In case you haven’t figured it out by now, Shawn and I love to travel... in the form of little road trips to explore new parts of our beautiful United States!! Having been in Arizona the last couple of winters, I’ve heard over and over from my co-workers about heading down to a little beach in Mexico called Rocky Point. I have been trying to talk Shawn into going, with no luck. He then suggested that if it’s a beach vacation I’m looking for, he’d take me to San Diego. [It’s about an hour further, but still in the US] He found us an Airbnb to spend a couple nights... on a sailboat!!!
I’ve never even been on a sailboat much less slept on one, so I was super excited!! I was also a little nervous since I usually get a little seasick on boats. However, Shawn said we wouldn’t have to worry about too much motion since we were going to be docked in a boat slip. [Thankfully he was correct, and I didn’t have any issues!!] We stayed in San Diego, at the Safe Harbor Sunroad Marina. After we arrived and carried our things on board, we went down to check out the living/sleeping quarters and I found this lovely bottle just waiting for me!! No wine glasses?? No problem... Shawn said to just drink it from the bottle!! Hahaha
We not only had great views of the city, we were pretty close to all the things I wanted to check out!! The Gas Lamp Quarter district, watching the sun go down at Sunset Cliffs, a touring the USS Midway Museum, and a stroll along the beaches at La Jolla cove!! The actual beach was closed due to it being what they called “pupping" season. The harbor seals prefer to give birth on protected beaches, reefs, or sandbars. They were laying all over the beach, then their pups can swim immediately after birth and dive after three days!! It was totally a sight worth seeing!!
Let not forget to add a stop at a fun little local wine bar called 57 Degrees, an extremely poetic kind of place... "Roses are red, Wine is also red, Poems are hard, so whine!!" (without the h!! Hahaha) 57 Degrees was opened in 2004, by Russ Kindom in San Diego’s Mission Hills neighborhood. Even though the place gave off heavy "beer bar" type vibes with their pool tables, giant Jenga games, and indoor corn hole. [I don’t think I’ve ever seen indoor corn hole... LOL] 57 Degrees quickly became known as THE spot for wine lovers to from all over the city to meet up, hang out, and taste wine.
They became even more popular when Russ came up with the “Wine, Women, and Song” competition. It was essentially a modeling competition that involved up to 15 contestants. Russ built a runway for this monthly event, and the winner received $500 and a trip to Napa for a vineyard photo shoot with noted photographer Jon Nordling. The Wine, Women and Song competition became known as Miss Wine Country, and each month a different winery signed up to be the sponsor.
57 Degrees was the largest wine facility in San Diego, offering a wine retail store and a wine storage facility. They had storage available for up to 600,000 bottles of wine!! [I can't even imagine that many bottles at one place!!] In January of 2012, 57 Degrees stopped production and closed the doors. I tried to find any information to explain why they went out of business but alas... I was could not find anything!! It just makes me wonder, when it seemed like they had the formula for success down pat.
Nonetheless, San Diego is still a big, beautiful, thriving, beach city. Writing about our amazing sailboat experience and the touristy list of adventures we tackled has made me want to make the trip again!! I hope you can now see why I felt the need to include this excursion into my wine blog... it was just so incredibly awesome!!
Next week Wine with Wixy will venture into the unknown world of the oldest form of alcohol known to man, and the earliest recorded in human history!! Anyone care to take a guess!? Hint: It is also known as "honey" wine!! Tune in next week to find the answer!!
Cheers to you my wine loving friends, and TTFN!!
I am putting this on my list of things to do! What a cool combo!
Thank you so much for sharing all of your incredible finds!