Mexico & California

Calafia Resort, Rosarita, Baja California, Mexico.
"Foxploration" Rosarita Mexico
Disneyland, Anaheim California
Santa Monica & Venice Beach
San Diego Wild Animal Park, San Diego Zoo

Dan & Beth got married. Not a big deal, except save for the small matter getting married 3000 miles away and in another country.

So we packed it in, flew to San Diego, rented a car and headed south of the Border to Calafia, in Rosarito Mexico.

The Calafia Resort is a nice enough place, just south of Tijuana in Puerto Nuevo, Rosarito. The wedding reception was held in the Titanic Room, a somewhat oddly named room for a wedding reception, but more on that in a moment.

The hotel also has a galleon ship recreated onsite. We thought it was pretty cool that they had a map display as a pirate might have laid it out.

The rehearsal dinner was held at "El Galeon" (phone (011-52-661) 614-10-22). Dinner was two split lobster tails - yummy! However, like much of Mexico, the power was somewhat unpredicable leading to at least three separate power losses while we ate. Served to make a memorable dinner.

The ceremony was wonderful and absolutely a beautiful time. We were extremely happy to share Dan & Beth's day with them and their family. Here's some more on Calafia from Beth's website.

On Sunday, we made the mile or so drive to "Foxploration," Fox Studios Baja. All we can say is if you're so inclined, save your money. What a bust. The place was built to film the movie "Titanic" and has apparently filmed other films since ("Pearl Harbor") or parts there of, and the actual movie studio website is quite impressive, but the park...a dud. The most telling thing: the guy at the X-Files exhibit telling us to get down to the Titanic tour to register, "You don't want to miss it - it's our most popular attraction." and when we get there, ours is the only name on the list.

The only thing I'll say about it is that it is a pathetic attempt at a tourist attraction to be avoided at all cost. Go to the flea market across the street - your $12/each will go farther.

We then made the trek up to Anaheim, home of the Anaheim Angels and the Mighty Ducks of Anaheim to Disneyland and the new California Adventures Park.

At Disney, we found not only Space Mountain was undergoing renovation, but that Thunder Mountain and Splash Mountain were also closed - the mountain range was apparently off limits. But this is Disneyland and something was bound to please. Since it was October, the lines were kept to a bear minimum - we waited in line more than 30 minutes once. Outside of the closed rides, it was perfect.

The Adventure Park was a nice departure and we found everything extremely fun. It is essentially a microcosm of the state of California (without the political malaise). The thing we found most surprising was the inattention to cosmetic/preventative maintenance detail at both parks that Disney is known for in Florida - nothing major, more just in the chipping paint end of things, but somewhat noticable nonetheless.

We rode "California Screaming" once - we got a fastpass to come back later, but the pass became valid at the same time the ride went down. DOH! We're still not sure what happened. There was a glider ride that was 100% Disney - it was hosted by the guy that played David Putty on "Seinfeld" which cracked us up. It was an IMax type film of a gliding experience, with the appropriate scents and seat movement. Very well done.

We stopped at Venice Beach and had lunch in Santa Monica while the Red Sox were on their way to winning Game 6 (we all know what happened in Game 7) of the ALCS.

Our last excursions of the week were to the San Diego Wild Animal Park, The San Diego Zoo and we checked out Old Towne San Diego and the Gaslamp District.

Both the park and the zoo lived up to all of our expectations. We fed the lorrakeets, and we believe the Skytram to be her favorite part of the Zoo.

Old Towne San Diego is a really neat place. It's the original area of the settlement of San Diego and the federal government has a few attractions there. There's several outdoor restaurants and little boutiques. The favorite place: "O'Hungry's" home of the Yard of Beer. That's old town where we sat on the covered wagon.

The Gaslamp district is located near the convention center. The Padres' new stadium is going up abutting the gaslamp - it should make for a great experience when going to the ballgame.

Take a look at the pictures and enjoy!!