San Diego Super Chargers
Comments: 12 - Date: May 27th, 2008 - Categories: Team Proctor, The State of Things, My Favorite Person of the Week, Kelli's Korner, Video, The Proc Says...

Kelli and The Proc are back from a wonderful and extended weekend down in San Diego. There’s no hiding the fact that San Diego is one of The Most Electrifying Man In Pasadena’s favorite places to travel to and this was the first time I’ve ever spent more than a couple of nights in “America’s Finest City”.
One of Kelli’s friends, a friend from high school, was getting married and Kelli was actually one of the bridesmaids. Of course, that meant there was a bunch of stuff for her to do before this past Sunday’s wedding - so we got down there on Friday morning and headed to Sea World.
I like the drive down to San Diego. It’s really fun to look at all the different types of settings you pass through - big cities like Anaheim and Santa Ana, little coastal hamlets like San Juan Capistrano, and then the outskirts of San Diego like Oceanside and Carlsbad. The rain seemed to follow us down from Pasadena on Friday.
On the way down, we passed the San Onfore Nuclear Generation Station - you know, the big nuclear tits you can see from Interstate 5. This video is the first in many which are titled “Hey Kelli” because I began to notice I say “Hey Kelli” at the beginning of a lot of videos.

I’d never been to Sea World before. Kelli’s been a bunch of times. This resulted in a very fun first visit. It was cold and rainy on Friday morning-into-afternoon - which was perfect because there weren’t a ton of people there. Plus, the rain kind of fit in with the whole “sea” theme.

The weather at Sea World
Since the theme park is owned by Anheuser-Busch, there are Clydesdales and one donkey that welcome you at the beginning of your visit:


I was a bit confused as to exactly why a donkey was chilling with the Clydesdales in this video. I later found out it’s a reference to one of the company’s past Super Bowl commercials.
After that, Kelli and I went over to see the manatees. The manatee exhibit was closed for repairs - but that didn’t stop me from trying to mess with one of the manatee statues.
We looked at the sharks - which were really cool because there is a part where you can stand on an escalator and the sharks swim next to, above, and around you in their tanks. It started to rain pretty hard at one point, so Kelli and I ducked into another aquarium full of fish found regionally in ponds and creeks and rivers throughout the world. Pretty fascinating.
The big thing you’re supposed to do - and afterward, it became something I’d love to go and do again - is to go visit the dolphins and the bat rays - and pet them!
Here’s a video of a dolphin swimming around, having a good time, greeting spectators.
Here’s Kelli and I actually petting a dolphin - watch it come right up to us. Don’t mind my high voice and excitement - I felt like a little kid since I’ve never seen or touched a dolphin up close before.

That’s a bat ray. They remove the stingers so we don’t become the Crocodile Hunter.

That’s Kelli petting and feeding a bat ray.

Here I am about to pet one. They feel slimy…like one of those stress balls if it were covered with Log Cabin syrup.

The bat rays just flocked to Kelli for some reason. Everyone around the bat ray pond was amazed. I think it’s her bangs.
After hanging out under the sea (which I kept whistling the tune from “The Little Mermaid” until Kells Bells reminded me that’s from Disneyland) - we decided to go up to the arctic and Sea World’s “Arctic Wild” exhibit featuring polar bears and beluga whales and walrus and the like.

Polar bear chillin’

“I don’t like getting my picture taken”

Beluga whales
Right after the Arctic Wild exhibit, you can check out the penguins in a place called “Penguin Encounter”. I was quite excited to see the penguins and puffins and such, that I told Kelli we’d have to walk like penguins into the exhibit. See the video of that here.
After a good five hours of hanging out at Sea World, our room at the palatial Motel 6 in Hotel Circle was ready. We went and checked in and relaxed, exhausted from having the time of our lives.

The rainy, cloudy view from our hotel room on Friday afternoon/early evening
Night fell upon San Diego and Kelli and I wanted to check out a local bar. Not something too fancy or too Paseo Colorado-esque…more like - a true dive bar.
We found a place that suited our fancy just fine - a place called The Aero Club. Proclaiming itself to be the “last of the great dive bars”, it advertised well. The service was unbelievable, the environment was unmatched, and the prices - well - let’s just say Kelli and I had more than a few rounds of alcohol and walked out spending less than $50.00.
We ended up chilling with this couple who had just moved to SD from Portsmouth, NH. Turns out the female in the couple also ran for City Council of Portsmouth. I wasn’t really in a political mood during our vacation, but it was fun meeting someone who knows what it’s like to run for office and lose. This was also the first bar I’ve ever been to where, after the baseball game, the bartender put on the Big Lebowski and - on mute - EVERYONE in the bar began quoting it line from line. Joe Piasecki would think this was heaven on earth.

