So moving on down I-5 I found that the San Diego area is really not far at all. I got to hit some pretty famous towns in skateboarding today. Carlsbad, Delmar, Encinitas, and San Diego. I decided to drive all the way down to San Diego first and then hit up the other parks on the way back. The directions to the park are soooo easy - drive south on I-5 and exit Washington St., turn right and got 2blks down and you are there. You can't miss it!!
Special thanks to all who were involved in making this DIY park happen!!! This is truly the coolest park in California. I mean, they have everything here, vert ramps, super parks, pools, surfing, great food, beauitful women, and lots of traffic... But this park is so cool just to look at and experience. I got tons of pics but will hold back a bit. However, after taking a look at this park, I may know now what my future holds.
I went out for some really good Taiwanese food (the real deal) last night. Very tastey!! After that Wendy and I relaxed a bit and headed out to the Yogurt place again. I just had to get some more of that. It was a good night, hanging out with a very special person in my life. Alas we are just old friends now but it is really cool to see her before she leaves.
I got another good night sleep and planned to head to San Diego today. It really is not very far from where I am now but everyone out here talks as if the next town is 10 hours away. I guess it is the traffic or they are content with their immediate surroundings. I never am and always seem to want to see new places, skate new spots..
There are many variables here but it adds more ingredients to my think tank on the way back home. SO, the park! Rad, the concrete is much smoother than Burnside but the speed factor still exists. They were doing work on a major section of the park so some of the speed was being cut down with that feature eliminated. I tried to tread lightly in here, I did not want to mess anything up for those who are building/riding this park so I stayed away from the construction area. I also stayed out of the pool that borders this area. Show proper respect...
But the place is rad!! The pool out back is tight and fun and the channel that runs along the back section is superb! I especially was into the parking block coping in the flow area and the totally amazing BBQ area. I will have something like that someday!!!! wow!
SO I skated for over an hour and was just having a ton of fun here today!! I started to get the travelin' feeling and was thinking about the other parks I wanted to hit so I was out of there. But I will come back someday!!
I drove around the area a bit and I think I really like San Diego - this whole place seems to be more laid back than LA. The drivers are even less crazy! I only had a day here so my time was limited but I wanted to get down even for a bit.
The next stop was the park in Clairemont, CA only a few miles north of San Diego. THis is a YMCA that has a vert ramp, street course, mini's and a pretty rad pool. This is the park that was used in that animation some of you might have seen with the kids riding the vert ramp.
When I pulled up, I couldn't help but notice the killer vert ramp there. I was already getting mentally prepared for it and thinking that today was the day for some late grabs. When I got out of the car and looked across the park - I then noticed a whole lot of groms and they were all wearing the same neon green T-shirt. Then I noticed the buss outside and asked a couple dudes about it "is a skate camp goin on?" the one guy just ignored me and the other one was like "we're from Escondido dude" and finally the third one said yes, the park is closed, we are helping with the camp". thanks.
So I moved on to the Encinitas YMCA. This is only another 20 minutes away. It is Chris Miller's home park, on any evening you can see Kevin Staab, etc. ripping the place. SO I was very excited to ride that kidney and the vert ramp there. But when I pulled up, there were even more groms with even more matching T-shirts and the office was closed. Skate camp all day again!! park closed. FUCK
Well, I did get to walk around and take pics through the fence. Fenced in parks, locked and dangling in front of you... Oh well. I'll have to come back again sometime. BUt all was not lost, there is always the beach. SO I drove around Encinitas and was trying to find a good skateshop. All I could find was some K2 cookie cutter thing. Free wi fi was also difficult to find.
I moved on to Oceanside. When I got into town I felt like I was in Miami or something, it is a really nice area and very clean. It is definititely not a dirty surf town that I was hoping to find... Anyway I did get to go to the California Surf Museum. SO that was pretty cool, they had lots of old surf boards and memorabilia with a great description of the history of surfing. I stopped at a couple surf/skate shops, trying to find a board for Calabro - still not.
I walked around the beach and saw lots of bikinis - yes. The surf was not really happening, mostly beginners and no waves that were very good. SO, I hung around for a bit and took it all in. It was getting near traffic time so I decided to head back to the LA area. This will conclude my skatetrip in California. Good stuff and bad stuff - but mostly good. I think traveling here with a group is much better than solo. You almost need a crew to keep you going, motivate you to shred, etc. I just read a thing on Concrete Disciples about this Canadian crew that came through and got to ride Burgers and all these other backyarders and all that - they were all friendly... It would be better to come with a group.. enough said
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