Dec 29 – Jan 5

Monday morning we packed up the rig, filled up with gas and propane and trekked about 135 miles down to El Cajon to spend a week with our son Bryn and his girlfriend Melissa. I must say that the continued drop in gas prices is nice and has been a blessing as it helps offset the higher CAD/US exchange rate. (1.20 at time of writing today).

We left the desert behind, at least we thought so, but discovered southern California is pretty dry and baron as well. El Cajon is about 25 miles east of San Diego and about the same distance from the Mexican border. We arrived around 12:30 expecting them to be waiting for us as they landed around 10:30 am. By the time we had set up, they had arrived after getting lost a bit and stopping for lunch. Bryn was happy with the warm weather that day and quickly put on shorts and flip flops. After a visit we headed out to stock up on groceries for the week, although several meals, we would eat out. That evening the weather turned cool (mid 50’s daytime temp) as it would stay for the next several days.

Tuesday was a planned quite day for the travelers to recoup from a 5.5 hr flight and 3 time zones. We checked out El Cajon and went back home for some board games later in the afternoon. Scrabble and Rummikub were the games of choice. It rained that evening and quite hard at times and with our guests sleeping in the front “suite”, their heads were about 3’ from the roof, it was a little louder at times.

Wednesday was a planned golf day for Bryn and I, so we booked a tee off at 10 am. The next morning we woke up to reports of snow only a few miles away and only 45 miles north were we had come through on Monday had 18” of snow – yes inches. We called the course to see if they were open and they hadn’t received snow, so we headed off with the temp at about 45 deg. The first 9 holes were cold and then the sun came out to warm us a bit. All in all it was fun to be out golfing on the morning of New Years Eve! Meanwhile after the girls dropped us off they headed off to a nearby Outlet Mall in Alpine.

We had decided earlier in the day to celebrate New Years with the “east”, so our ball drop was at 9 pm. Meanwhile, we went out to a nearby Italian restaurant and had a nice meal that was VERY filling as only the Italians know how to serve food. We were still full the next morning.

New Years Day – headed off around 9:30 am for San Diego Zoo. The temp was in the low 50’s but sunny and dry so it was quite pleasant. By the time we left at around 4pm we had pretty well covered the Zoo. It is a pretty old Zoo and ranked as one of the world’s best. Being older, it is much more compact that the Toronto Zoo. One of the highlights, was seeing a baby gorilla that had been born only 6 days before. Laying on it’s mother’s stomach with the mother’s hand on it. (see pic) With a zoom lense, needless to say, I took my share of pictures, but I widdled it down to only a few for the blog. Back home to relieve Jazz and have a nice steak dinner for the group of tired walkers.

The plan for Friday was to tour the coast a bit so we did a bit of a loop heading north in the interior to Escondido then heading west over to Carlsbad CA. The coast drive was only about 25 miles but it showed a lot of wealth and beauty. By the time we arrived in Carlsbad it was time for a short beach walk and a coffee and snack. We headed further down the coast arriving at Del Mar – time for lunch outdoors in the sun which was nice. After a short walk around Del Mar, next stop was Torrey Pines – a famous golf course on the PGA tour. A beauty, right on the coast! We checked out the pro shop for some TP swag and took a few pictures outside then continued on the La Jolla which was almost next door. La Jolla has a massively wide and long beach and with the nice weather and many people still on holidays, it was fairly busy. After a walk around, we headed home once again to relieve Jazz. She was a good sport all week! Tonight was Bryn and Melissa’s turn to make dinner, so we had our popular chicken and leek pasta. Good comfort food. More games that evening.

Saturday, Bryn and I had another golf game booked at Mt. Woodson. This is an older course up in the mountains. You had to have a cart to play this one as it had multiple levels but the views and the holes were fantastic. Meanwhile the girls had booked a spa session. We reconnected mid afternoon as our round was a slow one, but thoroughly enjoyable. Back to the RV for a quick change then into the San Diego Seaport Village for dinner. It’s about a 25 min drive. Games again that night. Rummikub was becoming popular.

Sunday was our final full day together, so it was decided a big hike in the morning was in order – with Jazz of course! The weather was starting to get really nice by this point with us leaving in shorts and T-shirts to hike up Iron Mountain about 15 min away. We didn’t go all the way to the summit which was about 3 miles but made it up to about ½ way which took close to an hour. The trail was quite busy.(see pic). Sunday afternoon was a day to relax by the pool and spa and take in the last rays from the “California sun”. Dinner was BBQ chicken and ribs along with a salad including pomegranates. Mel had to go to the internet to learn how to get the berry’s out of this fruit. Boy there were a lot!

Monday morning we were up by 7:30 as they had an 11:50 flight back to TO. As usual the week always goes quick when you’re on vacation. They headed off to the airport by 8:45 and we packed up the rig and hit the road by around 10 am. We left California after being in the state since November 18^th. Destination for the night was Gila Bend Arizona. More desert coming up!!!

See ya!