Ocean Beach Oktoberfest

It may already be Wednesday, but let's rewind to what I did on Saturday.  Shaun and I are continuing our exploration of San Diego, so when I read about an Oktoberfest happening in Ocean Beach, I knew it was a must do!

http://www.oboktoberfest.com/ 

The event was actually two nights, Friday and Saturday, but we decided to go Saturday because it was more of an all-day affair.  Our friend Katie joined us too as we headed to Ocean Beach, via shuttle from Pacific Beach.  Inside the "beer garden" (a gated-off concrete area with few tables) there was food, music and, most importantly, beer.  There was also an all-ages area outside of the beer garden with more food vendors and jewelry, clothes, etc. for sale- like a street fair.  When you enter the beer garden you can purchase your drink tickets, which at $6 a ticket were fairly pricey, but you could use it for beer (they had a variety of Oktoberfest options, Blue Moon, Karl Strauss...) or a mixed drink from the Jagermeister tent, if that's what you fancy.

When we got there we got down to business.  Shaun went to get our drinks and Katie and I stood in line for our food.  Katie and Shaun both got Bratwurst Sandwiches ($9) and I got a pretzel ($5) which was the biggest pretzel I had ever seen.

After devouring our delicious food we and drink, we checked out some of the street vendors and a random hypnotist show before heading back in for more drinks.  Katie had to head back early, but Shaun and I continued to enjoy our day.  We ran into our friend Emily (from Cal Poly and WOW) who lives in the area which was great.  We also took advantage of our drink tickets when they announced they were doing 2-for-1 drinks at the Jager tent and we even played a Jager ring-toss game where Shaun won himself a pair of boardshorts.  It was also a great place for people watching as the bands played and people consumed more alcohol.  Some great dancing going on, I promise you.  

One of the highlights for me was the stein holding competition! They have various competitions throughout the day, even a sausage toss which I somehow missed, but I made sure to watch the men's stein holding competition because there's nothing better that watching grown men battle it out on stage.

P.S. The guy in the tank-top won, in case you were wondering.

We were lucky that it was such a beautiful day and we got to enjoy our Oktoberfest with views of the beach.  It was a nice way to spend my first Oktoberfest and although there are a few things I'd change, like having more seating options, I'd go again in a heartbeat.  Now if only I can go to the real Oktoberfest in Germany...maybe next year!