San Diego

On New Years Eve, we got up for a guided nature hike. We did not find the organized hike, so we hiked it ourselves. This hike was up a wash to a “palm oasis”, where there were palm trees indigenous to Anza-Borrego. These are shorter palms with wider trunks than the usual palms that we see in the movies.

It turned out to be a relatively long drive to San Diego, through a mountainous desert area where gas stations were few and far between. We stopped at the California Welcome Center, where we picked up some brochures and maps. The GPS got us the rest of the way to Campland on the Bay.

Campland on the Bay was a bit of a trip, with kids everywhere and a New Year's Eve party atmosphere. The adult party started at 9 PM. We went out for dinner to a nice restaurant in the area, where we saw many young ladies dressed in their glittery outfits. We were tired and went to bed when we got back, but the loud music continued until after midnight.

On New Year's Day we headed north to the famous La Jolla. It was indeed very beautiful, with cliffs and sea lions and lots of upscale shops. After lunch, we continued north to Oceanside, to meet Terrie, one of Richard's metalworking friends from the internet. We had a nice visit with her, and headed home.

January 2^nd had us headed for Balboa Park, the home of the famous San Diego Zoo and lots of museums. We tried to follow the signs for the Zoo, but ultimately had to stop and ask for directions. We should have used the GPS, which has been working very well for us on this trip. We finally found the Zoo, and then we could head south to the museum area. Balboa Park is huge. We started with the Timken Museum, where we admired the Russian religious icons, the Rembrandt, as well as 20^th century American painters. Then we went to the Spanish Village, lots of small galleries but kind of a letdown after Rembrandt. We had a light lunch in the sculpture garden and then went to the wonderful Mingei museum. 

The Mingei museum was listed as a folk art museum, but almost all of what was there was made by highly skilled craftsmen or artists. There was a special exhibit on the color indigo, including two fascinating videos on the process of making indigo, which involves fermentation and an elaborate process to get blue die from green plants. We stopped by the supermarket on the way home and Richard got a much needed haircut.

On January 3rd we drove to Carlsbad CA to meet Erik and his new wife Leah.  Erik is the grandson of Cynthia's deceased husband, John.   Erik is studying to be a minister, in graduate school.

Our next stop was the impressive Maritime Museum, which consist of many historic ships, tied up to the dock.  The Star of India is the oldest active sailing ship in the world.  We also toured a US submarine.  

We closed our day with a visit to Coronado Island, and the Coronado Hotel, including watching the sunset from the beach.  We had dinner on the island, and then drove back to the campground.

On Friday, we headed back to Balboa Park to visit the San Diego Museum of Art.  We then took a very interesting tour of the Marston house, an example of Arts and Crafts dating from 1905.  We closed the day by visiting Old town San Diego, where we mostly gawked and wandered through stores.  There were several very old adobe buildings.  

Saturday morning we will get on the road early for our next stop, Tucson.