Blog Update!
For those of you not following me on Facebook, as of the Summer of 2019 I've moved to Central WA, to a tiny mountain town of less than 1,000 people.

I will be covering my exploits here in the Cascades, as I try to further reduce my impact on the environment. With the same attitude, just at a higher altitude!

Wednesday, December 16, 2009

Going back to Cali

We are heading down to San Diego in a couple of days to visit family and generally have a great Christmas break, while at the same time enjoying warmer weather. I don't mind a blast of 70 since it's been in the teens up here in Seattle, so I am really looking forward to it.

And, while there will be "bikini - small; heels - tall", at least on my end (bonus points to those who know what the heck I'm talking about), there will be a bit of a carbon expended on our behalf in flying all four of us down there.

So, we went ahead and bought TerraPass carbon offsets. Since you can pick your own mix of investment, we went with clean energy, farm power and landfill gas investments. Now, I know this doesn't in the least bit assuage the carbon footprint of our vacation, but it's better than doing nothing.

Of course, not flying would be ideal, but this isn't Europe with high-speed rail at reasonable prices. The alternative is not visiting them at all, but we haven't seen them in 2.5 years and we are long overdue for a visit.

For those of you in the San Diego area who read this here blog, if you have any recommendations for sustainable restaurants, cafes, coffee shops and the like, I'd love your feedback. And, if any of y'all want to meet up for coffee, send me an email!

9 comments:

Jen said...

Check out The Linkery for sustainable meat, house made sausages and other cured meats. Blind Lady Ale House is pretty good for pizza-pretty sustainable I think and pretty kid friendly. I also recommend Sea Rocket Bistro for sustainable seafood. The sustainable choices have been exploding here lately, much to my delight. I really like The Linkery's blog, the owner, Jay, usually has really interesting things to say about meat, local economy, etc. I'll let you know if I think of something else.

Sam said...
This comment has been removed by the author.
Sam said...

Yes to all of tortuga's reccommendations. I live a few blocks away from the Linkery. I wasn't too impressed with Sea Rocket, but you may have a different experience.

The OB People's coop in Ocean Beach is also worth a visit.

If you're here on Sunday, check out the Hillcrest Farmers' Market. It is the biggest I've seen.

Caffé Calabria in North Park has some good coffee (I'm not a big connoisseur but it is good).

Eclipse Chocolat for your chocolat needs...I'm curious on how it would match up to your likings. They are also in North Park. Yes I live in the coolest part of SD :)

Heather at Simple-Green-Frugal will be here on Sat. Maybe we could all do a big meetup?

The Nurturing Pirate said...

I second 'Eclipse Chocolate.' My dh and I recently discovered it on date night (we're in University Heights). He had a good laugh when I questioned the "No right turn 1am - 5am" on Mississippi. "What are people doing at that time of the night? Um, apparently it's a "red light" district. Or is it blue? Shows how much I know about that! But the hot chocolate was delicious!

Robj98168 said...

Enjoy your trip. The rest of us washingtonians will be home sniffleing in our cocoa.

Diane Schmidt said...

I live about an hour north of the city of San Diego. My favorite restaurant in San Diego is Bandar, 825 4th Ave. I usually park in Horton Plaza and walk across the street. (It's in the gaslamp quarter)it's Persian food, my favorite is their chicken kabob, you won't believe the portion. Here is there web address http://www.bandarrestaurant.com/. I have recommended it to many :)
Have a great time in SD.
I'm from the East coast and can't find many places that make good Italian bread , Salunto's in little Italy.

Anonymous said...

The farmer's market on Sat in Little Italy is a little less expensive (but smaller) than the one in Hillcrest.

I agree with The Linkery (they even have vegetarian entrees). While I'm biased because I live there, I think North Park is a fabulous place to find small, locally-owned restaurants.

I'll throw another in the mix: Whisknladle in La Jolla. It's expensive but their produce and eggs are all purchased in SD County. Their sister restaurant, Prepkitchen (also in La Jolla) is less formal and less money.

Sharlene said...

I live about an hour north of San Diego and I have to say La Jolla seems to have alot of eco-friendly options. I don't have any new suggestions on where to eat but I do reccomend Torrey Pines State Beach and Park as fantastic places to visit. I also love the San Diego Wild Animal Park and I am sure your kids would too. Have a great time!

Anonymous said...

Anyone who quotes LL is A-OK in my book.