Big News!

James and I have some HUGE news that we're excited to share with you all!

James has accepted a job as Diocesan Youth Coordinator and Summer Camp Director for the Diocese of the Gulf Coast and Beckwith Camp and Conference Center! This means that we'll be moving to Alabama in less than a month! (PS: I know you thought we were pregnant again!)

It's absolutely terrifying and totally exciting. I'm thrilled to start on this new adventure, but even a cross-town move is overwhelming for me, and we're moving almost clear across the country! It'll be so nice to be closer to his family, but I'm also sad that my family and friends will be farther away.

Beckwith is the camp that James grew up attending and working at. It's on the outskirts of Fairhope, AL, which is an adorable little town that we had fun exploring when we visited for his interview earlier last month. Click here for more information on the camp. It's absolutely beautiful, and we are so excited to be back in the Episcopal Church. When James first read me the job description, my first thought was that it seemed to have been written with him in mind; he is excited to be back in youth ministry and even more excited to be making use of his Recreation Management degree.

We will be living in the town of Bon Secour, an unincorporated town whose population is less than 1,000. It'll be quite a change from Orange County. There are plenty of larger cities nearby though. Foley has outlet stores, and Mobile and Pensacola, FL are each about an hour away. But you don't have to take our word for it: come visit us! We don't want to lose touch with our beloved friends, so come visit and bug me on facebook since I'm terrible about keeping in touch.

We're still working out exact dates, but James will start work on or before November 1, so it's all happening really quickly. I'll make my excuses here and apologize for delayed posts and I'm placing a hold on my goals for right now. I'll do my best to get up G's 1 year post in short order, however. Look forward to new posts, and maybe even a new segment: "A Californian in the South" maybe :)

I can't wait to start this new chapter in our lives!


Here's a few photos of the camp:

In the gazebo on the pier

Beckwith sits between Mobile Bay and Weeks Bay

May 23-26 (Pilgrimage Pt 4, last part)

From here on out, I don't have journal entries yet, so I'm going on memory and our itinerary. Since I'll use this later to update my journal, the days might be a tad bit longer, but I promise they're not very long days.

See the person on the end? Church of Beth Phage

Wednesday started with a group photo on the roof after breakfast. Our hotel has a great view, so it ended up being a nice picture. Boy, did I have a raccoon tan from my sunglasses by this point though. We left for Beth Phage (the house of the palms) and the Mount of Olives to walk the Palm Sunday road. The church is controlled by the Franciscans and represents Jesus' triumphal entry into the city on Palm Sunday. There were beautiful murals and there's a stone that's remembered as Jesus' stepping stone onto his mule (the factuality of this is questionable, however). My favourite mural was on the back wall: it shows Jesus on his donkey and people laying down cloaks and palm fronds for him to walk on. The reason I like it is because the last person is in the process of pulling off their cloak, and when a priest was asked who it was, he responded that it could be anyone, you or me. We walked down the Palm Sunday road, with beautiful views to Dominus Flevit, where Jesus wept over the city of Jerusalem. We read the gospels and saw the tree from which the thorns for his crown came. Youch! Those thorns are LONG and nasty looking. The church has a beautiful picture window that overlooks the city, with metal designs and is shaped like a tear drop. We ended at the Garden of Gethsemane and the Church of the Agony or the Church of All Nations. This was James' favourite church last year because of the mural on the front of the church, which really is gorgeous and which I couldn't get a good picture of. The gardens have old olive trees, whose roots are said to be the same as those which Jesus would have walked through. Inside the sanctuary, the altar is built around the rock Jesus is believed to have offered his last prayer that night on (the "take this cup" one). It was a beautiful, dimly lit church. The doors were beautiful tree designs and the gates outside had some great metalwork. We headed to Caiaphas Palace or St Peter in Gallicantu next. We saw the dungeons and prisons, which show evidence of human cruelty. Some believe Jesus was held in the dungeons overnight. The church was beautiful: it had a wonderful stained glass gross on the ceiling that was breath-taking and there was a second church underneath the first. There was another model of the city during Jesus' time outside as well. We had lunch at the Notre Dame Center (they had couches!), just salads to save our appetite for dinner at Iyad's house in Jericho that night. We walked home through the Old City from the New Gate to the Damascus Gate. It was a nice walk, and you can really get a feel for the city. We went back to the hotel to rest before we left at 5 for Iyad's house in Jericho. His family was so kind and welcoming and the food was fantastic! Stuffed grape leaves (OMG why haven't I eaten these before), pastry-wrapped meat, rice and chicken and a very spicy spinach pastry as well. We all exchanged prayer partner gifts and my prayer partner was Jim, a Lutheran pastor who got me a tiny Jerusalem cross for the baby's baptism. So sweet. Then we headed inside to watch a hilarious show: West Bank Story. Think West Side Story as a comedy, set in Israel/Palestine with two fast food chains (Kosher King and Hummus Hut). It's pretty hilarious, and apparently available on Netflix: Go get it!

