Midnite's Global Journey of Spiritual Discovery* - Tiki Travel

M midnite Member 37? 47' N, 122? 26' W Joined: Mar 25, 2002 Posts: 1230	M midnite Posted posted on Tue, Apr 14, 2009 1:18 AM HOMEWARD BOUND SAN DIEGO 2009 Was someone on house arrest 'round here? I mean, it's a great big world, get out there and order a sandwich! Alas, the major travel plans for Spring '09 were postponed leaving me with a spell of "staying at home-itis." Not to worry, your intrepid tiki pal will be putting himself in harm's way in some faraway port soon enough. So, with a wee spot of time on our hands and an itching to see someplace, where do the midnites go? "Do they go to Marseille, or Arugala Bay or some far archipelago? Nah, they go to San Diego." San Diego, my home for a couple of years in the mid-70's. I had not been back since '76, save for that wild overnight stay at Jack Murphy in 1982 to see The Who. My Dad left from here for the PTO in '44, then came back to San Diego as a drill instructor during the Korean War to train new Marines. My Dad's old Mr. Bali Hai mug started my journey into tiki, so let's go back to "Dago" and hoist a few for old time's sake, for dear old Dad, and Mom too. While I once was a resident of this great city, my recollections of what to see and do back then revolved around the ice cream truck, slamming a tennis ball against the garage door, and eating at A&W. So, I contacted some of my San Diego sources for insightful advice and came away with some great suggestions. The first was the "Tractor Room", a "the Mid-West meets New York" steakhouse (as the manager put it). The only bad thing about Tractor Room was the fact we had to leave early for the Giants-Padres game. We ate WAY too much and were only able to try a couple of cocktails. I had the buffalo burger and the wild boar spring roll. My Mai Tai was made with the correct ingredients and was quite good. Michelle's Prohibition Punch was first-rate. My only complaint would be serving the Mai Tai in a tall ceramic bamboo chimney mug, proper presentation and all. I so wished to try the Zombie, but one more drink was akin to a wafer thin mint if you catch my drift. I will be back to the Tractor Room. The Padres took it to our lowly Giants as is to be expected and the rain delay put a rather dreary mood on the event. Blecchh! Still, that's one more MLB Park for me and another chance to heckle a few of my favorites. Saturday brought a bit of better weather for a trip to the San Dieo Zoo and a chance to make faces at the animals. Hey, that was fun when I was nine years old and this time round at least the Meerkat seemed interested. I liked the zoo and so did Michelle even if she was struck with paralyzing abject fear as we traversed the zoo high up in the aerial tramway. An unexpected spot of severe turbulence hit our, and only ours, bucket but my steadying presence saved the day. Highlights of the visit were of course my bonding with the aforementioned Meerkat and seeing a tortoise which was likely not far from the very same spot I saw him roughly thirty-five years earlier. They move quite slowly, you know. Saturday night we ventured to Shelter Island and a stay at Humphrey's. Quite an impressive facade that. Wow. Our room, overlooking the stage, was spacious and comfortable fitting the bill perfectly. We had some time to kill before dinner and because I make it a rule never to eat at the zoo we were a bit famished. What's that there? A room service menu? "Hot dog!" Well, more like "club sandwich!" A decent one at that, too. Hit the spot. Tiki and a club sandwich: as the USMC say, "F#@!&ing Aay!!" A quick walk took us to Bali Hai, where one might say it all started for me. Some quick back story: after my Dad died I held a large garage sale. After days of sorting through and tagging items I found his circa 1975 Mr. Bali Hai mug. Hey, I remembered this weird thing, it's two straw hole head, it's sleepy countenance. I recalled how years before I came across this beast wondering, "What the...?" Wow, what memories it must have held. A real special night for my parents, a rare night away from, well, me. This was a near heirloom, a family treasure? Five bucks...sold! Alas, the financial windfall it provided was gone too soon but the memory of that droopy-eyed native stayed with me. A couple of years later I had this sudden urge to search for "Mr Bali Hai" on the internet and on eBay. To my utter surprise I saw the same mug selling for way more than five dollars. From that little acorn my love of drinking...uh, tiki, started to grow. So, this was going home. The birthplace of cool, as it were, for me. The Bali Hai did not disappoint, hardly. First impression, it's a bit smaller than I expected. Otherwise, because I had seen all the pictures before it was truly like visiting an old friend. I loved it, it was a special night. We sat at the bar, chatted up the bartender, ate at the best window table, and took in the view of San Diego's beautiful downtown skyline. It would have been great to be there with my parents and drink out of a big ceramic head as my Dad refused to tell war stories. Still, you take what you can, eh? Being there with the fair Michelle, knowing my Dad liked this place, took my Mom there, and that old mug started me in this aesthetic? Priceless. My expectations for the cocktail experience at Bali Hai were fairly muted. I was keenly aware that the drinks may not be what I thought of as top-notch. Well, virtually without exception our selections were very good and in a few cases, excellent. We started, of course, with a Mr. Bali Hai and a Goof Punch. The MBH was a bit sweet for me but I could dig it nonetheless, and I truly liked the Goof Punch. I had a Zombie which was as much a visual as a taste treat. Superb, go home and slap your Mother good. We tried eight cocktails total as we were able to come the next afternoon for a little Easter Sunday imbibing. Were we lucky? Did we catch an unusually good pair of bartenders? Has my palate diminished? Don't know, don't care. While the food at Bali Hai was run of the mill I would be back every week to have a few more Zombies, Aloha Kisses, and Goof Punches. Oh, I did order Mai Tai number 2,035,205...and while "World Famous" and stronger than model glue it is not for me. My brain is still stumbling around Shelter Island looking for the Red Sails Inn. San Diego is one great city. I liked Shelter Island and the surrounding area quite a bit. It seemed similar to Huntington and Newport back when I was growing up in those towns. I cannot wait to go back. Why did I stay away for so long? Although next time, no zoo. We'll go to Sea World! Fortunate Son, midnite

