Tapping Princess

After "So you think you can dance" now she wants to be a tap dancer.

Chronicles of a Stay-cation: San Diego Surfing & Snorkeling

Our second day there we had breakfast with Marcos, Josephine, Rod, Mala, and their kids in Old Town. Rod suggested The Old Town Mexican Cafe.

Marcos felt right at home and became nostalgic with his grandmother's cooking, he just had to take a picture.

It was a very good time catching up with everyone and the food was super delicious.

After breakfast, we took a short walk to central Old Town.

Our next stop, Pacific Beach for a little surfing. Mike and Marcos checking out the waves for us.

This was my first time surfing in 5 years. A bit nervous but really excited. The waves weren't too big and the water was perfect - a warm 72 degrees.

Trying to catch a wave. Josephine had more experience surfing in Hawaii. The waves were good but the sets were coming in every 2 - 3 seconds which made it hard for us to paddle out, turn our boards around and then catch a wave. Josephine got a couple of waves in; I was content with getting in at least one.

After a couple of hours at Pacific Beach, we headed to La Jolla - one of my favorite places to go when visiting San Diego. We showed Marcos the cove where he could go snorkeling.

Chronicles of a Stay-cation: San Diego FlowRiding

Our last full day, we ventured out to Mission Beach. Initially we were going to go surfing again but I heard about the Wave House on the Travel Channel and wanted to check it out. The Wave House has two wave machines: The Flow Barrel & The Flow Rider.

The Flow Barrel incorporates and mimics waves that break over reefs and creates a hollow barrel. It was amazing to watch experience surfers flip, cut, and ride the barrel with ease. Though wanting to try, I reminded myself that I am not that young anymore and haven't surfed in 5 years. Mike on the other hand had more confident in me and inquired about the price. Get this people, for 1 hour, you get to ride the waves for $15 dollars + one time registration fee of $10. That is crazy cheap!!!

After inquiring, we were told that in order to ride the Flow Barrel, every rider needs to get on the Flow Rider. What another wave??!! Where?!! We walked to the opposite end of the Wave House and there we found a much "tamer" wave with no barrel!!! My kind of wave!!

After signing up for the session, Josephine and I, along with Marcos and Mike sat to watch the group before our session take on the Flow Rider. It was fun and funny watching people get on the board and then wipe out. The group we watched had about 10 - 12 people in it and we calculated that each would get about 5 times on the board. As 3 o'clock rolled by, I started to get nervous - mainly because I didn't want to get hurt - especially while falling (which I expected to do more than stand on the board.

To our excitement, we found out that that there was only 5 in our session - more riding time!! For fun, riders can also boogie board.

Below is one of my first attempts, after getting over the fear of falling and finding out that it doesn't hurt at all, I was more confident and focused to master the board.

Our instructor Logan was a huge help in that he would tell you how to improve on your ride; because our group was so small, we were all able to get a semi-private lesson. He noticed that I kept opening up my right shoulder and shifting my board to the right instead of going straight - which is what you need to do. So he taught me to reach down with my left hand and skim the water - actually straightening my board. I was so stoked afterwards!!!

So those of you visiting San Diego soon, this is one to put on your to-do list. And although I love surfing, I love this even more because you don't have to wait for the wave, you don't have to paddle out (which is the most taxing ) and you get the "perfect" wave each time...Did I mention it was only $15 dollars?