Touching Golgotha

Thursday was our last day, and our earliest. We had to be ready to leave at 5:45 in the morning. Gah! I woke up at 4:30, freezing cold from our air conditioner which was on super cold mode somehow. I again heard the call to prayer, but for the first time I didn't find it beautiful; all I could think was "Only 40 more minutes of sleep!" Despite the early hour, we were ready to head out at 5:45, and the chill in the air was welcome compared to the heat later in the day. I even had to wear my jacket as well as my head scarf. I'm sure I cut a very serious, religious figure walking the Via Dolorosa with my panda ears on my hood :) We walked all the stations, doing readings from the Way of the Cross book we were supposed to have read before hand (I'm not sure this is the name, but I can't find my copy right now). We were too early for most of the chapels to be open; in fact, I don't think we went into any of them, but it was so nice to walk without the distractions since the Via Dolorosa runs right through the souk. There were very few people out, none of the stores were open, and you were actually able to focus on the story. We ended in the Holy Sepulchre, where the last 5 (?) stations are located. At this point, we were able to see Golgotha/Calvary and touch the stone, through a little hole under the altar. We finished the stations and had some free time. Dad was very gallant and offered to anoint our headscarves once we were outside, since the women shouldn't enter without their heads covered. It was still a bit chilly, but Iyad brought us warm bread to munch on, which was delicious. We headed back to have a leisurely breakfast (a whole hour!) before leaving at 9 am for Emmaus. It felt weird to have done so much so early in the day, but also nice. I didn't eat much, since the bread was more than my usual breakfast, but it was nice to relax a bit. We left for Emmaus, which is mentioned in Luke. The story is that two of the disciples were traveling to Emmaus after Jesus' death and met a stranger on the road. The long and short is that the stranger is, of course, the risen Jesus, but he isn't revealed to them until he breaks bread with them. We had Eucharist at a Byzantine church's remains in Emmaus-Nicopolis (apparently there are four Emmauses) and after got to look around at the ruins a bit. There was a baptismal in the shape of a cross that looked like a full submersion one; kinda like a small version of my grandma's sunken tub. There was also a lizard. I tried to share my dried cherries, but it ran away from me. We headed back to Jerusalem to get our last lunch together at the Petra Restaurant (beginning and ending in Petra!) and had a lovely lunch. I don't remember the dish's name, but it's rice and meat all cooked in a big pot and then they turn the pot over. It was wonderful and extremely filling, plus they brought out watermelon and then ice cream at the end of the meal. It was hard to say goodbye to people, but we expected to see most people around the hotel since many were staying until the next day at least. We went straight from lunch to St. George's Cathedral since Mom was looking for a deacon's stole. No luck with the stole, and it took us forever to find the Cathedral, but we did find it eventually after a lot of walking. It's a very beautiful church and campus for a college. There was some debate over Hezekiah's Tunnels after we got back from the Cathedral, but we opted not to soak ourselves (I honestly thought the water was only ankle or calf deep, not up to your hips!) we saw Zedekiah's Caves instead. It's actually one big cave, and it's neat to see; I've always loved caves and caverns and even though it was humid, it was cool inside. It was also close to the hotel, which was convenient since we were all tired. We came back and rested after this since we were pretty exhausted: James was starting to get sick again, I had yet to feel better and Mom still had her Minnie Mouse voice. Dad, miraculously did not get sick. I crashed pretty hard, falling asleep while reading my book and I'm relatively sure this is the nap from which I "awoke" to tell James he had shekels in his hair. We had dinner at Azzahra's again, but I got lentil soup while everyone else went with the pasta. It was enough food for twice as many people! They brought out dessert again, a cinnamon-roll like thing, but way better than any cinnamon roll I'd ever had. I was stuffed, but I did sneak the roll back to our room to munch on later. :) We went to sleep early since we had another early morning planned: we were going to Masada!

That's James and me, inside the cistern!

Masada is one place that Dad said we absolutely had to go to if we were in Israel. He told me he'd always wanted to take Mom there, and wanted to take me since I was born. It was definitely incredible. We drove a long way, Iyad had set up the taxi for us, recommending that we take the audio tour once we were there. It was a beautiful, scenic drive along the Dead Sea. Our driver stopped to let us take pictures, and took some pictures of us all together too. We got to Masada and I think I shocked our driver by wanting to take the stairs instead of the elevator (he ended up asking what I did at hotels and seemed confused when I said I took the stairs up to 7 flights). We watched a very dramatic video introducing us to the history of the site and got our tickets for the cable car. Yes, I wanted to walk up the Snake Path, but that probably would not have been a good idea, although Dad pointed out that they had added railings along the edges since he'd been there. We opted for the giant cable car instead. On the way up, there weren't that many people and it was a quick ride, which was good. I really don't like being stuck with no way out of a situation and up in the air is about as "no way out" as you can get. We picked up our audio tours, and Dad got attacked by a bird when he pulled out his cheese sandwich from the hotel. Ok, attacked is a strong word, brought on by my own terror of birds, but the bird landed on his arms and definitely wanted some of that bread! It was kinda surreal to see a black bird of some kind, obviously wild, tamely perched on Dad's arm. Dad also had little luck with the audio tour; his switched to some other language halfway through, so James had to go return it. Other than that and the heat, it was lovely. We started following the audio tour and went in order up to number 11. It took a while, but we saw beautiful views of the Dead Sea and awesome ruins and heard about the stores of food Herod used to keep there. In fact, when the rebels holed up at Masada, they used the food stores that were almost 100 years old to feed themselves! We could see the remains of the Roman encampments and the siege ramp they built (apparently there's a way to walk up via the ramp as well). James, Dad and I walked down to the Northern Palace, or rather hiked down. It was quite a ways, and I thought there'd be a little more to see than there was, but it was still neat to do. Although I did have to stop and rest on the way back up. The whole trip was a LOT of walking and it was fine earlier, but as the day crept toward noon, the temperature kept rising. We kept hydrated and decided to shorten our trip, only seeing the things we considered highlights. We saw columbarium towers which were later used at dovecots and saw the Byzantine church's remains, which had walls decorated with pottery shards to make patterns. It was beautiful. But, for me, the highlight was the cistern on the Southern end that you could walk into! It was 60-some steps down, and the steps were enormous; we had to go down one at a time, and sideways. But it was soooo cool! It was enormous! I can't even imagine how much water it would hold and how long it would last; and it was only one of the big cisterns there. Going up was much harder than going down, but I did make it. At this point, we'd been up on Masada for a little more than three hours (We had told our guide 2.5, oops). We had seen what we wanted to see, and had an awesome time. It was a bit eerie at points: the lots that were found that showed the last men to kill the others and themselves, the stories of the Romans entering to find barely a living soul (2 women and a handful of children were the only survivors). It's hard for me to imagine myself in a situation in which death would be better than capture, although I know there are situations like that and I don't doubt that it was the case for the rebels. On the way back we stopped by Ein Gedi, just to take pictures with the sign that proclaimed it was the lowest point on Earth, but had a relatively uneventful, yet beautiful, drive back to our hotel. It was a great trip and I'm so glad I got to see it. We hadn't had lunch yet, so while Dad took a nap and I propped my eyes open, James checked out some restaurants. It was difficult to find one since it was Friday and Shabbat was about to start. We did find a hamburger place in the newer part of the city that was open til 4 (it was almost 2) and opted for a cab this time. Again, cab drivers don't seem to have a requisite knowledge of where things are, and we were dropped off in the vicinity of the restaurant, on the correct street at least. We finally found it (I think numbers are different there too, done by block or something) and had a nice, filling lunch. I could have probably done with a smaller burger, and James was a little sad about the lack of cheese, but we were in a Kosher certified restaurant. It was still delicious, and the bathroom (unisex) had the most awesome sink: just a flat slab of some red shiny stuff in place of a sink and counter. We had a nice meal and managed to grab a cab back to the hotel, or rather to Herod's Gate. Exhausted again, we all fell asleep before dinner. Maybe we should have done more, but we were all so tired. We had dinner at Azzahra's again, pizza for everyone but me, I had the spaghetti bolognese, which was different from Italian bolognese and delicious and huge (and I ate it all!) and more baclava for dessert. The music was middle eastern pop (I'm guessing) and I got the waiter to write down some artists' names for me because mom and I really enjoyed it. In fact, the man at the table next to us asked if he could copy the names too since he'd been Shazam-ing the music on his iPad. It was a lovely meal, and our waiters definitely recognized us. I guess we tip nicely, because they were all very nice to us, though I think they were amused that we kept coming back; after all, it was close to the hotel, didn't bother James' stomach, decently priced and delicious! We didn't want to risk finding a new place with only mediocre food our last night.

