Not necessarily the best, but since I just got back from San Diego, I thought I’d show you four fun photos I took.

I suspect this will be Bill’s favorite photo. It shows just how far I’ve come since the days we started dating and I didn’t like coffee. Now I’m taking the hand-grinder, aeropress, and whole beans when traveling alone. My friend Jen had a comment on that. (She’s not wrong to wonder.)

I have no idea how large the brewery who makes this beer, Warsteiner is, but I know they are German (though that page is USA), have been passed down to (through?) their ninth-generation of owner, and make a damn tasty pilsner. Not as hoppy as some would prefer, possibly from too big a brewery for some (there was some implication of that around), and with a faintly funky aroma. I’d buy it. (With my own money, even.)

I went to this museum, the Museum of Man. They had a beer exhibit on. Very fascinating (although small). I’m highly, highly likely to post about it later, and whether or not I do, I know my friend Liz is planning a post (that I’ll link you guys to).

Until this trip, I’d not been to San Diego as an adult. I had, however, been as a child once. I don’t remember much, but I know we went to the San Diego Zoo (either my sister or I had a pink baseball cap for years after). The only thing I remember about the San Diego Zoo was going and seeing either this species (even this individual, perhaps!) or another thin-nosed crocodilian. I recall that, after staring at it for a long while, I declared to everyone around me (and did that include strangers or just family; I have no idea) that it was a fake. I recall thinking no alligator or crocodile I’d ever seen photos of had such thin noses. And it wasn’t moving. So, to my mind, it was CLEARLY a fake. The adults around me all laughed. One even tried to tell me that zoos don’t do that, but I was adamant.

Then the damn thing jerked its head. Or moved in some way. And, as I was pressed right up against the glass at the time, insisting it was a fake, I about jumped out of my skin. One of the adults (I’ll never know if it was the same adult or not) basically said, “See! It’s not fake!” Which was reasonable. And so I gave them my most reasonable response.

“It’s a robot.”