March 17-21 San Diego and then Home!

On the beach

We rented a cottage near La Jolla two blocks from the beach.  Liz, Stephanie and Noah flew in from Denver for a weekend at the beach.  We cottage was kind of funky, fronting on an ally, but very comfortable and in a convenient location.  The weather was a bit cool, but nice enough for walks on the beach and to sightsee a bit of La Jolla and downtown San Diego.  I tried to get takers for the zoo, but Noah is only 8 months old, and the zoo would not impress him that much.  He was very satisfied sitting in the sand and bouncing in the 2 inch surf with his toes.  Some day he might be a surfer, he really seemed to like the ocean.

Sandy feet

We visited the Children’s Pool in La Jolla.  This has been, and still is, a place of controversy in La Jolla.  The Children’s Pool is not really a pool at all, but a small protected lagoon and beach formed by a man made sea wall. The sea wall was built in 1931 by the Scripps family and donated to the City of San Diego for the enjoyment of children, swimmers, and divers.  In the ensuing years sand has accumulated and a beach has formed in much of the remaining basin.  Also the harbor seal population has grown and for the last 10 years or so, the seals have taken over much of the beach and are now birthing their pups on the beach from December through March.  This has created a controversy between people who feel they should be able to use the beach and those who want to relinquish the beach and pool for the exclusive use of the seals.  There is also a third group who think that the beach can be shared.  Many law suits have been filed and rulings made and rescinded.  Local, state, and federal law over land use, and animal protection are contradictory and the struggle continues, the outcome not clear.  The seals remain on the beach, the people come in throngs to take pictures and talk to the various factions who have set up tables with posters explaining their positions.   In the meantime, there are miles and miles of pristine beach both north and south where one can sit in the sand and swim in the sea.

Seals in the "Children's Pool"

Beach sharing with Seals

We had a great visit with Liz, Stef and Noah getting our grandma and grandpa time in.  Tad Reynales stopped by, he and I used to work together at UCSC, and he is now at UCSD.  We had a good time catching up.

Surf's Up

On Monday the 21^st we hooked up the trailer for the last leg of our trip,  home.  I feared that driving through Los Angeles would be a very difficult affair with heavy traffic, difficult lane changes, and bumper to bumper stretches along the way.  I was pleasantly surprised to find that it wasn’t so bad after all.  We took a toll road through most of Orange County that was almost empty.  The best $9.50 toll value I have ever spent.  The rest of the trip up I-405 was congested but not too bad.  By the time we got to 101 I was tired but not harried.  We continued up the coast through Santa Barbara, to Buellton where we found a very nice RV “Resort”. Next door was Anderson’s Restaurant that features the “World’s Best Split Pea Soup.”  Who knew? 

  

We really lucked out on the weather.  It has been storming in California for the last week, but on Monday and Tuesday there was a lull in the storm and we only got in a few occasional showers.  The clouds around us looked ominous, but the highway seemed to take a turn away from the weather as we approached what looked to be very nasty weather.

On Tues we left Buellton with 234 miles to go.  Thankfully we made it home without incident.  Once home we were kind of out of it, slowly coming to grips that we are finally back after 8 months away.  The house was pristine inside, as we had had it professionally cleaned, but all our stuff was in boxes in the garage where we had stored it.  So the dilemma was do we start by unpacking the trailer or unpacking the house or both?  Bobbie saved the day by bringing in Chinese so we didn’t have to think about dinner.  We began to find things we forgot we had, and start up our infrastructure that we suspended while we were gone. i.e.  putting clothes back in closets,  unpacking dishes, moving furniture and starting cable TV newspapers etc. All this is going to take a few days.  In the meantime, the rain has started again and is coming down in buckets.  So glad I’m not to be living in a trailer!