We were picked up at 7 am the next morning. James and I were flying out at 11, and Mom and Dad left at 1. James got pulled out for extra questioning as we were entering the airport. I really thought they wouldn't have a problem with him leaving the country, but we were all prepared for this happening. It was less intense than the last time, especially since I could see him and knew where he was. Plus, the guard who was asking questions was a lot nicer and didn't seem to hassle him, just asking who packed our bags, and if the ones in the back were all ours, and if they'd been under our supervision since being packed, etc. We had been warned about airport security at Ben Gurion by both Iyad and Mark, but were pleasantly surprised. I don't know if it was just that it was early (we arrived before the screening was open) but we had a great experience. Since we were leaving from different sections of the airport, and had to go through different security lines, we said goodbye to Mom and Dad before entering security, promising to call and text each other. We were a little confused since there was a sign saying to wait for an official before entering, but then another woman breezed right by the line forming, so we followed her lead, and everyone else followed us (apparently, there was supposed to be an official, but he was in the bathroom...for like 20 minutes). Our checked luggage got scanned through an xray machine that literally sent the luggage flying after it was done with it. Luckily, all the fragile items were in my carry on, and I still had a lot of room in my checked bag too. We checked in, checked our bags and got our boarding passes and headed off to the next security line. We went through that security and were surprised (and pleased) that James could keep his water all the way up to the gate. We were warned that the tiles we got might set off the scanners, but we had no problems and no one asked us any questions at all, despite being told to expect a lot of questions. We just breezed right through and poked around a few shops before getting a chocolate croissant and settling in to wait at our gate. We were there 3 hours early and had almost 2 hours left to wait after going through security. I settled in to read, and we finally boarded our plane. A really NICE plane. A really EMPTY plane. It was great: no one in our row and barely any people around us. In fact, James could probably have had a row to himself if he wanted. The food was terrible and I was starving, which wasn't a good combination (and none for purchase) but I did get to watch almost all three of the LOTR movies, which I'd been wanting to do for a while. So I didn't get any reading or journaling done, though I did sleep for a bit. Our next flight from New Jersey was a pain. We had to go through customs, and had very little time to do so. We finally go through customs with our bags and rechecked them, getting to our gate with our McDonald's (only slightly palatable option) with plenty of time. Only to discover our gate had changed to an entirely different part of the airport. So we had to backtrack down one wing to another wing (on the end of each wing, darn it) and only when we were almost there was an announcement made. Thank God we had a smartphone with us, or we would have been scrambling (by the way, the gate attendant had no clue and was completely unhelpful). Turns out that despite our plane being "on time" we still sat on the tarmac for about an hour before taking off, but after being told to turn off our phones. We couldn't let our ride know we were going to be late; but luckily she checked our flight online since we were over an hour late. *Sigh*. And the plane was gross to boot. Luckily we had no one in our row and I crashed out before we even left the gate, only waking up to eat the gross little meal, but it was an all over unpleasant, uncomfortable flight with no complimentary movies/tv (despite it being 5 hours long) and the attendants weren't even that pleasant. But, we were almost home. When we finally arrived in Orange County, we picked up our bags and called our ride, who was already there, yay! We finally got home to our puppies, who were so happy to have us back, and almost immediately crashed out in our own, queen-sized, comfortable bed! It was great to be home.

Aftermath: I got better within a few days, James was no longer sick, Mom and Dad both got really sick and had matching codeine cough syrup prescriptions. We woke up between 4 and 6 am most days, but adjusted relatively quickly. I get tired really easily, but I'm managing to rest a lot, which is good. We're finally recovering, and I've already got my photos sorted out. All that's left is to finish my journal, and then put the scrapbooking supplies away for the next 5 years or so ;) Eventually I'll get around to it, and it won't be as long a scrapbook as Ireland, so hopefully I'll get it done sooner rather than later. We also discovered that we have a dove nesting in the rafters of our balcony. I'm not sure why she's there, since Pippin tends to try to attack birds, but apparently she and her mate had a few uninterrupted days to build a nest. Now we're just working on keeping Pippin from popping the screen door out when she sees the dove (she's already done it once).

May 20-22 (Pilgrimage Pt 3)

At Jacob's Well

We were staying in Jerusalem, but we didn't start the next day in Jerusalem.  On Sunday, we spent about two hours driving to St. Matthew's Episcopal Church in Zababdeh, which is in the West Bank. We switched busses once we were in the West Bank, for reasons that I'm not entirely sure of, but there was a different (Palestinian) license plate, and it gives work to people in the West Bank. We needed our passports, but we were never checked at the check points. The service and sermon were mostly in Arabic, though some parts were in English. We weren't the only English speaking group there; a group from England was there and a few people from Santa Barbara. Our guide said he'd never seen other non-locals there. I had a hard time with the sermon since it was in Arabic, and English is difficult enough for sermons for me, but it was neat to hear the multi-lingual service overall. After the service, one of the British women came up to talk to James during coffee hour and asked if we were seeing sights of meeting people. James said a little of both and the woman replied "Well, WE think people are more important." To which James had no reply. I had been standing off to the side and decided at this point not to join the conversation since holding my tongue with rude people is becoming more and more difficult. Before lunch, we could do some shopping from some local families: hand embroidery and olive wood carvings. Lunch was provided by a local family's restaurant and I really did try to like it. It was a soft break that was soaked in olive oil, stuffed with cooked onion and almond slices and a TON of sumac. This was accompanied by a chicken leg with crispy skin and cucumber/tomato salad and yogurt. After church we headed to another Greek Orthodox church that's built over Jacob's well. I don't remember the name of the church, but it was amazing! The current head priest came into the job when his predecessor was murdered by settlers. However, he finished building the church (actually physically doing the work, not just the plans) and painted all the icons in the church himself. Prolific is the only word to describe how many icons were in the church. It was so bright and cheery and colourful: the icons were gorgeous and the whole church just seemed like a happy pace. It helped that even though the priest looked like Rasputin (most Orthodox priests look like Rasputin to me) he was quick to smile and laugh. He laughed when all the women had our heads covered and said we looked like Russians, but he appreciated the devotion. He was almost impish in fact, especially when he told us that he "stole" the capitals on top of the pillars, with a laugh of course. He took us down to the well and anointed all of us with holy oil (nard) and allowed us to take photos, which was against the rule. We drew water from the well, which was SUPER deep and all got to take a sip: nice and cool. He also had icons and his own hand-painted icons for sale. They were quite expensive, and we didn't know what we would do with them, but they were definitely beautiful. We had some free time to look around the church and we found the previous priest's tomb (you could see his skull, like a relic) and the icon associated with his murder (nothing gory, but a bit unnerving). My mom wanted a photo in front of the church with dad and the priest was locking up and jumped into the photo! A total surprise, but it just seemed like he was a happy and sweet guy, something I think is often lost in the seriousness and severeness of the Orthodox tradition. Iyad took us out for knaffeh (like we made in Jordan) but I had to pass :( Back to Jerusalem and our guest speaker on an Israeli perspective. It was an interesting talk and he definitely conveyed the complicated nature of the topic, but again the bias of the trip showed. Mom and dad went into the Old City after dinner while James and I stayed in to journal and write postcards. Plus, I was having bad allergies and problems breathing with light-headedness, so staying in was best for me. They almost got caught in the Jerusalem Day celebration/demonstration, but luckily only caught the tail end with the police.

