bobanddenisewanderlust

Saturday-  We had to be up early for the guys to take the MH. We were ready at 7 AM. They were supposed to be completed by 12.

We left at 8 and went to the Fontana Farmers Market. We wandered around, left and went to the Rancho Cucamonga Farmers Market, where Bob bought some oranges.

We returned to Alfateers and were waiting in the waiting room for them to finish the rig. At 11:45, we checked with Donovan and he said it was going to be another 45 minutes to an hour, so we left and went to Wendy’s for a salad.

We returned, ate our salads, and they came to get us. Jon and Donovan went with us to the MH and put the slide in and out. They pointed out some other issues. Then they were going to seal the front slide window, that is still an issue which we are going to have repaired by Joe on Yuma at the Alfa Rally.

We went out front to wait with the other folks at the picnic table. We waited for about an hour and half. Midway through, Donovan came out to leave for the day, and saw us still sitting there. So he went to check on what was happening.

When he came back he was laughing. When he and Jon had taken us to the MH, we had left the dogs in the MH. They were sitting up on the front seat. When Donovan arrived, he found one of the workers taking pictures of the dogs. He freaked, but found out it was not the guy who was sealing the window.

Donovan left to go home to watch the basketball game. Meanwhile, Jon returned from lunch with his wife. He saw us still siting there and made the guys move the RV’s that were in the way, so that we could get on the road.

Eddie backed the MH out to the street, we hooked up and started our drive south. We started by going 2 miles north on I-10 to I-15 south. The traffic was horrible. The GPS kept re-routing us. Traffic both directions was awful. The drive was just less than two hours, and it took us three.

While on the way, something flew up and hit the windshield. Both of us freaked, as we are not sure what it was, but it hit right in the center and cracked both sides. We have a split windshield, so both sides are going to need to be replaced. Scary!

We drove into Pio Poco Thousand Trails at 6 PM. You have to go to the south section to check in. We did and found that the south was full ( not unexpected as it was Easter weekend!). We had to drive through the south side, then back out of the park, cross the road, and drive into the north section. We cruised around the first part of the north side. There was a place to stop and disconnect.

Bob disconnected the car, and I ran around in the back section looking for a site. There were four left. So I called Bob on the radio and told him to come on and follow me.

We pulled into a site which was side by side. We were facing one direction and the other people were facing the other, with the water and electric post in-between.

We quickly set up. Bob walked the dogs and I made a quick salad for dinner.  We only set up minimally, watched some TV and went to bed.

Sunday- Happy Easter!  The MH was very dirty inside from being in the shop. Usually, they clean the inside but there was no one to do it on a Saturday. So Jon gave us money off to compensate. We cleaned as best we could at that time.

At 8:20, we left to run over to the south side. We were placed last evening on the list to move to the south side, as the north side only has electric and water. Plus the sites are really close together. We figured that with it being Sunday, many people would leave.

It turned out there were 10 rigs leaving and we were #7 on the list.  They list the sites that are going to be open,  on a board, at the ranger station, at 8:30. At 9, they go down the list. In the mean time we rode through the park, looking at each site on the list. We eliminated some, then returned. We sat talking to some of the other folks.

At 9, the Ranger read us the rules. He went down the list in order. There were a lot of other people who were on the list ahead of us, but they did not show up.  We chose site C8, as it was already vacated.

We ran back to the MH, packed up and left to move over to the south side. We backed into the site and Bob discovered that the sewer hose did not fit. The opening which was low in the ground, had a diameter of 2.5 inches. The standard is 3. So we went to the store, in the park to buy an adapter. They only had 3”. So we could not use the sewer. Two guys from security came over to check on the opening, but they did not have what they needed. They put us on the list for maintenance. The guy never showed. We went back on the list to move in the morning.

We both took a nap, while waiting. I rode my bike and Bob walked the dogs.

Monday- We were up and back down at the ranger station at 8:30. We took the list of sites, but the repair guy was on his way. So we returned to the MH, and Don, told us that they did not have an adapter but we could get one in El Cajon, and gave us the directions to the RV supply store.

We had to go to the grocery store anyway, so we drove to El Cajon. The two RV stores did not have a 2.5” adapter, and kept telling us the 3” is the standard. Yah, we know. We also went to Home Depot and two plumbing supply companies. Nobody had anything that would work!

We returned to the MH, empty handed. When we arrived back, the guy on our drivers side had left. He had an adapter on his sewer, so we asked to move over one site. We were afraid we would not be able to get satellite, but we did. Unfortunately, we moved from a 50 amp site to a 30 amp site and had trouble leveling. But we were in a full hook up site.

I did loads of laundry in the MH and we ran to the park laundry to do the sheets and towels. We read, ate dinner, watched TV and wen to bed.

