Memories...

For the past month or so, my older sister Bette has been staying with us.  She's my last sibling, and I treasure our time together.  She practically raised me while I was young, and I spent many a summers with her and her family.  When we were older, we also had some great adventures together...the kind only sisters know how to get into!  ha ha

Most of our years have been in San Diego CA, and she has a young son buried there.  My brother's children still live there and we try to get together with them and their families as often as we can.  This last week, before she needed to return to Tacoma, we decided to rent a car (our little truck only comfortably holds two) and take a short trip to San Diego and visit the family, check on the mortuary to discuss future details, etc. and to see all the changes in the city since she had last been (many, many years ago).

What a wonderful visit we had!  After first checking into our hotel, Jack and I met up for drinks with my favorite work colleague who took over from me after I left.  It's always fun to catch up with James to see whats going on with the Zoo and everyone and get the "inside skinny".  No matter how long one is gone from work, you still miss it...

The following day, we took my sister to the Zoo, I bet she hadn't been in over 15 years!  Well, it's "Spring Break", Saturday, and a sun-filled day...so, you can imagine the crowd!  Just the kind of day my old boss loves to see!!  ha ha  The parking lot was full, full, full and it wasn't even 10am yet!  That was OK, we weren't in any hurry, and didn't need to see every square inch.  The Zoo was prepared and the lines weren't long.  We took the bus tour first, then just took our time wandering around until she was tired.

From there we just started to drive around the city.  What fun!  She used to live in Pt. Loma, right across and up the hill from the Naval Training Center.  You could look right into the Center itself and watch the sailors drill.  (I used to wave at them while I washed my sister's car when I was 14).  So, I couldn't wait to show her Liberty Station!  To say she was amazed, is an understatement!  So was I, the first time I saw what they had done to it!

Driving along the downtown area, along the Embarcadero, seeing the old Anthony's Fish Grotto gone always hurts my heart.  If you have ever lived in San Diego, you know that it was an icon here...one that it was here forever, and now it's gone.  Sad.  We went to the "Unconditional Surrender" statue and stopped to see the National Salute to Bob Hope (which I hadn't seen before) - such a cool memorial.

The other big change, is Old Town.  Another place she had lived was right above it, and she knew that area well.  I explained to her how the Bazaar Del Mundo lost it's lease and that they decided to change it's look to what it might have looked between 1821-1872.

By then we were hungry and decided to call it a day and stop for an early dinner.  Our favorite fish place is Kings Fish House in Mission Valley, and thank goodness, it is still there!  ;-) 

The next day we were meeting the family for lunch in the valley at the Wood Ranch BBQ.  My niece surprised us and was able to get the whole gang there!!  All 20!  Wow.  It sure was great to be able to see everyone.  The only ones missing were a couple of great nieces and a great nephews who were either out of town/state working.  Such a lovely family we have.

Afterward we made a run out to Carlsbad to see the Ranunculus Flower Fields.  My sister had never seen them before, and I remembered that they should be in bloom this time of year.  I thought she would enjoy the sight.  Jack and I used to come up here often when we lived here.  We were amazed though, how much the area had built up around the fields!  "Progress", don't you just love it?

We then took the leisurely drive back down all along the ocean side.  We swung by Belmont Park too, as Bette's first husband used to own the roller-coaster there at one time.  When I was a little girl, she used to take me on it.  I sure thought I was special, since my brother-in-law owned the roller-coaster and I could ride it all I wanted!  ;-) 

Monday morning we had an early breakfast at our most favorite breakfast spot, the Hob Nob Hill (another icon) then drove out to Cypress View Mausoleum.  We were able to meet with a very nice lady and get everything settled quickly and then be on our way back to Arizona.

We flew my sister back home yesterday.  I'll miss her sunny disposition, her wonderful cooking, her sweetness and most of all her loving company.  As I've shared before, sisters are special people, and I've been blessed with two.  I never forget to thank Spirit each day for that (and for the brother that I had).

Memories can be wonderful things when shared with loved ones...I'm glad I had the chance to do this with mine....thanks for coming along with us!

...kicking back in Arizona,  Marie


If you wish to view the rest of the photos from this trip, you can at my Flickr account at:  http://www.flickr.com/photos/74905158@N04/

A day at the Zoo!

Just before we left San Diego we had an opportunity to visit the Zoo.  Each time we come here, we always seem to run out of time and never quite get over there.  This was a quick trip into the city for us, and not much visiting was planned, so we were able to schedule a day to run over to see some of my favorite animals and maybe catch up with some of the people I know as well!