Iconostasis in the Greek section of the
 Church of the Nativity

Mom's birthday was an awesome day! As predicted, it was LONG. We left at 6:30 am because Iyad had managed to get us a real treat: we would be able to celebrate mass with the Franciscans in the Church of the Nativity! This is not a typical tourist thing and I have no idea how he managed it, but I was very grateful. The church is controlled by three denominations: Greek, Armenian and Franciscan, each with their own church and each with their own time in the grotto prior to it opening to tourists. The churches were virtually empty since we were there so early and it was amazing to celebrate mass (in Italian) in the grotto. Last year, James and the kids had to wait two hours just to walk through and spend a few seconds there, but we were lucky enough to be able to spend the entire service there. We had communion right next to the manger and were able to venerate the star, which is over where Mary gave birth. (Another truth and Truth thing). Iyad took us to walk along the wall, the "separation barrier" built in the West Bank around Palestinian neighbourhoods. It was very much like the Berlin Wall with graffiti and slogans and art on it. It was interesting to learn more about the situation, especially that US tax payer money is going to help pay for the building, which can explain a bit of the animosity sometimes shown on television (though honestly, we felt no animosity anywhere in Israel or the West Bank). Iyad then took us to Shepherd's Fields and we were able to go down into a first century cave like the shepherds would have lived in. The church there was beautiful and had great acoustics so we sang some Christmas songs. We shopped for olive wood gifts at the co-op and had lunch at Ruth's Field Restaurant which included a great dip (I think it was that eggplant one) and the best falafels I've ever had. I was sad we each only got one.We ended the day early due to a schedule change, going to the Israel Museum after lunch, which houses the Dead Sea Scrolls. Seeing the building they were in was cool since it was designed as a jar like the scrolls were found in, but since James and I had seen the actual scrolls at different times, we weren't that interested. Some of the replicas weren't done very well either...but the model of ancient Jerusalem was awesome! A little like Legoland's miniature cities, it was neat to see where we were staying in relation to the first century city and all the different sites we'd see. We rested at the hotel til 4, then headed into the Old City for some shopping--hard sells, but I got a set of Muslim prayer beads made out of agate; one of the things I really wanted to find while we were there. We headed back for dinner, but had reservations at 8:45 at another restaurant that had pizza since the food was making James sick for some reason. On the way we stopped at the post office, which was an interesting experience with people cutting in front and super expensive stamps. Mom got a cake at dinner with "Happ Birthday Anne!" on it :) and the hotel manager was our speaker on Islam that night. It was an interesting talk, but he was very tangential, so it was a little hard to follow, and I was glad I'd already learned quite a bit about Islam before. We had to duck out at 8:30 for our reservation, but it was totally worth it. The food was delicious and the service was amazing! Dad and James split a pepperoni pizza and mom and I split a caper and green olive pizza. It was Italian-style, with a thinner crust and very, very fresh. After dinner, they brought out baclava for us. So good, and free of charge. And James didn't get sick, which was the whole point. It was at Azzahra Hotel and Restaurant and if you're ever in Jerusalem, I would highly recommend it. 

