hash house and korean BBQ in SoCal... so much good food

I'm back and decided to post a whole bunch of pictures I took during this trip. I find I'm using this to post photos more than I'm using Facebook... Stop 1 on this photo journal: Hash House A Go Go in San Diego. Where the portions are huge. Texas huge. And some "suit" asking people questions on the street with a cameraman. I managed to snap this one: Quang and my portions were enormous and could feed a family of 8. He ordered fried chicken, topped with a scrambled egg, bacon, and a giant layer of fried cheese. Plus mashed potatoes. I ordered pheasant sausage, which was the special, in the form of "house hash," which is tossed with egg, giant potatoes, cheese, and a giant biscuit. I'm shocked that I'm expected to eat this. That night we made a trip to Vin de Syrah. What a nice place! A wine bar that turns into a club scene, but no cover or dress code. The girls were gorgeous, and made me feel like if I lived here, I would be more motivated to doll myself up a bit more vs., say, in San Jo. Truth. The door was the funny part. You walk down and you see a red door, but you'll find it locked. Then, to your left, is a grassy door that you can hardly see, until someone walks in or out of it. You realize that's the entrance, and then you walk in to find everyone looking at you and smiling. Look up, and you see that the outside was being recorded by a camera and everyone watched the newbie, you, try the wrong door. :) The next day was dragon boat racing, which is an annual race in Long Beach that my dad participates in with some friends of his-- some dating back to his high school days. I took some pictures with my dSLR, but I might actually upload those to Facebook. After the race, we all went to a real charcoal Korean BBQ restaurant in K-town in LA. My dad says that they've regulated charcoal KBBQs and you can't open a restaurant with them anymore - only gas. He says they just let this one go because it's been around awhile. Something about polluting the air... in LA... imagine that. But it was delish. Then, we met Andrew the next day for a goodbye dinner at a Japanese restaurant. His company is moving him to London! How exciting. I've known him since middle school, and it was nice to catch up before he left. He looks sooo excited to go... I'm still training for this 10K on August 15th, and my daily progress is being faithfully recorded on my DailyStrength journal, which is also being advertised all over the site starting tomorrow. Eeps! It's actually been great motivation for me to stick to my plan. I ran 5 miles on Sunday in my toe-shoes, which is AWESOME, except for the blisters on the balls of my feet :( and I ran 3 miles today in them. I remember when I couldn't even manage more than 2 miles just a few weeks ago... Love the progress.