You see, the Zoo is my "old stomping grounds"...I worked for the San Diego Zoo for over 20 years and loved it.  The people, the place, the animals...all wonderful!  I don't miss "working", but I do miss "seeing", so when we can, we do like to visit both the Zoo and the Zoo's Safari Park in Escondido, which I also worked at and enjoyed.

This year marks the Zoo's 100th Birthday.  I had so wanted to make the "official" Birthday back in May, but just couldn't quite make it back, but was determined to at least get here sometime this year to see some of the things that were set up for it, and was so happy we did!

Being a holiday week, almost everyone I know, was either on vacation or at a meeting, so I didn't get to see many "human" friends, but Jack and I made our rounds to some of my favorite animals.  Even some of them were off exhibit tho!  ;-(

We also enjoyed seeing the newest addition, the South African Penguins.  The zoo used to have penguins many years ago, but hasn't for a very long time.  It's nice to have them back again.  They are just in a temporary exhibit for now, but once their new exhibit is built, it will really be nice.

Because it's their Birthday year, they have a new show in the Wegeforth Bowl too, called Centennial Celebration Show.  A nice show that had a combination of live animals and videos.  They brought out some new animals (to me), a couple of wolves which was pretty cool.  They also brought out one of the cheetahs and her dog.  The zoo pairs up a number of their mammals with dogs to help them be less frightened of people and places.  It has worked wonderfully for years. 
 

Since we were not trying to see everything, we just took our time and wandered around the wonderful aviaries that the zoo has.  It's so fun to just get lost in them!  You can stroll around and around in them and see and hear so many beautiful birds, then the next thing you know, you've found yourself in among the world of exotic monkeys swinging from branch to branch! 

Before we knew it, it was 4 o'clock and we were ready to call it a day...  One last stop in the gift shop (to pick up just a couple of things) and then a fond farewell for now...


...on the road to Desert Hot Springs,  Marie

If you wish to view the rest of the photos from this trip, you can at my Flickr account at:  http://www.flickr.com/photos/74905158@N04/

Welcome home!

Although San Diego CA is not our "legal" home state, it is where we spent the last 40+ years (husband) and 55+ years for me.  So, every January we come here to visit friends and family and to "thaw out" from the last couple of months of the cold, damp weather of the north.

We don't usually drive an 8 hour day, not our style.  If you follow my blogs, you know it's all about enjoying the day, so usually we drive about 4 hours, settle in and see our surroundings.  Well, we were a bit anxious to get there, so we pushed it - 8 hours!  We were familiar with the drive, reminded of the traffic (ugh) and determined to get into town in time for the sunset.  We weren't disappointed - it was beautiful!  I didn't bother taking my camera, I just dashed to the water's edge (we always stay at Mission Bay RV Park) and just enjoyed it.  I leaned against the fence and said to myself "welcome home Marie".   It was warm, the sky was orange and for the first time in weeks all I had on that evening was a long sleeve shirt.  Lovely.

Don't get me wrong, Southern California isn't "perfect", it's crowded, over-priced, noisy, has crazy politics and probably a bunch of other problems, but...the weather is heaven!  After driving all over the country, enjoying low gas prices, "normal" traffic, reasonable food prices, etc, coming back into California, especially through Silicone Valley for three weeks, it was almost a shock to our system!  There were times when the traffic was so bad that I had to close my eyes for fear of screaming - and I'm the passenger!  My daughter told me to stop grimacing and scaring her, that this was "normal" here!  I'd forgotten how awful the drivers were here!  Last night, in San Diego, there were a couple of small accidents and all of the side roads, freeways, etc were bumper-to-bumper for hours! For hours!  I remember those days, yuck, no more, thank you.  Yep, it has lovely weather.  Keep reminding yourself of that. You don't even want me to get started on the price differences on food and gas!  ha ha

But...our wonderful friends and family live here, so we get the luxury of visiting and enjoying this great weather, in January when the rest of the world is freezing (I'm so sorry).  Seeing the Zoo, seeing how the progress is going on the San Salvador with the Blacksmiths, going to lunches and dinners, seeing all the changes in the city since last year (and in our previous jobs).  Then there's always the job of weeding all the "stuff" out that we've collected along the way (how does that happen?) and taking it to storage.  Good ol' spring cleaning!  Then...we're off for the next year's adventure!

