Hi everyone! Just wanted to share some highlights from last weekend. You may have seen me hashtagging some photos #WESTWeekend. My best friend (Whitney) has a hyphenated last name, and her initials are WEST. The weekend was named in her honor because her two college best friends (Dominique and Riley) and I kidnapped her for a night and we spent a night in San Diego. It was so much fun!
Whitney thought she and Riley were spending the day together in Orange County. Dominique and I met up with them at their favorite little bar in Orange, CA near where they all went to college at Chapman. Whitney was so surprised — she almost cried!
Whitney, Dominique, Riley, and me behind the bar at O’s. Please don’t mind my entire arm of bracelets.
We had a drink at O’s and some really intense purple shooter and then headed to begin the weekend!
Our first stop was Stone Brewery in Escondido. I had been wanting to check this place out since my IPA obsession began. It was PACKED but we scored a table near the outside bar.
I did a flight of 5 different beers
- Stone Ruination IPA Wildflower Honey & Carolina Reaper Peppers (SO peppery I couldn’t drink it).
- Cali-Belgique
- Go To IPA –> my fav
- Grapefruit Slam IPA –> second fav
- Stone IPA –> a classic
alright alright alright.
It was so fun incessantly quoting lines from #SELFIE relaxing and catching up with these girls! [Side-note: Riley recently got engaged (!) and I hadn’t seen her since, so it was also fun to celebrate her this weekend!]
Of course I had to commemorate the trip with a candle. Don’t worry — it’s pomegranate scented.
We drove to DT SD and made a pit-stop at Ralph’s before checking into our hotel for some supplies (read: Chex Mix and tequila). Everyone’s goal was to “drink like college.” Well, that’s a lie, my goal was NOT to do that. There’s no way I can do that anymore. #old.
We got ready and goofed around a little and mostly took some selfies.
…and headed out for a late dinner and drinks. We explored The Gaslamp and noshed at Las Hadas. The service was great and we all enjoyed the food.
After dinner, we bumped around at various bars (amidst a gaggle of bachelorette parties). The first place we ended up at (The Reef?) lured us in with it’s $2 beer specials and overly friendly security guard. He personally escorted us to the next bar — sweet of him, but not our scene.
We ended up at Barley Mash. I have no clue whether or not this place is “cool” or not but we had a good time. Things that were awesome:
- not having to wait in line due to some friends we met outside. Shout out to the guys in town for the Padres/Tigers game who let us stand with them.
- early 2000s hip hop music. (To the windows! To the wall!)
- #SELFIE and Drunk in Love being played. That’s all I need.
I drank the least, but somehow ended up being the biggest mess at the end of the night. #sweatmonster.
The next morning, I woke up at 8 and squeezed in a super short run before everyone else was up and about. I headed out from our hotel for an out and back along the marina.
I enjoyed checking out the “Unconditional Surrender” statute and seeing so many people out on a Sunday morning! 
We caffeinated and hydrated and then headed up to La Jolla for brunch before we got on the road. I enjoyed my challah french toast at Nosh.
It was a great 24 hours and we accomplished our main goal of surprising Whitney with a fun weekend! I’ve gotten to know Riley and Dominique really well over the years and I always enjoy spending time with them! I also accomplished my secondary of keeping a secret for more than ten seconds — so that was a victory.
- Favorite things to do in San Diego?
- Favorite IPA?
- SD people What’s Barley Mash’s reputation?
