The Savage Traveler: Out West Adventure: Part 1--San Diego

February 22-26: (Friday) Since we had a reservation for Sweetwater we didn’t have to be in a hurry today. It got a little colder (42°) but warmed up a little faster than the previous days and nights so after breakfast we took the Desert Overlook Trail right at the campground. It was a short but very steep hike up one of the hills behind the headquarters and no one else was doing the trail. We saw some quail and a lizard and enjoyed the outstanding vista over the desert valley. Then after we packed up the camper, we drove down into that valley and back to Ocotillo to catch I8 towards San Diego. The highway climbs steeply up into the mountains and we were soon at the summit at around 4180ft. The temperature was 47° and there was still a lot of snow up that high. We went down and back up again to just over 4000ft. as a second summit and then drove down for good on the west side of the mountains. The hillsides began to have flowers and the plants became much more varied than we had seen in weeks. Even with the steep climb we were soon back to about 16.7mpg for the day. The GPS found Sweetwater Summit County Park without any trouble and we got settled into our new home for the next 5 nights. We’re only about 12 miles from San Diego but feel pretty separated from everything, perched above the Sweetwater Reservoir. Because it furnishes fresh water to the city, the reservoir is closely protected and no boats are allowed on it so we won’t be able to take our kayak on like we had thought. It’s a big park with many campsites having a small corral to keep ones horse. We are on the old loop and there are only a handful of campers. The park has several hiking trails and even a water playground for kids but it’s not open until May. We rode our bikes around for a couple of miles to get the lay of the land. Then we enjoyed the last of the sunlight while we got caught up on email and Facebook. We have a good phone signal and 3G so we are back in communication with the family, which is a comfort. We also have TV stations again so we enjoyed watching the first news in a long time and then old reruns on METV after chicken and rice for dinner. We searched the internet to get more idea of what we want to do while we’re in San Diego and came up with a tentative plan.

Snow in the mountains

Flowers on the hillsides

Sweetwater Campsite

Biking shadows

(Saturday) Our first full day in San Diego was a very nice one. It got into the low forties but warmed nicely in the hot sun. We both took showers after breakfast and then drove to Old Town State Park. California considers this to be the birthplace of the state. The square of buildings that made up the original town of San Diego burned down nearly entirely in 1872 but have all been painstakingly rebuilt and refitted to their original purposes. The Wells-Fargo Office was done by the Wells-Fargo company and includes a beautiful restored stagecoach. Everywhere there were costumed interpreters serving as the sales people, mule teamsters, blacksmiths, tobacco store clerk (complete with a huge cigar), etc. There were extra people there because it was the fourth Saturday of the month. We could watch gunsmiths making pistols, women making soap, and blacksmiths. It was a sparkling clear day with the temperature in the low sixties which made it very pleasant to wander in and out of buildings along the two block area. When we had seen everything we went one block beyond the State Park and had a great Greek Pizza (with capers!) at The California Cottage, sitting outside and people watching. As we sat a lot of smelly smoke went over our heads and up the hill and people all around were noticing it too. We heard sirens and then it went away. We later heard on the evening news that a wedding bus had caught fire in Old Town! All that was left was the burned out shell, but apparently no one was hurt. When we left Old Town we followed up on one of Kathy Bossen’s suggestions and went to Palisades Park to walk the beach. There were lots of surfers out and people of all ages but not many in the water if not surfing. We both got our feet wet but weren’t enticed to swim, even if we had had our suits. The beach is wide and sandy nearly the whole way and it was lovely to walk in the fine sand. We ended up walking nearly 3 miles there. Then we drove south again and took the high bridge across the harbor to Coronado Island. We parked on the harbor side to walk along where the old ferry docked until the bridge was built in the sixties. There was a group of teens gathered for what was obviously one young lady’s Quincienera and they were having pictures taken and a videotape was being made of the festivities. Farther down the dock area there was an arbor and chairs set-up and the restaurant nearby was setting up and the band and the florist were there. It seems like a mere wedding would be a disappointment after that lavish celebration. We drove as far as we could north on the island until the Navel Base forced us to go west to the ocean side. We found a place to park near the sprawling, historic Coronado Hotel and walked the beach there and took pictures. Altogether we walked about 5.5 miles. On our way back to the campground we found a place where we could get gas for the low, low price of--gulp!--$4.13. We’re not in Kansas anymore, Toto! We had to pay cash for that price so we only put in $70, which didn’t fill the tank but should get us to Los Angeles. It was right next to a grocery where we may have gotten all the groceries we’ll need for this part of the trip. We didn’t have the energy to do the laundry which we had brought with us so we returned to warm up the cornbread and chili and make guacamole with chips for dinner. That’s when we realized that we had stripped the bed and taken the towels and everything for laundry. We hope never to make that mistake again. We should have gutted it out and taken care of it as planned. We made an early night of it so we’ll be ready for another big day tomorrow.

