Southern California: pre-Awakenings

Sunny California!

I've arrived in San Diego and have been attending Awakenings Health Institute for a week now. I can definitely say that I'm so happy to be on the west coast, for so many reasons - #1 of which is Awakenings. For more information about what exactly Awakenings is, please click the link - I have enough other things to describe that I'll refrain from going into detail about what they do in this post.

My friend Allison and I arrived in San Diego last Thursday evening around 8:30 pm (Pacific time) after two relatively uneventful flights from Richmond. The experience of transferring into a miniature aisle wheelchair and being strapped in, then wheeled backward to my seat is a slightly harrowing one to say the least, but was much better on our second, much larger plane from Houston to SD. Upon arrival I called Enterprise, our car rental company, so they could send someone to pick us up and take us to their off-site location. Allison and I were a little concerned that we didn't know what sort of vehicle we were looking for to pick us up curbside at the terminal, but that proved to be irrelevant when a sleek, black Hummer H3 pulled up and a young guy in a shirt and tie got out to load our bags into the massive vehicle. Picking up the car was no problem at all, and they even waived the $20/day under age 25-fee because the car has assistive controls. Once we got in the car (a Dodge Avenger), I realized that the controls were actually different than the ones in my car, so that took some adjusting. Luckily the new controls are relatively intuitive, so I'm managing just fine. We headed for our hotel, a Hampton Inn in Del Mar, checked in, and passed out.

After a good night's sleep, we set out to explore Del Mar and Solana Beach on Friday. First, we checked with the hotel to see if we could move to a bigger wheelchair accessible room, because the one we were in was a little tight and the bathroom wasn't quite big enough. They moved us when a much-improved room came available in two days. We drove out to Solana Beach so I could scope out the Awakenings location, then we found a cute little cafe called "Americana" where we ate lunch. We wandered around the town for a bit, Allison dipped a toe in the Pacific, and we headed back to the hotel. We stumbled upon this really nice Italian restaurant around 9:30 for dinner and had a fantastic meal.

On Saturday, we did some more exploring. We drove down to La Jolla, parked the car, and started looking for a place to have lunch. While strolling down the sidewalk next to all the waterfront restaurants and shops, we found a public wheelchair lift that allowed access to several floors in a large plaza. Not knowing what to expect, I took the lift up to the first floor of the plaza, and Allison and I followed "To Restaurant ---->"-type signs around some corners, up a couple floors in the elevator, around another corner, and through a blank looking door. We popped out at the back entrance of this beautiful, trendy terrace restaurant with a fantastic view of the ocean. Pretty lucky! We definitely felt like we were at the "place to be" on a Saturday afternoon in La Jolla.

view from the restaurant

After lunch (which basically turned into dinner), we did some shopping and headed back to the hotel. After a couple of hours, it was time to pick up Laura from the airport. To pass the time, we decided to have a drink and an appetizer in downtown San Diego near the airport while we waited for Laura. We ended up at a very authentic Argentinian restaurant, where we had a glass of wine and some empanadas before picking up Laura and heading back to the Hampton Inn.

We expected Sunday to be the only full day the three of us would have to spend together, so we decided to go on a little scenic trip up the coast. We got to Laguna Beach around 2 and had chips and guacamole, fish tacos, and margaritas at La Brisas (thanks to Crystal's recommendation). The view from the patio was amazing and the food was excellent.

view from the gazebo next to the restaurant

After lunch/dinner (seems to be a theme with us...), we drove up to Newport Beach and watched the sun set over Balboa Island. Then we made our back to the hotel so I could get prepared for my first day at Awakenings!

One of the things that I noticed immediately here is the accessibility of all the restaurants and public places. Everywhere we've been has had a ramp and a wheelchair accessible bathroom, no matter how remote or small the place. I can't express how much easier that makes life for me - I feel like I have the freedom to go wherever I want without the constant worry of being able to get in or get to the restroom. It's definitely helping me fall in love with Southern California...