The place has 20 different beers on tap (including Blue Moon, which is delightful on tap with an orange slice), 50 different vodkas, 70 whiskeys…yeah, I could get used to having a place like this around if it were in Pasadena. You know that I love dive bars and I highly recommend this place on your next San Diego trip - it’s easily accessible from the 5 and very close to downtown, Old Town, and other places you might be staying. It’s the perfect night cap.
3365 India Street
San Diego, CA
619-297-7211
**

I didn’t know it on my way down there or planning this trip - but Saturday was going to be one of the more interesting days I’ve ever experienced.
As aforementioned, Kelli’s a bridesmaid in her longtime friend’s wedding. So, naturally, I thought there was going to be bridesmaid stuff to do. I just didn’t know that Saturday morning would kind of turn out to be one of those “This Is How You Do Not Plan A Wedding” afternoons.
There wasn’t an itinerary, which I think should be mandatory if one was going to be having such a big deal of a wedding like Kelli’s friend was, there wasn’t any sort of game plan as to how to do anything. So, I ended up at some mall walking around with complete strangers (the groomsmen who turned out to be ok guys) while Kelli got her nails done for the next day’s event.
Why all of this stuff the day before? Well, the wedding rehearsal was happening that afternoon. Kelli and I had to drive all the way out to where the ceremony was taking place the next day - wayyyyyyyyyy out in Chula Vista, just a few miles from the International border.
When we got to the church, which is pictured above, Kelli and I were a little bit freaked out. I thought we were right by the border (we weren’t) - so I wanted to run to freedom in this video because we were so freaked out by this ominous church in the middle of absolutely nowhere. And now I know why.

Doesn’t that look like a Freemason logo?
I’m not religious by any means. However, on the rare occasion that I do walk into a church, I usually feel welcome and safe and all that good stuff. You know, you kind of have a sense of fellowship when you walk into most churches.
Kelli’s friend, though, doesn’t belong to a church. Her friend belongs to a cult - and there’s a big difference and that’s why we felt very uncomfortable. The church in Chula Vista is a branch of the Iglesia Ni Cristo, a cult in the Philippines that has worked its way over to the west coast. Picking up a pamphlet of theirs in the vestibule, I noticed their mantra is that of a doomsday cult - and full of “the end of the world is near” and all of that crap. Men sit on one side of the church and women have to sit on the other side of the church. They don’t even believe in dancing (yeah, wait until you hear about the wedding reception) and require members to tithe a portion of their income. According to Wikipedia, the church in the Philippines sounds like another Waco about to happen:
Military intelligence sources say that the Iglesia has 1,000 to 2,000 high-caliber firearms in its armory, apart from guns owned by individual members who include soldiers and policemen

The worship area itself is set up like a court more than a church. The picture above was taken Sunday, not Saturday by the way. The people who are members of the cult all dress exactly the same with the same hairstyles and all of that. During the wedding rehearsal, the organist sat up where the choir is in the picture and just stared a hole through me the entire time. Looked like his name should have been Igor or something.
During the rehearsal, I noticed that the bridge and groom’s families had to sit in the second row. Who was in the first row? The six “sponsors” from the church (well, six from the church and one outsider) that were allocated to the bride and groom.
I had to get a drink of water (which I was scared to get) and found a water fountain right next to a door that said “Light Of Salvation” on it. That was freaky. That’s all it said. “Light Of Salvation”. Weird.
After the rehearsal, we went to a dinner provided by the families of the bride and groom over at a place called Tom Ham’s right near the airport. Very nice place but I was pissed off to find out this was going to be a dry wedding. Yep - no dancing, no alcohol either.
Kelli got a beautiful picture of the San Diego skyline, though:

After feeling like people were going to start passing out Flavor Aid, Kelli and I ditched the dinner and headed toward Old Town San Diego.
Kelli had gone to this awesome bar during her birthday celebration last year and we chose to relieve the stress of the day by having a few drinks and playing some darts. The bar is aptly named Kelly’s Pub.

Kelli was pretty happy about the place’s name
Much like The Aero Club, Kelly’s Pub wasn’t one of those places like the 35er that claims to be a dive bar and sells you a Guinness for $8.00. The bartender was a little slower than the bartender at the Aero but was still friendly and helpful. Plus - the place has actual old school steel dip darts - none of those noisy and annoying electronic, plastic tip dart machines. It also has an Internet jukebox.