In front of the Dome of the Rock

Tuesday was a very, very hot day. Especially since Monday had been chilly. We saw the big sites of the three major religions today. We started at the Western (wailing) Wall. We had to have a head covering (James borrowed Mom's hat) and tuck any crosses into our shirts. We split into men and women to go up and pray. We were able to stick our prayer into the wall. I wonder what happens to the older prayers: if they clean them out or what happens. When we walked in, a group of women was singing. I guess a holiday was coming up, because the Torah arks were out on the men's side and there was a lot of yelling and singing. Some men were singing and dancing on our way out, and the girls on the other side of the barrier were dancing too. Dad and James had picked up some yamakas they offer for men to use. It wasn't too crowded yet, which was nice. Jews pray at the Western wall instead of the southern wall (which is also still intact) because it is closer to the location of the holy of holies. Next we got in line to go up to the Temple Mount (forbidden by the Chief Rabbi because of the holiness of the site) where the Dome of the Rock and Al Aqsa Mosque are. Ever since 2000, when an unannounced visit by Sharon sparked the second intifada, the sites are closed to visitors. They're still gorgeous to see: the gold dome and the blue and green Turkish tiles. The stonework is lovely too; we saw a gorgeous equivalent of a pulpit. We had entered into Jerusalem through the Dung Gate, and on our way to Lion's Gate, we stopped by the Basilica of St. Anne's and the pools of Bethesda, which were said to have healing properties (though I would not get in that water...) The ruins by the pools were gorgeous; I've always found ruins have a very haunting, beautiful quality to me. St. Anne was Mary's mother, and I learned a new factoid: the term "immaculate conception" actually refers to the conception of Mary, not of Jesus. Jesus' deal is called the "virgin birth," but in popular culture nowadays, immaculate conception is used to refer to Mary's conception of Jesus. It was a lovely church, again with good acoustics so we sang a bit before having lunch at Pasha Restaurant. It was a nice restaurant, with the typical mixed grill we always seem to get preceded by the little dishes with toppings/stuffings for pita bread. We got a yummy donut hole -like dessert: very airy and sugary. We went to the Church of the Resurrection or the Holy Sepulchre after lunch. This church is controlled by SIX different denominations: Greek, Armenian, Roman/Francisan, Coptic, Syrian, and Ethiopian, however the keys are controlled by a Muslim family to avoid disputes. The church houses Calvary, Golgotha, the Stone of Anointing, the location of the empty tomb, and Joseph of Arimathea's tomb. It was originally built by St. Helena, Constantine's mother and was built over by the Crusaders later. We had a gospel reading by an Ethiopian priest in their section of the church (very small) and saw various different chapels (though not Golgotha since we'd see that our last day during the Via Dolorosa), even seeing the Armenian, Greek and Coptic priests walk through on their rounds with incense and heard the bells, which were beautiful. We heard about the Holy Fire that sprouted from one of the pillars long ago, and how the tradition is kept alive during Easter with the holy fire from the Edicule, built over the location of Christ's tomb (Truth and truth, remember). We also saw a first century tomb, though no one but dad and me went in, which is believed to be the tomb of Joseph of Arimathea. Not the one he gave to Jesus, but the one he was actually placed in. It wasn't as well preserved as the one under the convent, but it was neat to see. After this, some people departed for Vespers at another church, but my parents and James and I stayed to get in line to go into the Edicule. I was confused until recently, when I read that the actual cave that was believed to house Jesus' tomb was carved away by a Muslim ruler in an attempt to quash Christianity. Either way, it seems the Greek Orthodox control the Edicule, or at least while we were there. There was a large Russian tour group ahead of us, and boy were they pushy. I was shocked and more than a little disappointed at the rudeness in such a holy place. You'd think of all places to be respectful toward your fellow humans, it would be here, but no such luck. We were pushed around a bit, but eventually got to go in and see the tiny little room that has what looks like a coffin, but is (I think) an altar and pray for a minute, before walking back out. The priests leading people through were communicating via cell phone, and it was kinda funny to see a priest in full Greek Orthodox garb (remember, it reminds me of Rasputin) on a smart phone. Mom and dad got some shrouds and some candles afterward and lit the prayer candles in the holy fire to take back to St. Luke's. While they were doing this, we saw a Greek Orthodox priest with a sprayer of water walking along the prayer candles and putting them out. Which was odd, to say the least. Mom anointed the shrouds on the stone of anointing, where Jesus' body was anointed before burial. James did the same with a shroud of Veronica he got for his prayer partner. I thought the stone magically/miraculously smelled like the oils, but James later explained that pilgrims actually use their own oils and it's the combination of all of these day after day. This was after he'd finished laughing at me of course. We took a leisurely walk through the Old City souk, running into Mark on our way back. We had dinner at Azzahra again, since James just can't seem to get used to the food, even though he likes the taste. Poor guy. Pepperoni for the boys again, but  shallot, green olive, basil and artichoke hearts for mom and me this time! Yum! It was hard to believe that we only had 3 days left before leaving after this, but it was drawing nearer to when we were leaving, and only 2 days until the pilgrimage was over and the group would disband. 

Galilee (Pilgrimage Pt 2)

We left Jordan the morning of the 16th, heading from Amman to the border crossing at King Hussein Bridge. When we finally got to the border crossing, we had to take our luggage to be x-rayed, then put it back on the bus, drive a bit further and get off again for the actual passport control. We all waiting in line based on our visas and had our passports checked and our irises scanned. That took at least an hour. Then, after unsuccessfully trying to cross the bridge in our bus, we had to go back to passport control and switch ourselves and luggage to a shuttle bus. The shuttle bus had no a/c and was swelteringly hot. We crossed the bridge and had to sit on the Israeli side for at least 45 minutes waiting to get the all clear; they must have looked under the bus with mirrors at least 3 separate times. Finally, we got to passport control on the Israeli side. Again, we had to take out luggage to be x-rayed and go through metal detectors and answer questions. I made it through without any problems, but when I looked over, I saw James' stuff come through the x-ray, but no James. I had no idea what happened to him and was starting to freak out. No one seemed to know what had happened to him. He finally appeared, pissed off, but ok. Apparently, the guard questioning him decided he didn't look like his passport photo and took him aside for more questioning. I can understand that a little; after all he didn't have a beard when his passport photo was taken almost ten years ago. Still, when he gave them his driver's license (which does look like him), they said that wasn't him either and had him take off his shoes and patted him down, felt the soles of his feet and waved him over with a metal detector. They wouldn't believe him that he was there for a pilgrimage. He wasn't in a good mood when they finally let him go through the metal detectors, but apparently they tend to profile young men as activists. After another hour in line, James got questioned again before getting his tourist visa. We finally me Iyad, our local guide and got on the bus to Nazareth. We were at least two hours late, but the convent had lunch ready for us when we got there around 2:30. We had to change some things around, but we saw the Roman Basilica of the Annunciation, where the Roman Catholics believe the angel Gabriel appeared to Mary with the news she was pregnant. We were lucky and got a tour of the archaeological site next to the basilica, which included a little museum that housed the earliest found "Ave Maria." It also included a grotto like the one where Mary would have lived. It was interesting to hear our guide talk about it because it had an impact on the birth story. The "stable" was really a back room of the cave, where animals were kept, as opposed to the front room where people slept. We had some free time and I managed to cut open the bottom of my toe on a protruding pipe. Unluckily, I was wearing flip flops, which led to the cut, but luckily I wear flip flops often and have calluses that prevented the cut from being too deep. I am also up to date with my tetanus shot, so I was good. We raided a pharmacy and then found sumac in a spice shop. We headed back for dinner: soup, salad, rice, turkey, gravy and fresh fruit. It was delicious.

At the Jordan River

Feral Kitties!

