San Diego IV

We decided to visit the Tijuana River Preserve, which hugs the US/Mexico border just south of San Diego. We grabbled some caches, and also took in the unique terrain of the Preserve. Of course, being on the border, there is a zone of no-mans-land on the US side, but dense buildings and residential areas running all the way to the border line on the Mexican side – a bit surreal.

On one of the weekends we headed up into the Laguna Mountains to do some hiking with Nick and Valerie. We also planned a visit to the mining town of Julian so that the Woman, Nick and Valerie could get some apple pie with a scoop of cinnamon ice cream. It’s a delicacy that Julian is known for, and can be found at pretty much any dining establishment in town. We were surprised by the fall colors that were blanketed all over the Mountain – a pleasant, unexpected reward.

And the Woman was in ecstasy! The Pacific Crest Trail wanders through the Laguna Mountain Park, and many years ago we had hiked a part of it. Along a portion of the PCT we discovered a spontaneous memorial. Some biker’s loved ones brought his ashes to this overlook that was his favorite place to bike to. Other bikers’ loved ones started creating memorials to their families as well. Now there may easily be more than 100 plaques, urns, pictures and other types of memorials for all kinds of bikers.

But we managed to find a stretch of the PCT that the Woman had not been on before. Nick and Valerie were more than willing to hike into the hills, experience a piece of the PCT, and take in the glorious fall colors. All in all, it was a wonderful day with the family!

Talk to you soon!

San Diego III

Nick and Valerie invited us over for dinner and a pumpkin carving party in anticipation of Halloween. It was a BYOP (bring your own pumpkin) event, so we headed to Ralphs and got a spectacular specimen. After enjoying Valerie’s special eggplant, mozzarella and marinara dish, we carved furiously. I think we all did pretty good!

While roaming around Nick and Valerie’s neighborhood we stumbled on the iconic Ann’s Dry Cleaning. Apparently, Ann’s had been a staple in the neighborhood for decades before Ann passed on and the business closed. The new tenant apparently missed Marketing 101 in college, as they decided to keep the identical look and name. The only difference is, as shown on the sign to the left of the door, is that it is now a gelato shop. However, what do I know – they seem to be doing a bang-up business!

Nick and Valerie gave the Woman a very special birthday present – a reservation for a jeep wine tasting tour in Temecula. We strapped into the back of an open-air Wrangler and headed out to visit some of the over 40 mostly family wineries in the Temecula valley. Because of the tour organization we were able to do our tastings while sitting on the patio overlooking the winery. Coupled with a nice lunch, and some drives through and among the actual grape vines, it made the Woman’s birthday experience complete

We have moved to the other side of the bay now, at the Chula Vista RV Resort. But the sun down displays just keep on rolling. Instead of watching the sunset from the Silver Strand, we are now looking across the Strand to watch the sun setting on the Strand itself. However, they are every bit as special and never disappoint. 

Talk to you soon!

San Diego II

We couldn’t help but spend some time in our favorite place of all – Silver Strand State Beach outside of Coronado Island. Lucky for us our BFF’s, Teresa Bell and Ron Ezra, joined us for a couple weeks. We biked a lot, and found several geocaches, ones we hadn’t found in previous visits. There weren’t many that we hadn’t already found, but we got a handful.

While making our way to the Vikings/Rams game on the USC campus, we managed to stumble on the very first Fat Burger shack opened in 1952. While I know it is an iconic part of Americana, I guess I don’t see the need to preserve this. However, the City has determined that it is historical and cannot be removed. A developer is working to incorporate the structure into a housing project!

One would think that we would have explored all there is to explore on Coronado Island, but one would be wrong. Bellezra learned that the home where Frank L. Baum wrote the iconic Wizard of Oz is located in the sleepy residential area of Coronado. Although it is a private residence and not open to visit, we still made our way there, and enjoyed the owners’ efforts to decorate it up a bit.

Ron spotted a Naval vessel in the bay and with his binoculars was able to get the name. He identified it as the USS Bainbridge, which just happened to be one of the Naval destroyers that thwarted the Somali pirates attempt to hijack the ship of Captain Phillips in 2009.

Talk to you soon!

San Diego I

We headed to San Diego so that the Woman could share her birthday with her son Nick, who happens to have the same birthday as her. BFFs Ron and Teresa joined us for a fine evening at Il Fornaio on Coronado Island, with a beautiful view across the bay to downtown San Diego. The view was a bit short-lived as the heavens opened up and it poured, something unusual here but fun nonetheless.

Nick of course said the best part of the night was the presents, of which there were many. However, the big surprise was as we tried to leave the restaurant. There was only one driveway out of the parking lot, and there were stalled cars in the only street we could leave through due to the several feet of moving water. Fortunately, a heavy foot on the accelerator as we hit the deep water managed to power us through!

As always, the sunsets in San Diego are gorgeous. We didn’t see a green flash yet, but we are truly enjoying having a top 10 sunset nearly every night.

Talk to you soon!

