Good morning everyone! Coffee in hand!

On day two of our trip it was my best friend’s birthday! Elyse decided that today we would go brewery hopping, something Matt and I had never done before. Apparently breweries in California are not in short supply. Elyse’s aunt showed me that in fact there is a book full of local breweries one can visit.

We started at this little brewery called O’Sullivan Bros. Brewing Co. that had about a dozen or so beers to choose from. When you first walk in the door there’s a little lobby area with a service window, the woman behind the counter was super friendly and helpful when we were choosing our beer selections. We grabbed a flight of beer and walked through the hall. Next to the big brewing machines are a bunch of high top tables to sit at and I found out that I am not really a big fan of IPA’s. If you could see my face as I write this, even saying it makes my face squinch up as if I have sucked on a big lemon. The light California air crept in from the big garage door that had been left half open. It still amazes me how beautiful the weather is there. After some light-hearted talk about the Padres game it was on to the next brewery.

The next brewery was called Alesmith Brewing Company and it was a bit bigger than the last one. There was maybe 20 or more beers I can’t be certain but the man behind the counter was very well versed in each flavor they had written on the chalk board with the red frame. This bar too had high top tables and in the back was the garage door, opened wide where a man and two others were serving BBQ for the patrons, the smell of hickory filled the brewery. Matt, Elyse, César and I finished our beer and Elyse’s aunt Maggie and her cousin Nate came to join us. We drank some more and Aunt Mags bought a bottle of decadence (a really good dark beer) for Elyse’s birthday party the next day and some BBQ sandwiches for the table. It was then that she showed me the book containing the endless amount of breweries up and down the California coast. Our next destination was Ballast Point Brewing Company. Now this place was huge!

Ballast Point’s motto is “dedicated to the craft” and boy did it show! I can’t even tell you how many beers they had there. But for a brewing company this place was very elegant in my opinion. When we first walked in, there was a sleek little hostess stand, the walls were big, tan and had large wooden rafters. There was indoor seating at high tops, tables for those wanting to eat and couches for groups to relax in with their specially crafted beers. The outdoor seating was big and open and had big green umbrellas for shade. We sat at the bar inside which was marble I think and the bartender whose name was Aaron was extremely nice as he walked us through the array of beers before us. I settled on the Pale Ale which was one of the first beers they created and from what Aaron told me was how Ballast Point got it’s name.

After a long day of drinking we decided it was time for some grub! This my dear friends was our first trip to the Jack in the Box. In one word: YUM. I love cheeseburgers and damn this one was good! After lunch we went back to Elyse’s house to rest up before going to downtown San Diego for karaoke night. There was a short nap and then we were back on the road, the California sunset fading behind us. We ended up at The Cat’s Eye Club downtown, a swanky sort of 70’s in Miami type club with a fast talking karaoke DJ and strong fruity drinks. I sang a few songs given my loved for karaoke and Elyse’s friends joined us again for the last few hours. Erica volunteered me to sing “Colors of the Wind” from Disney’s Pocahontas, a first for me and quite comical I’m sure. Afterwards we went to Bub’s, a bar across the street where Matt and I played a little one on one basketball on the inside hoop and of course he beat me. Show off. Slightly intoxicated we headed back to Elyse’s car and Matt drove us home. He’s a good man and can now officially say that he has driven for his first time in Cali. Something I reminded him of being the navigator in the front seat.

Once home, we had a few more beers to finish up the night. Elyse and César were the first ones to crash, and after everyone else began to leave Matt and I finally drifted off. And so ended our second day in Cali.