Thursday was another long day: on the bus by 7:15 ready to go to the Jordan River to renew our baptism vows. We went to a spot no other tourists go to, which was really nice. We renewed our vows and I waded out into the river to get water for people, including a large bottle full for Wallaby's baptism. The water was cool and refreshing. We went to Capernaum, where Jesus' headquarters for his ministry was located. We saw the synagogue and Peter's house (a church is built over it, with a window in the ground you can look through to see the house). This was also our group's first encounter (of many) with feral kittens: they were playing down in the ruins of the synagogue and were so cute! We headed to the church at the Mount of Beatitudes, which was a beautiful octagonal church. James hadn't been able to go in last year, but we were able to do so this time; it was a truly beautiful church with mosaics and stained glass and a gilded dome. The views from outside of the Sea of Galilee were also beautiful. We saw a lot more of that after lunch as we headed out for a hike to the actual "mountain" (it was more like a hill) to have Eucharist. It was HOT, but it wasn't too bad of a hike. I stopped plenty to take pictures because the scenery was so gorgeous. Mark also stepped into a cave where it's thought Jesus preached from. The amplification of his voice (we were quite a ways away) was amazing, and you could definitely understand how Jesus could preach to so many people; it was a natural amphitheatre (ruined only by the 18-wheelers driving by on the road). After that we went to the Primacy of Peter church, right on the Sea of Galilee (also more like a lake...apparently the Gospel writers exaggerated a bit). We picked up some rocks and a seashell from the sea, but the highlight (for me, at least) was seeing a hyrax, which I'd only seen in the zoo before! We ended the day with a boat ride on the "Jesus boat" on the sea (there were HUGE catfish in the shallows) and I managed to sleep a bit on the bus ride back. After a bit of a rest, James and I went over to the Church of the Annunciation again, but got to go inside this time. We arrived right before they closed the doors to tourists. When we walked into the church, we were just walking up to the altar area (which is in the grotto) and this beautiful singing and chanting begins. It was so eerie, but so beautiful. Apparently there was a French mass going on, and that's what we were hearing, but the timing was amazing. We walked around, heading up to where they were having the mass and looked at all the mosaics before heading back for dinner. I did not feel like eating any meat; for the rest of the time in Nazareth, I somehow became a vegetarian--I just wasn't interested at all. After being assured tomorrow would be less busy, I agreed to not stay at the convent (I was feeling pretty sick) and I realized that my belly had popped out overnight: I barely recognized myself in the mirror from the day before.

Icon in the Church of the Annunciation
(Greek)

Friday was much more relaxed. We headed to Zippori in the morning, which had been the capital of Galilee in the first century, and would have been where Joseph and Jesus would have plied their trade. Which probably wasn't carpentry: the actual translation is "master builder" and there's almost no wood in the region, but plenty of stone, so they were most likely stone masons. The ruins were neat, but my favourite part was the Nile mosaic, which showed the measuring of the Nile to predict the prosperity of the coming year. It was so neat to hear the explanation and see the corresponding parts of the mosaic. I was having a real problem with the heat, but Anne noticed and wet down her overshirt to put over my neck, which really helped me cool down. The Greek influence was strong: mosaics portrayed centaurs, Amazons, Dionysus and all the writing was Greek. They had enormous cisterns to accommodate the entire town and some of the houses had their own private mikvehs (ritual baths, private ones were a rarity). There was also a crusader fortress and you could see the recycling of the time: one of the stones used was an empty sarcophagus. I didn't go to the top because of the heat, but Dad headed up there to see the view. We then headed to Shefa-Am'r, whose population is a mix of Muslim, Christian and Druze. I would have liked to hear more about the Druze religion, since I'd never heard of it, but we went to an Episcopal church and the rector gave a long, uncomfortably political speech (for me, at least) and then sang for us and showed us the cultural centre the Diocese of LA helped build and the parish hall. My blood sugar had crashed and I was more than ready for lunch, and what a lunch it was. It was more like a feast fit for a king; they just kept bringing out dishes! My favourites were a fried cauliflower, chicken tenders in a honey glaze and a fresh cucumber-tomato salad. After stuffing ourselves, we had ice cream at a famed establishment. We headed back to Nazareth, getting dropped off at Mary's Well (where we were supposed to go the first day) over which a Greek Orthodox church is built. Even though they were having a baptism, they allowed us to go in and see the well, with a beautiful icon that shows Mary with the baby in her womb (I think our guide said only two of these exist). Dad got some water for us; it was pretty good water. It was the only well in Nazareth, so it would have been where Mary had gone to draw water. It wasn't too bad a walk, but I'm glad it was downhill and we weren't carrying our family's water supply. After dinner, we took Mom and Dad over to the church, since they hadn't seen it yet, but we left for Jerusalem the next day, so we tried to get some rest.

Monastery of St. George

Got him!

(Last day of this post, I promise!) We headed to St. George's Monastery on the Mount of Temptation in Jericho. We were waylaid for about an hour by a cycle race that was passing through; just hanging out in the bus, watching people in fan-powered gliders with seats go by. It's believed that this mountain is where Jesus went after his baptism and was tempted by the devil. We had to take a cable car up to the monastery and then hike up even farther. I can't imagine how the old monks who lived in caves up there reached them, but the mountain was riddled with tons of caves where monks had gone to live like John the Baptist. Women had to cover their heads while in the monastery and no pictures were allowed in the church, but it was beautiful (like most Greek Orthodox churches seem to be). We saw the cave that's venerated as Jesus'; the concept of truth and Truth is very different here than at home. It's as though the veneration itself offers some Truth to the legend, even though it might not be factually true. We had lunch with a very friendly cat who kept rubbing against my legs. On the way to the Dead Sea (YAY!) we stopped at a shop and to see the Tree of Zacchaeus. We got an hour to float in the sea and it was amazing! You walk out to about knee height, then squat down and sit back and boom! you FLOAT! You can actually sit completely upright in the water without touching the bottom! It was soooo cool! There was plenty of the therapeutic mud/clay to rub on ourselves. It really does make your skin smoother, and Dad and I mudded ourselves up good. James was a bit reluctant, but I got him a bit! I could have stayed forever, but the saltiness started stinging my skin after a while (especially my legs; I probably shouldn't have shaved the night before...) and I got some water in my eye, which was horrible! I guess my skin is just too sensitive since no one else's skin had started stinging yet. In my search for the clay, I even found some cool little crystals. I'm not sure if they're salt crystals or what, but the were beautiful and clear. We took quick showers and headed back to the bus. We stopped by the Wadi Qelt, which overlooks the road the good Samaritan story refers too. It was a beautiful view and we read the story and took pictures before heading to Jerusalem! Our driver dropped us off at the Damascus Gate and we walked to Herod's Gate, which is right across from the hotel. He showed us the post office, a spice shop, an educational (English) bookshop, coffee shop, etc. Two twin beds in our hotel room again, but the view makes up for it: we could see the Dome of the Rock and the walls of Jerusalem; it was gorgeous! We were pretty exhausted, so we headed to bed right after dinner and a real shower.

The view from our balcony!

Jordan (Pilgrimage Pt 1)

I want to do justice to the trip, so I think I'll post a few days at a time. If you're interested in more photos, check my facebook page as I'm uploading them (I can't believe I'm uploading photos in a timely fashion!)