HOMEWARD BOUND

SAN DIEGO 2009

Was someone on house arrest 'round here? I mean, it's a great big world, get out there and order a sandwich! Alas, the major travel plans for Spring '09 were postponed leaving me with a spell of "staying at home-itis." Not to worry, your intrepid tiki pal will be putting himself in harm's way in some faraway port soon enough. So, with a wee spot of time on our hands and an itching to see someplace, where do the midnites go?

"Do they go to Marseille, or Arugala Bay
or some far archipelago?
Nah, they go to San Diego."

San Diego, my home for a couple of years in the mid-70's. I had not been back since '76, save for that wild overnight stay at Jack Murphy in 1982 to see The Who. My Dad left from here for the PTO in '44, then came back to San Diego as a drill instructor during the Korean War to train new Marines. My Dad's old Mr. Bali Hai mug started my journey into tiki, so let's go back to "Dago" and hoist a few for old time's sake, for dear old Dad, and Mom too.

While I once was a resident of this great city, my recollections of what to see and do back then revolved around the ice cream truck, slamming a tennis ball against the garage door, and eating at A&W. So, I contacted some of my San Diego sources for insightful advice and came away with some great suggestions. The first was the "Tractor Room", a "the Mid-West meets New York" steakhouse (as the manager put it). The only bad thing about Tractor Room was the fact we had to leave early for the Giants-Padres game. We ate WAY too much and were only able to try a couple of cocktails. I had the buffalo burger and the wild boar spring roll. My Mai Tai was made with the correct ingredients and was quite good. Michelle's Prohibition Punch was first-rate. My only complaint would be serving the Mai Tai in a tall ceramic bamboo chimney mug, proper presentation and all. I so wished to try the Zombie, but one more drink was akin to a wafer thin mint if you catch my drift. I will be back to the Tractor Room.