Old Town San Diego

Rebuilt house/store in Old Town

Original Wells Fargo Wagon

Original Casa (1 of 2) in Old Town San Diego

Marv was a little chilly so this trapper helped him out

In the Pacific Ocean at Palisades Beach

Surfers and others on Palisades Park Beach

The Coronado Hotel on Coronado Island

(Sunday) Marv woke up sometime in the night saying that he was sick to his stomach. He crawled off to sleep on the couch, the better to be able to throw-up when it happened. Neither of us got much sleep the rest of the night but he never did vomit. In the morning he ate some yogurt and dry toast and decided he was feeling better. The rest of the day, as long as he kept something in his stomach, he did okay. We bundled up all the laundry, drove to the nearby Laundromat, got it all done and made it to Balboa Park by noon. This 1000 acre park in the middle of San Diego houses many museums, gardens, and the world famous zoo. But the zoo is Monday’s destination; today was for the rest of the park. We found a parking place by the Outdoor Organ and unloaded our bikes. The park was full of families and couples and tourists. Because it was Sunday there was a free concert on the organ at 2:00, and all the International Houses were active, many with regional treats available for a donation. It was too beautiful a day to spend inside a museum so we visited the cactus garden and the Botanical building with its gorgeous orchids, had lunch outside in the Sculpture Garden, and walked through the Spanish Village with its working artists and many of the international houses, riding our bikes when we could and otherwise locking them and walking. It was a wonderful way to spend the day. On the way home we printed some pictures to send as post cards and got back with about an hour to spend reading in the sunshine. We had left pork in the Crockpot again for dinner with beans and salad. We spent the rest of the evening watching the Oscars and writing post cards.

Balboa Park Botanical Garden Orchids

More Orchids

More orchids

Just can't get enough of those orchids!

See what I mean?!

Outdoor Organ at Balboa Park

(Monday) We made it back to Balboa Park and this time drove straight to the Zoo and parked about 10:00. There were already a lot of cars in the lot so it must be really nuts on weekends. Our first stop was to take the guided bus tour to get the lay of the land. It was hard to know how much to believe our driver, Mr. Zoo, but he certainly seemed very knowledgeable as he told us he started working at the zoo when he was 13 years old, he doesn’t usually do the bus tours, and we were seeing sights of a lifetime on this particular tour, which he was extending beyond the time allotted because we were seeing such great stuff. He was very entertaining! It was the perfect day to be at the zoo—warm enough to be comfortable for us and cool enough that the animals were both active and playful. After the tour we walked quickly to the Panda Canyon because the zoo’s baby panda was in his play yard with his mama until noon. We were among the last few who got to see them and they were particularly active because it was almost time for feeding and they could hear the keepers preparing. We had lunch at the Asian restaurant outside the panda area and spent the rest of the afternoon going through pretty much every display. Highlights were the elephants, the great apes, and the giraffes. We took the Sky Ferry one way but otherwise we walked the whole way; 4½ miles worth. By the time we left at 4:30 we were pleasantly exhausted. We stopped at McDonald’s on the way home to update the blog and talk to Marv’s mom. We had planned on grilling tilapia for dinner, but the grill was sort of buried behind the bikes so we decided to broil it. It came out really good—the taste and texture of lobster. After dinner we walked around our camping loop to enjoy the full moon. What a great day it had been!

Lunchtime!

Mama and Baby Giraffe

Orangutan

Rhinoceros

Baby Bear....

Mama Bear.....

And Papa Bear!

Elephant Manicure

African Elephant

(Tuesday) For our last day in San Diego we took our bikes to La Jolla because it was listed as a good bike path and had a nice park on a point at the ocean. We tried to read the LSJ on our tablets for a while but our hotspot signal wasn’t strong enough to do so. As we watched the people go by in the sunshine we realized we weren’t seeing any bikes and decided the walk along the water was a little too crowded and narrow for comfortable biking. Instead we walked south for a while until we came to Children’s Beach, where we found 20 or 30 harbor seals, many with pups. We spent a long time watching them, taking pictures and videos. Many of the babies were swimming, closely monitored by the ever watchful moms. Finally we walked back to the truck and got our lunch and then walked north on the walk. Partway up the beach we came upon La Jolla Cove, where there is a sign explaining that the whole coast there is an Underwater Reserve. The rocks below us were covered with noisy, active sea lions. They were barking and swimming and cavorting in the water, very different from the quiet, docile seals. After we ate we walked on up to the end of the walkway by the water, seeing the sea lions from different viewpoints. We left La Jolla around 2:00 and decided to go to Mission Bay to ride our bikes. We drove around Fiesta Island and thought that the 2-3 miles would be just right for a pedal. But when we pulled over to get out the bikes we found that Marv’s back tire was totally flat. So instead we found a Target and he bought a new inner tube. We got back to the camper in time to hike up the hill by the campground where we had a 360° view, looking over the reservoir to the east and all the way to the ocean to the west. There was still about an hour of sunlight so we sat in the sun and called Marv’s mom and then Ken & Jen. Then I took a shower while Marv worked on all the pictures from the last two days. We are using up leftovers for our meals now and had pork bar-b-que for dinner. Another evening of METV and dishes, with some preliminary picking up got us ready for an early getaway tomorrow morning.