Family, Fun and Lots of SUN
Tuesday, March 1st, we arrived in Long Beach at Mike’s brother Steve and family. Was a good drive south from Bakersfield and on into the Southern California area. We parked the “Big Assed Bus” BAB in front of the Long Beach families home and settled in for a couple of nice days. We took some time to do our laundry, housekeeping tasks, MoHo cleaning, resting and relaxing and enjoying some nice weather, good food and fun with the family. Great seeing Elena, Morgan, Marina, Mie, Ginger and of course Steve.
Thursday we headed to San Diego – what a wonderful place. We camped on Mission Bay just a few miles north of the City. We spent 3 days enjoying many of sights on our itinerary. We had a wonderful lunch at the “Del” enjoying a sunny deck and a very good margarita. We walked around the grounds and through the lobby, “what a gorgeous place”. With temperatures in the 70’s and the sunshine, this all felt amazing to us.
Friday morning we spent some time at Balboa Park. We took the “Boys” to a very nice dog-park, where they romped and ran themselves ragged. Mike and I enjoyed going into one of the 14 museums, we visited the Museum of Man that had a very interesting display on Race. There also was a good exhibit of games through the ages. We then sat and listened to an interesting pipe organ concert in the outdoor theater. Lunch was at the Café Coyote near Old Town --- yummy fish and shrimp tacos with the obligatory margaritas. We took a nice walk through “Old Town” thinking that it looked much the same as we remembered on our honeymoon almost 42 years ago. In the evening we had a nice camp fire, a bottle or our merlot, snacks and s’mores.
Saturday was another grand San Diego Day – sunshine, warmth and just a hint of sea breeze. We took an interesting and informative walking tour of the Gas Lamp District. We followed this up with lunch at the Hard Rock Café, formerly the Elks Lodge of San Diego. We sat and ate beneath this beautiful old stained glass dome (imported from Italy in the early 1900’s) for the Elks Lodge in San Francisco. This was great for the newly “inducted” Elk in our family. The Horton Plaza was one of our last stops in city. We walked along floors of this Seuss like designed shopping center, enjoying the unique layouts and the glorious sunshine. Leaving the city we found our way down to the harbor where we drove along admiring the boats and very attractive neighborhoods. San Diego certainly has lived up to its description of “America’s Finest City” while we have been here. Tomorrow we are moving east to Arizona