Life of Wry

So… the Peterson-Frames are on the road. Two of us are returning to Davis, and one isn’t. We checked into the Sheraton La Jolla–right across from campus–last night after our late start (kid’s gotta get a final round of golf in, right?).

Woke to a stunning, coastal Southern California morning, sun streaming through the window. This is going to be the last time we have to wrestle Peter out of bed for school, so here’s that shot:

And actually, it wasn’t school school… it was move-in day, so after a pricy hotel breakfast, we headed over to Revelle where Peter could check in, get his key and move into his new home.

Which is exciting, but you know what else our guy did right before he checked out a shopping cart?  He registered to vote! Once turning 18, he could have registered online, but that hadn’t yet happened. Do these Revelle people know their students? They set up a station for just this purpose which was so convenient, he just did it. So pleased!!

Then the shopping cart part…

^^ That’s Peter balancing golf clubs atop his piles of bedding, towels, a lamp and other essentials. Jim’s wheeling the clothes. We are heading over to Meteor.

Oh… and then we learned they don’t have elevators in “The Fleet” buildings. So we carried all this stuff up to the third floor. Peter’s room is the middle room of those shown on the third floor.

Fun fact: the six buildings that comprise The Fleet (besides Meteor, they include Challenger, Beagle, Discovery, Atlantis and Galathea) were the first dorms built on the UCSD campus back in the early 60s. The very first! They are not modern, they are not well featured, but they do have a particular charm. (Not really.) They’re vintage. (Not really.) They’re old. They’re small. I found them to be a bit smelly. But, the good news, Peter’s moving into a college dormitory (!) and his living situations can only get better from here.

The other Revelle dorms include Argo, Blake…

And three Keeling apartment buildings (with ocean views and very nice rooftop gardens). The apartments are for second year students only.

A LOT of students live in this very compact community. It is going to be incredibly fun. They also have a newly renovated, very modern dining hall/restaurant (called 64 Degrees, referring to the average daily temperature), a store and a bunch of other useful stuff…

Here’s Peter’s room (it looks directly at 64 Degrees and the quad area in the center of the residential community):

It’s a double that’s been outfitted for three people and has a bunk bed and a loft bed. Peter’s got the loft.

Any Revelle kid who drew the loft… well… the space is tiny, but no complaints… he’s planning on making it work, all 6′ of him.

Here are Jim and Peter setting up his new laptop:

His clothes all fit into the wardrobe, though a good half of the space is taken up with his golf clubs! Priorities, people.

Each Fleet suite has five double rooms (three of which have been converted to triples) for a total of thirteen residents per suite. The rooms share a common area.

There is also a bathroom with two stalls, two showers, two sinks, ten cubbies and ten towel hangers (they have to get creative with the three extra guys in the suite).

Not sure who’s to blame on this one…

Can only conclude that, while among the best and brightest, Revelle students are science-focused and may need editors for their writing…

Got Peter all moved in, then the three of us went down to La Jolla Shores for a wonderful lunch at Piatti. Peter was eager to get back however to meet (in person) Cole, one of his roommates who was also moving in today.  Jim and I dropped him off and we took off to explore a bit.

Drove to the top of Mt. Soledad to see check out a Veterans’ Memorial with an incredible 360 degree view of the entire region:

North to La Jolla:

South to San Diego, Coronado, Mission Bay, etc:

East to the Laguna Mountains:

^^ That’s I-5 below.

Peter said yes to a dinner out with Jim and me (yay!), so after a few hours we picked him up and headed south to check out Gaslamp Quarter in downtown San Diego (“Rising from the 16 square-blocks are Victorian-era buildings and modern skyscrapers that stand side by side, housing more than 100 of the city’s finest restaurants, pubs, nightclubs and retails shops.”)

We chose a place called Rockin’ Baja Lobster. We were in total agreement: best chips ever. Here’s what else we ate:

Yum yum. We had such a good time.

Big day for our new college guy!!