Cookies from Milk Bar

A few weeks ago, I received some food gifts from Kirbie...

The contents of box with the stamped "Milk" logo was finally enjoyed earlier this week...

Station Tavern 3x

Lunch was across the street from the Bunny Kitty Mural, good ole Station Tavern.

I knew KDB had eaten here before and liked it, plus I knew the teens would like their burgers...

It was nice to be here on a quiet Friday morning instead of the horrendous crowded situation that was the South Park Walkabout  earlier this year....

Return to Captain Kirk's Coffee & Bunny Kitty mural in South Park

KD's brother (aka KDB) was in town for a week to spend time with family. It was nice of him to set aside some time to meet up with me, along with his niece KDD and my daughter (they've been friends since birth). He gave me carte blanche to choose our agenda for the day.

Where to? To the leafy lined streets of South Park...

MFH's birthday dessert @ Up2You Cafe

Just a few minutes later MFH and I were at our dessert destination...

One cool thing about being on vacation and going out on the weekdays was that it wasn't crowded at all...

Hot pot lunch for MFH - E & Drink revisit plus sugar cane juice

Now that I'm back to work, there will be fewer lunch outings. I'll just have to relive them through these posts...

This particular lunch was a belated bday celebration for MFH (Mi Firme Heina)...

You can't go wrong with hot pot...

Return to West Coast Cafe

As we left the beach area, we did a slow drive by the new boutique hotel, Pier South. It hasn't opened yet, but many locals are buzzing about the impending opening...

Plans to open the hotel have been delayed over the past couple of years. The old Seacoast Inn was demolished to make way for this upscale hotel which will boast an inhouse Cohn restaurant called Sea 180. Not sure how good that will be; I'm not too fond of the Cohn restos.

Room rates are projected to be $250 and up. No offense, but only tourists will pay that rate, not IB locals. The city is banking on "eco-tourists" to fork over the cash. I'm sure there will be curious locals and other folks from San Diego (us included) who might want to check it out for a staycation.

Our next destination was a local coffee shop I hadn't been to since earlier this year...

Peterson's Donut Corner

This past weekend, I thought it was about time to finally visit the famed Peterson's Donut Corner in Escondido...

Even though it's out of the way for us, we made use of our time up there by going to several other places with Peterson's being the first stop...

Yes, it's literally on the corner of 9th and S. Escondido Blvd.  It's open 24/7 and has a large selection of goodies...I'm sure they get their fair share of characters at 2 am...

Let's take a look, shall we...

Bibbey's Shells & Rocks

Before we left, Bert and the girls were goofing off on some play structures for kids while I crossed the street to take a closer look at these murals...

(This shot taken after we visited)

which are housed at a local shell shop, a local landmark here in IB...

Return to Cow-a-Bunga

At the very end of the pier are three shops, one selling beachy items like flip flops, sand toys, and boogie boards while the other two were food related which makes them a no-brainer for folks who don't want to wander too far off for food. Next to the sandwich shop is this locally owned and self-proclaimed "micro ice creamery"...

In addition to homemade ice cream, they also offered coffee drinks, Hawaiian shaved ice, sundaes, and other types of baked goods...

The girls were here for one thing only...

The Tin Fish @the Imperial Beach Pier

The last week of vacation, we took TC and her friend out to IB...

Not so long ago, the sleepy beachtown of IB was used as the backdrop for the now cancelled HBO series, "John in Cincinnati". The beach is situated at the mouth of the Tijuana River Estuary, has a cool fishing pier, interesting local characters, Star Dust Donuts (not at the beach), and more...

All we knew was that TC was excited to be near the water again while Bert and I relaxed...

Kamayan style lunch!

How do you feel about eating with your hands?

Sometime last month Bert and TC attended a "welcome party" for the new dance troupe members...

The lunch was a traditional "kamayan" style affair...