My Husband asked me to do the impossible. He asked me to schedule a babysitter for a whole day so we could go out together and be spontaneous. After calling several people and despairing of finding someone available for longer than 3 hours I managed to do what he asked. It was definitely worth the effort.
His first idea was to drive down to Sea Port village because he remembered how much fun we had on our first wedding anniversary there. I remembered it was near the airport so I gave him directions and tried to find it in my 12 year old Thomas Brothers guide. When we arrived at Harbor Drive we turned the wrong way and after we got ourselves going the correct direction we noticed the Maritime Museum. Wow, real ships just like the ones I have seen in movies and I go inside and look at them up close? Score! So we find a spot, pay the meter and go look. There are 4 ships and 2 submarines. I loved it. We went back to add more time to the meter. If you want to see the Submarine be prepared to crawl.
His next ambition was to go to the Cheesecake factory. I was confused because we had picked up lunch at Submarina (not to be confused with Subway :P) on the way down, and I thought he might want a meal there, but no, he wanted to get back to Escondido before traffic was heavy so we chose 2 slices to go and got some water because I was thirsty. NOTE: Water bottles at the Maritime Museum were $2 versus $4 at Cheesecake factory. Fortunately, they were out of water bottles and gave us cups and a refund. I did not mind one iota.
Also NOTE: Remember to think about the location of your goal before you plan your route. I did remember where the Cheesecake Factory was...eventually. As we headed towards Mission Valley Mall I remembered it was at Fashion Valley and then I had to figure out where we were on the map and pay attention to two pages at once. I told Lucas then that he really should be the Navigator. I am not a very reliable navigator!
Nevermind that we were laughing and having a grand adventure regardless. We wandered around the mall with our desserts and decided to eat the lemoncello cream torte on a bench in front of the Apple computer store. YUMMY.
We headed to the theater to see what movies were there and then to the Williams and Sonoma kitchen heaven store where I had purchased our hanging pot rack shortly after we bought our house. We drooled over expensive items like a cake dish that turns so you can decorate it more easily and asked the price of extra hangers for our pot rack. The staff is really nice and friendly even when you don't have spending money. Neither item would be frivolous in our house, but still, not necessary.
We headed north to Escondido to the movie theater. We had no idea what was playing and asked the lady at the ticket window what she would recommend and made a new discovery. Signature Theaters keeps a book with a synopsis of each movie playing in the lobby! How convenient for wanderers without special internet cell phones like us. We chose to watch Hana and had and hour free before it began. I suggested the Music Room. It is a wonderful little shop just down the street that has a lot music to browse through. Easily, we enjoyed an hour there and found 4 pieces and a book worthy to add to our collection. The owner does not take credit but we were prepared anyway. We had enough time to finish our dessert before the movie began.
The movie was rather violent, but what you can expect from a plot that is kill or be killed. I liked how they told the story and I thought the young actress did wonderful job with her character. Would I buy or rent it? Not likely, but I do not feel it was a wasted hour of time. Especially since I got to with my husband.
We returned home after the movie and I was very grateful for and satisfied with my day off. I like spontaneity.