After about 24 hours door to door, we arrived in Amman, Jordan on the night of the 12th. I had started my pregnancy journal (which will include the trip journal) on the plane, and James' sniffle had developed into a full blown cold, which he courteously passed onto me. I passed it to my mom and, now that they're home, mom passed it to dad. We should buy stock in kleenex; James was able to medicate with sudafed, theraflu, his codeine cough syrup, but I was left with ricolas and lots and lots of kleenex. We met up with mom and dad in London and when we got to Amman, we were met by a guide/driver with Mark's name on a placard. He breezed us through customs; we felt like important diplomats. It was great: we handed him our passports and he took care of everything while we got our bags. Mark met us at the hotel and we went to Jafra cafe for dinner. James and I had lamb kofta with tahini sauce, which was delicious, but a huge portion. The taxis were a bit terrifying--besides merging into traffic circles without slowing and pedestrians just walking out in front of cars, no one seemed to know where our hotel was. Apparently, it used to be called the Taiki two years ago, and they recognize that name, but not the Ramada. This was a problem we had multiple times. We finally solved it by getting the hotel to write on the back of a business card; giving the address didn't help. 

Jerusalem in the Madaba Map

Dad and I at lunch in Madaba

Sunday was mother's day and James had gotten me a cute card with a little pair of socks in it! It was so sweet. Mom and dad went to church, but we slept in. When they got back, we decided to go to Madaba, which has a mosaic map of the area. The map was amazing: I could identify Jerusalem, the Dead Sea and the Jordan River. The church itself was filled with beautiful icons. We had shawermas for lunch and then our driver took us to Mt. Nebo. Mt. Nebo is the site where Moses first looked into the promised land, and is also considered to be where he died; it's now a memorial. The basilica was closed for renovations, but they had some mosaics out and the valley view (with the Dead Sea) was absolutely gorgeous. We were taken to our guide's "friend's" mosaic factory, where we were shown a demo of the mosaics being made and given the sales pitch of course. James was used to this from his trip, but it was an uncomfortable experience. We had a nap at the hotel and then headed out to dinner, taking the recommendation of the front desk and going to Reem Albawady Restaurant. It was all outdoor dining, under a pavilion tent and they brought out blankets to cover our shoulders. I had lentil soup and meat beraks (?), meat wrapped in triangular pastries. We also got some mixed grills (kebabs) to share. It was so much food, and then they brought our watermelon slices! I also felt the baby move for the first time!!! It felt like an elbow being dragged along inside my stomach; a bizarre and wonderful feeling. Since then, I've been feeling little kicks on and off, getting more and more regular, especially since getting home!

Week 17 at the Citadel in Amman

James and I at the Temple of Hercules
Citadel, Amman

Monday was a long day too. I woke up with James' cold and didn't have my allowed medication list with me, so didn't take anything (the internet is evil and scary). We got the ok from Mark to skip the dinner that night and made reservations for the cooking class (more on that later!). When mom and dad got up, we went to rainbow street and walked around, but it was early and pretty empty. We found a pharmacy and a supermarket and ended up heading to the Citadel afterwards. So neat: Roman temples, a Byzantine church, Umayyad complex and mosque, Bronze Age cave. We wandered around and saw mostly everything. There were the ruins of the Byzantine church, which was beautiful, and the Umayyad complex was huge. We heard the noon call to prayer from multiple mosques while wandering through the complex. There were the remains of a colossal (30 m tall) statue, just the fingers and elbow and the Bronze Age tomb was neat. The temple of Hercules just had some columns left, but it was still beautiful. We headed back to the hotel and took a nap before heading to Beit Sitti, a homemade cooking experience we found in the seatback magazine on our flight from London. I am thrilled that we did that: it was definitely a major highlight of our trip. We had some issues with the taxi: with 5 of us, we had to split up: mom, dad and Susan in one, James and I in another. First the hotel concierge told us we could fit 4 of us in the back of the taxi (yeah right), then it took another 5 minutes to find us a taxi. Then our taxi driver stopped to get coffee and cigarettes on the way there (with the meter running!). When we finally arrived, my parents weren't there! I was worried, and after a while, Maria (our host) called the hotel--they were back there. Apparently their driver didn't know where it was (surprise, surprise) and drove them up and down, all over, until they finally had him take them back to the hotel and they got another taxi. We made a delicious four course meal: tabbouleh, an eggplant dip (moutabbal I think), siniyet kafta (lamb kofta!) and knaffeh for dessert. The hands on experience was so much fun, and we even have recipes now! The tabbouleh was made with the tiniest bit of bulgar, tons of fresh parsley and lemon, garlic and tahini. It was delicious and so fresh tasting. The eggplant dip was divine: the eggplants were roasted in an open flame til black and crispy and mushy inside. We just used the inside and mixed it with spices and deliciousness. It was topped with a spice called sumac (yes, related to poison ivy, but not poisonous) that had a citrus-y taste to it. The lamb was better than the restaurant: mixed ground beef and lamb, topped with fried potato slices and tahini sauce. The dessert was good, but I didn't get to eat more than a bite: it was layered noodles, goat and mozzarella cheese and noodles, topped with simple syrup. The bite I had was great, but goat cheese is unpasteurized and on the "to avoid" list, so I didn't want to risk it. What really made the experience was the people. Southern hospitality has got nothing on these people; they are so kind and welcoming. In Israel, I often felt the hospitality was because they wanted to sell you something, but it Jordan it felt much more genuine. The women who helped us cook were so sweet and kind and wanted us to feel at home and told us we now had family in Jordan. She also helped us catch a cab that knew how to get us to our hotel. We all got certificates, and I was named head chef (Hajjeh) of the night! James also noted that the top of my belly button has started to poke out!

