber Lager, made famous by the local S.D. Bavarian. I was surprised to learn that my new friend, and we'll just call him "Big K," was a founding father of not only many San Diego beers, but Pabst in Milwaukee, where he rose through the ranks to become a vice president and won the top three awards bestowed by the Master Brewers Association of America. NO WONDER I was so impressed! I'd enjoyed his PBR in KC forever before I'd discovered his brilliance on the west coast! Yeah, like we go wayyyy back.

The last day of my three day weekend was spent at the Fashion Valley Mall. Yeah, I know. "Loser." But geez, I still got to enjoy some beer at the national chain, Pizzeria Uno. True, I'd have preferred a brew pub or something of substance in Meh-hay-co, but I was short on time before my afternoon flight. So, the Chicago pizza chain had to do. One thing I enjoyed about the pub was the bar-mistress, Erin. She placed a little folded card in front of me with her name on it, so I could remember to call her "princess" or Erin--whatever seemed natural at the time. She then wrote my name "Wes Port" on the back of the card so she and the other douches on the other side of the bar could see who I was. Never even asked why my name was so weird… Don’t think she cared much. Anyhow, she was very attentive and never let my glass experience the half-full mark. That's impressive. AND, she delighted in calling me "Wes." Made me grin on the inside. But that's about it. Just on the inside. Not on the out.

So go to San Diego. And FLY SOUTHWEST or MIDWEST DIRECT FROM KANSAS CITY (that's the connect to our blog). Enjoy the light rail we don’t have here and probably never will see come to fruition. It's quite possibly the most user-friendly, FUN mode of transit I've used. It's almost like riding something at Disney World. But not really like that at all. No. Not really. Not so much.

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