Tuesday-  The weather looked better this morning, with some sun shining. We went to the Activity Center for the free WiFi. We have no cell service here, so we  have no internet. We cannot even get texts.

They give you 10 free minutes on a paid website. They also say in their brochure, that there is free internet access at the Activity Center. They lied! There wasn’t any. So we used our free 10 minutes, then returned to the MH.

We walked the dogs, then took off for San Diego. We drove west out of the park, and continued to Chula Vista. We stopped at CVS for Bob to drop off a prescription. The CVS store could not fill the prescription. Our mail order service is CVS/Caremark, and they are supposed to be able to do this.

So Bob called Caremark, and they spoke with the store. He was told to check back later to make sure that the prescription was transferred.

We continued on our way. I spotted motor homes on a hill on the south side. Bob noticed that it was an Elks Lodge. We made a U-turn to go look at the RV park. We spoke with the camp host and she says that the sites are empty, so we are going to move from Pio Pico, to the Elks in the morning.

We continued on our way to San Diego. We arrived at the Embarcadero wharf. We easily found a parking place at a meter. We walked over to the Visitor Center and grabbed brochures for various attractions. We purchased tickets for the Old Town Trolley tour. Then we went to Anthony’s Fish Grotto for lunch. They have a restaurant, and a walk up grill, with seating outside on a pier. We chose the outside. We ordered our food, waited about 5 minutes, and they called our number.

We had a nice lunch, then we walked up the wharf. The India Star was there as well as this other tall ship. The ship below is the real ship, but a replica of this ship was used by Johnny Depp in the Pirates of the Caribbean movies.

 

Above was one of two air craft carriers, in port at Coronado. Below, is the city Administration building on  Harbor Blvd. This building was dedicated by FDR.  Isn’t this an interesting art deco building? My picture looks like a post card!

By this time, it was after 1:30, so we left and went out I-8 to the San Diego Mission.

As soon as we drove into the parking lot I realized that this was a Mission that I had visited in 1975 when I traveled in California. We walked up 42 steps to the Mission. The knees are really in good shape and evidently so am I, as I had no trouble climbing them!

This mission is the first of a chair of 21 missions that stretch northward along the coast of California. Mission San Diego became known as the Mother of the Missions.

Above is a representation of where two priests would have lived.

This mission is much less decorative than the last one we visited. Note the plain alter. Below is the view to the back of the church.

We walked through the church, and out into the garden. We were behind the bells.

The crosses in the picture below, were made from the original bricks of the mission.

Above is more of the garden. Below are the Stations of the Cross on the garden wall.

We walked through their small museum,  then out to the Chapel.

The garden was not all that great, but the courtyard had some beautiful plants.

We walked back out front.

I wish the pictures of the flowering plants showed the vibrant colors. They seem washed out in the pictures! Below is the front of the church, then along the side. The school is on the other side and goes along about the same length as the side.

We returned to the MH, and packed up all the stuff that was outside. Good thing we did, as it rained really hard, starting at around 7pm, and it rained all night.

Wednesday- The rain stopped just in time for us to finish getting ready to leave. We drove out of the park at around 9:20. I went ahead and stopped at Vons. Bob drove the MH. The first part of the road is very winding and narrow, although not as narrow as other places that we have traveled.

About a mile and a half before toll road 125, the road became 6 lanes. The travel to the Elks lodge was easy. Bob was there when I arrived. The camp host was out, at yoga, so we went ahead and parked. The site is fairly level, and is FHU 50 amp, for $26 per night.

We set up and went to pay the camp host when she returned. The sun shined intermittently, and it became windy. It has been windy most days that we have been in California.

We went to Costco for gas and made some much needed phone calls. We also answered emails.

Since we moved, I had to contact the groomer that I had set up for next week, but she does not come this far. She had a friend call, but the friend was too expensive. I talked to her again, and she says that she is going to come to the Elks to do the dogs.

Bob spent some time on the phone walking to Joe about the windshield and the window. Joe asked for our insurance info, which Bob gave him, and we will see how much they pay.

We went across to the park to the RV social hour at the pavilion. There were three couples there. We had a nice time meeting them. One of the couples was from Lethbridge Alberta Canada, where we had stayed on our way to Alaska in 2013.

We went to dinner at Italianissimo Trattoria  Restaurant. We both had an excellent meal of tortellini in a mushroom cream sauce. Wow, was it good!

We returned to the MH, watched TV and went to bed.

Thursday- After my powerwalk around the park, we left and went to Escondido, about 30 miles to the north. We went directly to the Visitor Center. It was closed until 11:30, even though the sign said they opened at 9.

So we left and went about 11 miles north to Bates Nut Farm in Valley Center CA.