We are so excited for 2014!  Several of our friends are getting back into RVing and I think that we will be seeing them more this year, which we are really looking forward to!  We've also made some new friends along the way, who are making plans on meeting up with us as well, so that will be great too.  It's always nice to have company!  After we leave the San Diego area we are heading to Quartzsite AZ to one of the largest RV shows there is.  About 150,000 folks converge on this tiny desert town for a week to see every possible thing that you could ever even think you might want for your rig, or maybe a brand new or a used rig to buy!  We are meeting 3 other couples there for the week!  I'm really excited - both for the experience of the show, but also for the first time of being with friends camping for the week!  Cool!

This is last year at Mission Bay, it always looks the same!

Our day at the Zoo!

Jack catching up with his Blacksmith buds at the San Salvador site

 See, 2014 is going to be a great year!  Glad you are coming along with us!

If you wish to view the rest of the photos from this trip, you can at my Flickr account at:http://www.flickr.com/photos/74905158@N04/   

Rapid City surprises...

A lot of the time we choose our campground locations by how many miles we want to travel in a day.  Our "rule of thumb" is four hours on the road.  This doesn't tax Jack to much and gives both of us time to settle in, relax and still enjoy part of the day.  Because of this, we don't always know a lot about the towns we end up staying in, or near, so once we get there, or near there, we try and find out about it as much as possible.  We will stop at Visitor Centers (our favorite) or ask locals (restaurants staff, campground staff, etc) for suggestions.  I'm always on the lookout for brochures and nab ones that look interesting, even if it's not where we are at, just in case it's someplace within driving distance.  Of course we always have our books - AAA Guide Book, 1000 Places to Visit Before You Die, and Off The Beaten Path and Watch It Made in the USA.  We also found a fun app we added to Jack's I Pad, called Roadside.  It lists all the roadside oddities and attractions, everything from the littlest museum to quirky graves, to Muffler men statues.

So, while I'm sitting in my 'co-pilot' seat, I'm perusing through all these various forms of information, figuring out what, if anything, this city/town/area we are staying at for the next day or two or three, has to offer.  It's often that during this research session, we find out that this place that we thought was just going to be an over-night stop, is worth spending several days there because it has lots to see!  Such a place was Rapid City SD.  We knew it was within driving distance to Wall Drug, and that was the reason for the visit...and that was going to be it, and go.  Until we got there...

A day filled with Wall Drug Store (it's own blog), a day filled with the 1880 Train and the Chapel in the Hill (another separate blog) and a day filled with what I call it's oddities...

Now, for the one or two people that may be reading this, that doesn't know, I worked for the World Famous San Diego Zoo & Safari Park for 20 years, so I've been around animals.  All kinds of animals.  I've been privileged to be up close and personal with some pretty exotic ones (no, I didn't work with animals, only people) too, so I usually don't get overly excited about seeing most animals in captivity, however...THIS place was a hoot!

Bear Country U.S.A. is a drive-through animal park.  Now, many, many years ago, California used to have something like this called Lion Country Safari where you could drive through while lions walked about, but it closed down (They say for dwindling tourists, but I would bet a lot had to do with high insurance costs, among other things!).  It's a three-mile drive through several enclosures and encounter black bear, elk, reindeer, deer, cougars, bobcats, rocky mountain goats, bighorn sheep, dall sheep and buffalo.  Even though you see all the other animals, the black bears are the attraction.  There are dozens of them wandering about!  We had one come right up along side my window and walk along with it for a minute, that's how close...and that's the closest I've ever been to one, I can tell you!  They're big!  It's kind of fun to see all the various shades of "black" they are too - from gold all the way to darkest brown.  Afterward, they have an area where you park and walk around to see the young bear cubs,  fox and other small animals.  A unique experience, I will say, even for a zoo person like me!

After all that "animal watching" we were ready to face the city, have some lunch and see what it had to offer!   One fun thing was their "City of Presidents series", life-size bronze statues of our nation’s past presidents along the city’s streets and sidewalks.   I picked out a few of our favorite and hunted them down and took our picture with them.  The other really cool thing was what they call “Art Alley”.  They let the local “artists” paint whatever they want - graffiti, art, writings, anything.  Some of it was pretty cool stuff too!  It seemed to keep “tagging” in one area of town too, as we didn’t see any outside this alley, so pretty smart of the people who came up with the idea, I’d say!

Just goes to show you...one never knows what hidden gems lies in wait for us...guess we will just have to keep searching them out!

...kicking back in Rapid City South Dakota,  Marie

If you wish to view the rest of the photos from this trip, you can at my Flickr account at:http://www.flickr.com/photos/74905158@N04/