When
we met, Lena was living in the "guest cottage" of an elderly
San Diego couple while working 48+ hours per week and going to school
at night trying to improve her English. To say that she was not getting
a lot of sleep at that point in her life is a mild understatement!
While
the cottage was small, it had a stove, refrigerator, microwave, tv, and
bath---all the basic necessities. Steve even thoughtfully provided Lena
some home-grown roses in one of his classic gourmet milk carton vases
to brighten up her place!
Since Lena had never driven a car prior to arriving in San Diego, it was really a challenge and an adventure for her to learn to drive here in San Diego and to get her license after she bought her FIRST AUTOMOBILE!
Lena
and I had our first date on 14 Nov 1998 when I took her to visit Seaport
Village. As I (later) shared with her, when I initially saw her ‘unfold’
her 5 ft 10 inches from her car, I thought: “Holly Shit—THIS
relationship is NEVER going to work out...I’m way too SHORT for her!”
We
visited the top floor of a hotel near SEAPORT VILLAGE so that Lena could
see the Coronado Bridge which goes between National City (on the left)
to Coronado (on the right).
Lena
found the 'touristy' atmosphere and life at Seaport Village very interesting
and refreshing. The view of the Navy ships passing through the harbor
beyond the luxury boat anchorage near the Marriott on a sunny day was
relaxing.
After
meeting (and Steve's deciding MAYBE Lena was NOT too tall after all),
we both enjoyed visting Coronado and the Del Coronado Hotel on another
occasion early in our relationship.
The
wide, white, sandy beach at the Hotel Del is one of the most beautiful
in San Diego. But, of course, at $250/night (and up!) for a room at the
Hotel Del, one would EXPECT to have nice beaches!
The
nice part about the Hotel Del is ANYONE is welcome to visit the beach,
have a drink or cup of coffee, and enjoy the scenery!
Not
long after we met, we went to see the “Magic Kingdom” and Lena
met MICKEY MOUSE!
It
was LOVE at first sight!
And,
of course, Lena was simply THRILLED with the many different and exciting
rides!
And,
what would a trip to Disneyland be without meeting the famous DONALD DUCK?
While
Seaworld was fun, Steve had a hard time getting past the concept that
it would require a REALLY BIG FRYING PAN to cook off these huge guys!
And,
as everyone knows, when you've seen ONE fish, you've pretty much seen
them all! So, we did not take too many photos at Seaworld. (But, we did
LOVE some of the beautiful flowers there.)
We
visited a section of the coast near Carlsbad and Lena’s choice of
dress color certainly went well with these FLOWERS!
Even
Steve finally got caught up in the ‘spirit of the occasion.’
One
advantage to living near the ocean is being able to have enjoy dinner
while watching the waves rolling into shore. Marina (who lives in St.
Petersburg) and her boyfriend, Barclay, celebrated her birthday with us
in Del Mar.
Most
of Lena’s friends have very busy schedules revolving around family,
school, and work. As such, the opportunities for them to get together
to simply socialize are actually few and far between.
.gif){kind=small}
CHRISTMAS
1998 Was GREAT! 
On
Lena's birthday we went shopping in the Outlet Stores at Viejas Casino
which is East of San Diego.
Viejas
has some very interesting Indian themes and designs incorporated into
their Outlet Store facilities.
After
having lost contact with one of his closest childhood friends for more
than 35 years, Steve got to see Bill Pfancuff and enjoy dinner with him
at the Claim Jumper restaurant in San Diego where they tried to catch
up on everything that had happened in their lives.
One
of our most favorite restaurants in San Diego is OSCARS which has outstanding
Greek Salads, Bread Rolls, Roasted Chicken, and PIZZA! We share the experience
here with Dave Seyller (a long term Navy friend he met in 1969 in Japan
and who now lives in Newport Beach).
Jon
Dunn, a long-term friend of Steve from Massachusetts who dates back to
his first shipboard tour in the Navy in 1967, stopped by to visit us and
we took him to the original OSCARS restaurant on Carmel Mountain Road.
John
Collins, a friend of Steve’s from Irvine, brought his “new toy”
(a Mercedes SL 600) down to show us one possibility we might consider
for Lena when it becomes necessary to replace her 1985 Chrysler La Baron!
[John subsequently replaced this Mercedes with a newer
Sport 1998 SL 600.]
On
a cold (60º F)...but, clear & sunny...DEC day, we drove to Harbor
Island to check out possibile places for booking our Christmas 2001 buffet
reservations and shot a few photos from a point next to the Rueben E.
Lee restaurant. Downtown San Diego can be seen in the background across
the bay behind Lena.
San
Diego's harbor—showing the downtown area and the bridge going across
to Coronado—was very clear and beautiful on this day.
Lena,
of course, enjoyed seeing the many boats tied up in the Marina area at
Harbor Island.
Later
the same day, we drove to the downtown ocean front area to enjoy a walk
along the pier where the old sailing ship, Star of India, is tied up.
This is the same area where the cruise liners berth when they visit San
Diego’s harbor and where Anthony’s restaurant is located.