The Padres took it to our lowly Giants as is to be expected and the rain delay put a rather dreary mood on the event. Blecchh! Still, that's one more MLB Park for me and another chance to heckle a few of my favorites. Saturday brought a bit of better weather for a trip to the San Dieo Zoo and a chance to make faces at the animals. Hey, that was fun when I was nine years old and this time round at least the Meerkat seemed interested. I liked the zoo and so did Michelle even if she was struck with paralyzing abject fear as we traversed the zoo high up in the aerial tramway. An unexpected spot of severe turbulence hit our, and only ours, bucket but my steadying presence saved the day. Highlights of the visit were of course my bonding with the aforementioned Meerkat and seeing a tortoise which was likely not far from the very same spot I saw him roughly thirty-five years earlier. They move quite slowly, you know.

Saturday night we ventured to Shelter Island and a stay at Humphrey's. Quite an impressive facade that. Wow. Our room, overlooking the stage, was spacious and comfortable fitting the bill perfectly. We had some time to kill before dinner and because I make it a rule never to eat at the zoo we were a bit famished. What's that there? A room service menu? "Hot dog!" Well, more like "club sandwich!" A decent one at that, too. Hit the spot. Tiki and a club sandwich: as the USMC say, "F#@!&ing Aay!!"

A quick walk took us to Bali Hai, where one might say it all started for me. Some quick back story: after my Dad died I held a large garage sale. After days of sorting through and tagging items I found his circa 1975 Mr. Bali Hai mug. Hey, I remembered this weird thing, it's two straw hole head, it's sleepy countenance. I recalled how years before I came across this beast wondering, "What the...?" Wow, what memories it must have held. A real special night for my parents, a rare night away from, well, me. This was a near heirloom, a family treasure? Five bucks...sold! Alas, the financial windfall it provided was gone too soon but the memory of that droopy-eyed native stayed with me. A couple of years later I had this sudden urge to search for "Mr Bali Hai" on the internet and on eBay. To my utter surprise I saw the same mug selling for way more than five dollars. From that little acorn my love of drinking...uh, tiki, started to grow.

So, this was going home. The birthplace of cool, as it were, for me.

The Bali Hai did not disappoint, hardly. First impression, it's a bit smaller than I expected. Otherwise, because I had seen all the pictures before it was truly like visiting an old friend. I loved it, it was a special night. We sat at the bar, chatted up the bartender, ate at the best window table, and took in the view of San Diego's beautiful downtown skyline. It would have been great to be there with my parents and drink out of a big ceramic head as my Dad refused to tell war stories. Still, you take what you can, eh? Being there with the fair Michelle, knowing my Dad liked this place, took my Mom there, and that old mug started me in this aesthetic? Priceless.

My expectations for the cocktail experience at Bali Hai were fairly muted. I was keenly aware that the drinks may not be what I thought of as top-notch. Well, virtually without exception our selections were very good and in a few cases, excellent. We started, of course, with a Mr. Bali Hai and a Goof Punch. The MBH was a bit sweet for me but I could dig it nonetheless, and I truly liked the Goof Punch. I had a Zombie which was as much a visual as a taste treat. Superb, go home and slap your Mother good. We tried eight cocktails total as we were able to come the next afternoon for a little Easter Sunday imbibing. Were we lucky? Did we catch an unusually good pair of bartenders? Has my palate diminished? Don't know, don't care. While the food at Bali Hai was run of the mill I would be back every week to have a few more Zombies, Aloha Kisses, and Goof Punches. Oh, I did order Mai Tai number 2,035,205...and while "World Famous" and stronger than model glue it is not for me. My brain is still stumbling around Shelter Island looking for the Red Sails Inn.

San Diego is one great city. I liked Shelter Island and the surrounding area quite a bit. It seemed similar to Huntington and Newport back when I was growing up in those towns. I cannot wait to go back. Why did I stay away for so long? Although next time, no zoo. We'll go to Sea World!

Fortunate Son,
midnite

Post #446920 by midnite on Tue, Apr 14, 2009 1:18 AM