Lauren of all Trades: That Time I Went to Ensenada...

West coast here I am was!

I got to be on the West Coast for the first time since I was like 3, and took the opportunity to go on a li'l 3-day jaunt to Ensenada, Mexico via the Carnival Inspiration.

None of the excursions seemed worth the cost so we decided to just do some exploring and get some delicious tacos!...

From the ship we could see this enormous Mexican flag. When we got off, we headed towards it as it seemed like a good way to go - and it just kept getting bigger and bigger.

As we went over a bridge, I spotted the fountain that I had seen online and was hoping to come across. From how people described it, I thought it would be further away, but it was right there!

Before we actually got to it, we passed a giant anchor that was on display ~~because of something in Spanish~~ for some reason.

The music and the fountain seemed to be taking a break, so I couldn't get a good photo. But the ground was covered in spouts that were programed to dance to music.

I waited a short time to try to get a photo, but to no avail, so we headed into the city.

There were a lot of people trying to get us to eat and drink in their restaurants and bars, but it was 10am, and we'd just had breakfast on the ship. We just ignored them and kept walking, but it was kind of annoying.

I'm a sucker for tacky souvenirs so they caught my eye right and left. I finally found a magnet I couldn't say no to: an Ensenada life saver with a Carnival ship in the hole.

We were ready for lunch when Husband realized that he hadn't downloaded the google maps of Ensenada to his phone so that he could look up somewhere good. So now we were on the hunt for free wi-fi. We pretty quickly found a McDonald's and each got an ice cream cone because it sounded tasty.

We sat down to eat our cones and use their wi-fi and selected 240 Grill for our taco destination.

After what felt like forever, we finally located it, and there was just a tiny amount of seating.

Surprising for somewhere with such high ratings. It was off the beaten path so we had no trouble getting seats. We looked over the menu for a second then talked to the waiter.

We knew we wanted ceviche tacos (served on a tostata) and he confirmed that it was an excellent choice and asked for a recommendation for another taco. His English wasn't great so we didn't really know what we were getting. It might have been swordfish or chicken or something else, but both the mystery meat and the ceviche tacos were delicious.

The owner checked in on us a few times since the restaurant wasn't busy - and probably also because he spoke better English and wanted to make sure we were enjoying our food and Husband's beer. He didn't have diet coke so I was forced to drink regular, but such is life.

He was really friendly and just added to our enjoyment of his tasty food. The tacos - by the way - were huge! The ceviche came with an extra tostata but the mystery meat was just one huge taco. So I ate half of the meat with my fork before eating it as a taco.

240 Grill also had three homemade sauces to pick from and were advised as to which went well with which taco. We were warned that one of them was really spicy and to only use a tiny bit, so I decided to just skip it. The tacos we flavorful enough with out any added sauce, but I did add a small amount of one of them to my mystery taco just to try and it was quite yummy.

We finished up our meal and headed back to the ship which was just about 15 minutes away.

I remembered that I wanted to get a good churro while in Mexico when I spotted Cafe Churreria.

I just wanted one but they wouldn't sell me less than 4. I should have walked out and found a street vendor. But I was also interested in their free wi-fi and figured I could eat the rest later. Then they took for friggin' ever.

I asked for them to go because I had exhausted my need for their wi-fi, and wanted to just get back to the ship at this point. And they took even longer! All I was offered as compensation was free dipping sauce which I didn't want because I knew it would be put in a disposable plastic cup.

They finally got them to us and we made our way to where the fountain was when we first got off the ship. We sat down to enjoy the music and water and eat a much anticipated churro.

Meh. At least we didn't go out of our way.

So unremarkable, I didn't think to take photos of them. They were over cooked - shocking as they took so long and just generally meh. I ate about half and decided to take them back on board because maybe they'd be good with ice cream. Also the lady never said why they took so long, just apologized three times.

Should have bought one on the street.

The fountain was much more active at this time and I was able to get the photos I wanted so all in all it was an excellent visit.