so, the one advantage to traveling really freaking early in the morning, is that a little after 10:00am, we had landed in san diego.  by 11:30am, we had our luggage, rental car & were well on our way to ballast point brewery.

the first people in the small tasting room, we set ourselves up with a shared flight of everything on the board.  they were all fantastic, but the standouts, were the piper down scottish ale, sextant oatmeal stout & sculpin ipa.

after a quick tour, we grabbed a six pack of sculpin for later & headed to the shopping center around the corner for lunch, where the girl from ballast point recommended the sushi restaurant & the sandwich shop.  we settled on the sandwich shop, because  i was wearing leggings.  in public.

i’m not proud to admit that, but i was clearly still under the influence of my travel medication.

chez nous is a teeny, cash only place, with an owner who is a bit like the seinfeld soup nazi.  i ordered & he fired right back, accent & all, “why do you not want the spicy chicken melt?!?!?!   it’s my biggest seller!”.  i don’t know, i’m not from here, i’ve never been here, didn’t realize it was your most popular sandwich, sir.  i think i mustered an “ok, i’ll try it,” but i didn’t really care, because i had been awake for more than 12 hours without a proper meal.  the chicken was like a creamy & spicy chicken salad topped with cheese & served on buttery, toasted jalapeno bread…i wasn’t expecting to be forced into such a memorable sandwich in such an unassuming location.  it’s worth a stop in, as these 100+ yelp reviews agree.

we still had a few hours until the rest of our friends flights got in, so we headed north {leggings & all} to the stone brewery.  the tours for the afternoon were already full, so we took a seat at the bar. the bistro & gardens were huge & gorgeous, but we don’t have any photos because our camera was in the car & our iphones’ batteries were on their last legs.

the beer list was impressive, featuring not only stone’s beers, but other craft rarities from all over.

including this.

{if you’re unfamiliar, pliny has achieved cult-like status for being one of the most perfectly done ipas, firmly holding it’s place on the top of beer review charts & is notoriously hard to find anywhere east of colorado.  when you find it, seize the opportunity & drink it.}

there were a few other drinking establishments we would have liked to visit {like coronado, lost abbey & green flash}, but the jet lag was catching up to us & it was time to locate the groom & everyone else coming in from the airport.

somehow, after a lot of miscommunitcation, everyone in the wedding party & their significant others made it to la jolla, where we spent the rest of the evening getting to know one another over pitcher, after pitcher, after pitcher at rock bottom restaurant & brewery.

by the time we made it back to the hotel, we had been awake for 24 hours.  whew!  good day.

next stop: mexico!