Guess who won at darts?
We retired to our hotel room and called it a night. Sunday was time for the freaky cult wedding and reception.
**

Sunday, we got up early and visited Kelli’s mom - who was also attending the wedding and staying at the nearby Town & Country Resort. It looked less like a resort and more like The Village on The Prisoner.
Kelli had to get ready to get in her beautiful bridal party gown while I knocked back like 5 cans of Budweiser provided to me free of charge by some dude who was leaving his hotel room and didn’t want to throw away his beer.
We got to the church and the wedding soon began. The pastor or priest or cult leader or whatever he was called gave this long ass sermon about how marriage is between a man and a woman only and that we lived in a wicked, wicked world. Yawn. The bride and groom came up the aisle to The Wedding March from Lohengrin - which they should really stop using at weddings because it’s from an opera about an unfaithful wife.
While the pastor was marrying the couple, he gave another long sermon and began yelling and crying during it while the people in the crowd shook and swayed and kept saying “Yes, please, yes father, amen father, yes.” What a fucking freak show. You know, I have to say right now, I really love Kelli - `cause I wouldn’t do this for anyone else. If you’re inviting me to a wedding in the future, there’d better be at least some alcohol and dancing.

The coolest part of the wedding was after it was all over. If you look in the picture above, a rattlesnake (who lost its rattler) somehow found its way into the church parking lot. The groomsmen and I, in this video, were pretty amazed. Don’t know if that was biblical symbolism or not - but it was pretty hilarious after the torture I suffered during the wedding to see a diamondback slithering around and hissing.

Kelli looked beautiful as part of the bridal party
We were off to the reception. A reception that began with an opening prayer, had apple cider instead of champagne, and involved me and various members of the groom’s party sneaking down to the Hilton’s bar and having a Scotch or three. There was some really lame singing (but no dancing) and, yeah, there were a couple of hilarious moments.
The best moment of all, though, was when I caught the garter. Yep, that’s right. I caught it. Have video proof and everything. I figured I’d add some “Money In The Bank” rules a la WWE to it. I have 365 (well, now 363) days to cash it in and I can “cash it in” at any time.
The reception was over and I couldn’t be happier. I kind of feel like the bridal party should have informed Kelli ahead of time of all the different things she’d be doing. I mean, I went down there thinking there was a rehearsal on Saturday and the wedding on Sunday and that was it. Most of Saturday and Sunday was wasted with the whole thing - especially considering the people at the cult made it very known to Kelli that she was an outsider.
We drank massive amounts of tequila that night and before we knew it, it was Monday and time to check out of our hotel.
**

Yesterday morning after checking out and having a hearty breakfast, we took the Bridge over to Coronado for some sight seeing. We stopped at Bay View Park to take some awesome pictures:


The more things change..the more they stay the same..

Skyline from Bay View Park

Sepia Kelli

San Diego..if it were LA?

Movie poster Aaron?
From there, we headed down Highway 75 and passed the famous Hotel del Coronado:

Then we kept going and ended up in beautiful Imperial Beach:

At that time, I realized we were very much near the United States-Mexico border. So, we went down to the end of Seacoast Drive and were at the very top corner of the Tijuana Estuary - which has a nice lookout point where you can see Mexico in the background:

See the border - middle of the pic? And the black smoke? That there is Mexico.

Another shot of Mexico.

All of this can be yours!


Kelli’s not too fond of Mexico…
And, yeah, I tried to run for freedom again - see this video.
Noticing our day was headed to a close, it was time to start getting back on the road to the Crown City. We drove back up to Coronado, past Silver Strand State Beach and the like.

Orange Avenue in Coronado

What a quaint little village…
Kelli and I crossed back over the Coronado Bridge again, and this time we filmed it.
In these trying economic times where long vacations are impossible, I highly recommend taking an excursion to San Diego in your near future. It was fun, very relaxing, and I really had a romantic, lovely time with Kelli side for hanging out with a Doomsday Cult.
I hope to visit this interesting area again soon.
Hope you all had a fun and safe weekend as well and didn’t forget to honor the heroes who died to make our freedoms possible
- AP










I am a big movie buff and could probably have a whole column just for movie reviews. I like everything. I think I focus more on campy horror, cult, comedy, independent, drama, action…wait…I think I’ll watch anything at least once. Sometimes I will only watch a movie when I’m in the mood for it, same goes for music. Sometimes you just feel like dancing and sometimes you just feel like laughing. The most recent film I saw was Rob Zombie’s “Halloween”, his 3rd directorial installment. I give it 8 stars on a 10 star scale. I won’t go into too much detail. This epic horror film goes back to the youth of Michael Myers and shows you how he came to be the crazed serial killer. If you’re a horror fan you’ve probably already seen it.