At Beit Sitti with our certificates

Grand Tombs

Dad in front of the Treasury

Tuesday was a VERY long day, and our last in Jordan. It was the official start of the pilgrimage--our trip to Petra! Mom wasn't feeling well and decided to stay at the hotel and dad had managed to wrench his knee, so he was having a hard time. We had a 3.5 hour drive there and someone on the bus kept asking for the air to be turned off; I thought I was going to die. Petra was amazing and fulfilled all of my Indiana Jones wanna-be-ness. We entered through the canyon, the Siq, which was gorgeous and nice and cool in the ehat. The colours were breathtaking and even the natural formations were amazing. Our first glimpse was of the Treasury through the canyon (very Indiana Jones!) and when we actually saw the whole of it, it was just astounding. The ornately carved edifices are almost exclusively tombs, but when Petra was rediscovered, the explorers found Bedouins living in the caves and assumed they were the descendants of the Nabateans and asked them what the difference structures were. They responded with their own legends and traditions, giving rise to the djinn blocks, the Treasury, Pharaoh's Daughter's Palace, etc. The Bedouins lived there all the way up to 1989. While we were listening to our guide in front of the Treasury, we saw a proposal! It was so sweet! We walked the entire length of the city, seeing tons of tombs, both royal and common, houses and even the remains of a Byzantine church that had beautiful mosaics. My favourite were what our guide called the Grand Tombs, up on the hill which were beautiful and intricate. I was able to take some amazing panorama shots with mom and dad's camera. Dad had to turn back early because of his knee, so James and I left the church early to catch up with him, which we didn't manage. I was so overheated at this point that we had to stop multiple times for me to rest. I get exhausted so easily nowadays and I keep overestimating what I am capable of doing--it involves a lot of resting. My original plan had been to take a carriage back through the Siq, but after seeing the carriages go over the uneven cobblestones, dad and James refused to let me get on one of them. Even if I weren't pregnant, I probably wouldn't have taken a carriage despite my exhaustion because they weren't treating the horses really badly. We caught up with Dad right outside the Siq and after getting back on the bus, we found out we'd walked 10 kilometers (6.2 mi)!! And we could say we walked the entire thing! I can't remember walking that far in one day before, and a shower never felt so good. One good thing was that I definitely slept well that night, and didn't even wake up during the morning call to prayer at 4:30. It was an exhausting day, but it was so cool to finally see Petra! 

The next day we headed off to Nazareth! Check back for the Galilee adventures tomorrow, and remember to check out facebook for more photos!

Houseguests

Angie and Moose

We need houseguests more often. My friend Angela visited from Germany this past week, and her presence convinced me to make a menu and stick to it for the entire week! It was great; good food, leftovers that we actually used and cooking every night! We had risotto, shrimp bisque, pasties, and shepherd's pie. The dogs absolutely adored Angie; I've never seen them take to anyone as they took to her. It was amazing.

If you're daunted by risotto, DON'T BE! I promise you, it is not that hard to cook. I used this recipe from Real Simple, and it offers not only a nice, fresh, filling meal, but endless variations! James and I added chopped up chicken, but you can add any meat or vegetables you'd like, and even if it's plain it's delicious. The white wine and fresh parsley (it needs to be fresh!) make it taste fresh and light. It's a filling meal that doesn't take that long to cook. The recipe says that 1.75 C of chicken broth should absorb in 8-10 minutes, but that isn't true. It takes much longer. Just allow it to continue simmering, and stir it every now and then until it's creamy. We cook it until almost all the liquid is absorbed, but having it be a bit stew-y makes it nice and creamy, so we leave it like that. Add the pre-cooked chicken at the end with the parsley and parmesan, and top it with more parmesan before serving. So good, and so easy! Save the leftovers for lunches in a few days.

Now for the shrimp bisque. James and I have been making this bisque since coming back from our honeymoon. We went to Breeze's Grand Lido resort, and the first restaurant we went to had a delicious shrimp bisque that had a kick to it. When we got home, I wanted more, so I decided to find a recipe. Off to Real Simple again! Their website and magazine are chock-full of recipes for food that seems fancy, but is pretty easy and quick to make. Their Easy Shrimp Bisque recipe is fantastic, although I'd recommend some alterations. James and I use pre-cooked shrimp (frozen or from the seafood counter) and we only use 1/2 lb since otherwise the shrimp pieces overpower the soup. Allow the chopped and seasoned shrimp to warm up in the butter before adding the brandy (if you have a BevMo nearby, you can stock up on those little bottles, but James and I have a giant bottle that we use only for this recipe), the tomato soup and the heavy cream. I don't ever add the chives, but I do add red pepper flakes to give it just a touch of spiciness. This is a super simple recipe that only takes about 20 minutes and gives you a great cold weather soup to warm up with.

I transcribed the shepherd's pie recipe from a Good Eats episode I saw. It's the same as this recipe, but I've found that this needs plenty of alteration. We added a clove of garlic to the mashed potatoes since we both love garlic, and instead of using fresh herbs, we used dried herbs, since we had both thyme and rosemary on hand. To substitute dried herbs for fresh, simply use half the amount since the dried herbs are more potent than the fresh. Instead of lamb, which will quickly get expensive, we used ground beef, which tastes just fine. I added an extra dash or two of Worcestershire sauce since I love that taste, but the biggest change we made was in the directions. In the episode, it said to bake the shepherd's pie right in the pan used to cook the meat mixture. We decided that wasn't a great idea (read: we couldn't fit the pan we used in the oven), so we switched to an oval pyrex baking dish, which provides built in leftover storage! We did have one problem that led to another alteration: We didn't have enough potatoes to completely cover the meat mixture! We ended up having to use some microwaveable mashed potatoes to completely cover the pie. It tasted fine, but I would use at least two lbs of potatoes, if not three. Be sure to seal around the edges with the mashed potatoes to keep the meat and juices inside. We had some spill-over nonetheless, but still, this is the most delicious meal we've had in a long time. It also will provide plenty of leftovers that will heat up very well!

TO DO IN SAN DIEGO:
-San Diego Zoo: This is the best zoo in the world, and that's a fact. Plan a whole day here, since there's so much to see, and make sure that you take the Skyfari at least one way! The children's zoo section is also worth seeing, but skip the sea lion show.
-San Diego Zoo's Safari Park: Quite a ways away, but worth it, is what used to be the Wild Animal Park. It's not as touristy as the zoo, but it is fun, and definitely worth seeing. Plan on a lot of walking, a whole day, and taking the Journey into Africa tram ride (depending on your ticket, it could be an extra $10, but you see so much it's worth it).
-The Prado restaurant: In Balboa Park, which is full of museums to occupy your time, visit the Prado during happy hour, from 4-6 pm every day. Margaritas for $3.50 and plenty of discounted appetizers. I highly recommend the Kobe Beef Roll (not discounted), which is asparagus wrapped in a sushi roll, topped with a slice of raw kobe beef and wasabi cream sauce and served with a delicious dipping sauce. Split it with a friend for a good appetizer portion.
-Old Town San Diego: Incredibly touristy, but it's still fun to wander through the different shops and see what San Diego was like in the old west days.
-Seaport Village: You can't get more tourist-oriented than this, but, again, it's fun to wander around.
-Pacific Beach: Crystal Pier and a great beach to walk around on, full of surfers and sun bathers, even in winter. If you're there around lunch or dinner, stop by World Famous for delicious lobster bisque and a great view.
-Birch Aquarium: In La Jolla, it doesn't compare to Monterey, but the octopus was moving about, the cuttlefish were adorable and there was an entire exhibit on seahorses (including 1 day old seahorses!). Definitely worth seeing.