Huntington Beach

We made our way to Huntington Beach to position ourselves to attend the Rams/Vikings game in the LA Coliseum. Of course, anywhere in LA is at least 1-2 hours away, even if it is only 20 miles. But we were able to meet Nick and Valerie at an Air BnB that they found just 5 miles from the stadium. We were also able to hook up again with brother Kevin and nephew Will who also had decided to scalp some tickets for the game. Although the Vikes couldn’t quite pull it off, we had a great time.

Before the game we grabbed some of the world’s best fried chicken at Gus’s. We had eaten at Gus’s in Memphis many years ago with Nick and Valerie. Nick had heard rave reviews and wanted to check it out. Later that year the Woman and I hit up Gus’s in Little Rock, and enjoyed it once more. Well, this year, Gus’s decided to open a location in LA that wasn’t too far from the LA Coliseum, so how could we resist!

We biked and walked the beaches and piers in the area. Every now and then we had some déjà vu, feeling like we were back in the Gulf Coast of Texas. This Snowy Egret graced us with a visit on one of our pier walks.

Nick and Valerie took us to Venice Beach where we strolled back and forth along the world-famous boardwalk. There is so much eye candy here. Everywhere you look there is either a live musician, some bawdy tee shirts or panties, and all kinds of interesting folk. My favorite was Muscle Beach.

We got introduced to the latest craze in California, although maybe it has already reached out from here. With all the ride sharing aps, companies have now put out electric scooters on random street corners. You open the ap, scan the bar code on the scooter, and the scooter is unlocked. For 15 cents a minute you can use it for as long as you want, just leave it when you are done and lock it again. The Woman loved it!

And the pooch loved the off-leash dog beaches. Back when Niko was around, he wouldn’t even consider getting wet when we walked the beach. While Kona is far from a swimmer, he has no fear of wading in. However, there might be just a bit of a worried look when the water gets this high.

Talk to you soon!

Brother Kevin

While on the road we learned that Robin’s brother Kevin had settled down in a home in Solvang California, a little north of Santa Barbara. He and his bride Teri had a long enough driveway for us to park Colectiva, which allowed Kona to play daily with Midas and Ivy, two gorgeous Golden Retrievers.

Kevin and Teri showed us around the Santa Barbara area. We climbed the tower in the County Courthouse. We visited El Presidio de Santa Barbara, the oldest surviving structures in the area. These buildings are so old that Padre Junipero Serra himself presided over their dedication on April 21, 1782. Padre Serra founded the majority of the Spanish missions in what would become California.

We took in dinner at historic Cold Spring Tavern. Back in 1868 industrious entrepreneurs established a stage coach line through Marcos Pass to bring eager travelers to the Santa Barbara coast. Cold Spring Tavern was built that year as a stage stop near the highest point on the pass, to wine and dine the customers. Most of the buildings still remain, and the ambience is totally post-Civil War.

In Nome we learned that the town is believed to have been founded by the 3 lucky Swedes (even though none of them were Swedish, 2 of them were American and one was a Norwegian.) Well it turns out that Solvang was founded by the 3 lucky Danes. They didn’t actually carry the “lucky” moniker, but at least in this case, they were all actually Danish.

We ended up getting to connect with all our nephews, Will and Jake, and our niece Hannah (at least using face time to chat with her at school in New York.)

Talk to you soon!

Yosemite 2018

We had been in Yosemite National Park maybe 30 years ago or more. So, since we were reasonably close, we decided it was time to revisit.

We all learned that Yellowstone National Park is the first US National Park established. But we learned that Yosemite was actually the first attempt at a National Park. Without the federal mechanism to make it happen, on June 30 1864, Abraham Lincoln gave the federally owned Yosemite Valley and the nearby Mariposa Big Tree Grove to the State of California “upon the express conditions that the premises shall be held for public use, resort and recreation.” It wasn’t until 1872 that the federal laws were in place to allow for a National Park to be established.

We headed to the Mariposa Big Tree Grove, that we don’t believe we have visited before. The Grove is a spectacular arrangement of giant Sequoias, which we didn’t expect here inside Yosemite. The naturalist John Muir was a particular fan of this part of Yosemite.

We stumbled on Lee Stetson, who has done an hour conversation with John Muir at the visitor center for the last 35 years. Tonight was a conversation around his love of the Hetch Hetchy Valley, which in 1913 as a result of the Raker Act, the US Congress and President Woodrow Wilson granted the city of San Francisco the power to turn the valley into a “water tank” in the words of Muir. We visited the O’Shaughnessy Dam and gazed out at what was left of the Hetch Hetchy Valley above the 400 or so feet of water, and shared our sentiments with President Wilson and the 1913 Congress.

Luck would have it that the Pacific Crest Trail actually passes through Yosemite near the Eastern entrance. We headed there and knocked off another 5 or so miles, which again was also following the John Muir Trail through the Park. No bears, no foxes, but a really nice stroll along the PCT that made the Woman smile.

The scenery was awesome in the Yosemite Valley, gazing at El Capitan, and Half Dome. We managed to take in all of the Valley including the Glamping they offered in the shadow of Half Dome. Tents with hard wood floors and all the amenities you need, all within the boundaries of the National Park.

BTW, this is what a pine cone fr

om a giant Sequoia looks like.

Talk to you soon!