The Bates have owned the farm for years and originally grew walnuts. They found that it was a lot easier to buy nuts, rather than grow them, and built a business around nuts from around the world. They have a very large store, with different candies, nuts, salsa’s, jams etc. We wandered around looking at everything. We only bought two small Reese’s cups and two small York peppermint patties out of the big barrels.

They had a little gift shop and I bought a thin wallet to use in my fanny pack when wandering around as a tourist. Yes, I still use a fanny pack!

We left and went back to Escondido for lunch at Stone Brewing World Bistro and Gardens. We had a little trouble finding the brewery. We actually found the brewery building, but had trouble finding the Bistro and Garden. They have no signs!!  Below is the walkway into the Bistro.

We parked near a building and walked down a walkway and right into the bistro entrance. I asked the hostess about the lack of signage and she said that they do not have any signs at any of their facilities. She says you have to find the gem with the  excellent beer!

We had an expensive lunch of beef BBQ sandwiches, which we ate out on the patio. Bob had a sampler of Stone IPA, which he liked and he usually does not like IPA’s, a Stone IPA 2.0, a stout and a smoky porter. They had rather large servings and he was not feeling any pain!

We ate lunch then wandered through the garden.

We left and went back to the Visitor Center. We spoke with the lady there and picked up some brochures. One of them was for Stone & Glass, a full service hot glass and mixed media art studio and gallery. We parked and walked in to meet Carol and Jim Stone. Jim’s designs are beautiful. Carol greeted us then turned us over to Jim for a tour. We had a great time! What awesome folks! Jim’s parents had been engineers for the DOD, like Bob, and they bonded, talking shop for awhile, while I drooled over the glass pieces.  Below is a much younger picture of Jim with Chiluly.

Above is someone who has rented the studio for the day and is creating a glass blown piece.

Above is Jim Stone and one of his pieces.

We left and went to Baskin Robbins for the $1.31 scoop of ice cream. Bob had the Chocolate Brownie and I had my favorite, German Chocolate Cake.

We returned to the MH, walked the dogs, ate dinner and watched TV.

Friday-  My Picasa program has stopped working. Google has moved to Google Pictures and you have to be online to insert the pictures. What an issue for me! Google Photos crashed my computer! So the pictures below are not edited, as Picasa will not let me get to the pictures that I have edited.

We were out the door early so that we could get to Old Town San Diego and get a parking place. There is a free parking lot behind the Immaculate Conception church but it has limited spaces.

We arrived and found a parking place in the shade. We walked around  the Old Town shops, then boarded the 9:30 trolley.

The first stop on the trolley route is the Embarcadero, which is where we had been the other day. Here is a picture of the ship that crashed into the dock yesterday. It had been on the national news.

We stayed on the trolley. The guide told us not to just ride the trolley all day, but to get off at some of the stops. Our plan had been to ride the trolley around, back to Old Town and eat lunch there. Then take the trolley again.

At Seaport Village ( a shopping district) the guide pointed out this yacht; it belongs to Jerry Lewis. He lives in Las Vegas, but comes to San Diego to use the boat. It is named for his wife. Obviously, he is no here now.

We decided to get off the trolley in the Gaslamp District. We stopped at the William Heath Davis House, but we did not want to pay for the tour. 

Wewandered around the area for the 1/2 hour stop, visiting the Giradelli shop which was located in an old movie theater.

We walked in to the shop. There was no sign telling hours, but the shop was closed. The employee gave us each a piece of candy and sent us on our way, as the shop did not open until 11, and it was only 10:30.

The architecture was interesting on some of the buildings.

 

We hopped back o the shuttle and continued on to Coronado. The picture below is of the San Diego waterfront from the very high Coronado bridge.

This picture is of one of the first houses on Coronado. The island was purchased by two retired businessmen. They had been hunting on the island and  decided a resort would work there. They sold lots on the island, paying for the resort. Many of the houses were brought over on barges, as it was difficult to build houses on the island.

We stayed on at the ferry stop and continued on to the Hotel Del Coronado. We walked over two blocks to the hotel and walked into the hotel.

This is the back of the building.

We wandered through the center courtyard ( above) and into the lobby. We wandered past the very expensive shops and out onto the patio and the beach.

The hotel is spectacular, but for the very rich( Sunday brunch is $99 per person). We laughed at the bikes for the spinning class, which were being put back into a trailer for storage. Note that the instructor has an umbrella. For these prices, they should all have an umbrella!

We walked back to the trolley stop. It was located  on Orange Street, the  main street through Coronado.

  We took the trolley  back across the bridge, catching this aircraft carrier leaving port.

We continued through Balboa Park and on to Little Italy. We got off in Little Italy and ate lunch at a little pizza/salad restaurant. We hopped back on the trolley and continued on to Old Town.

Old town is free and has a lot of free little museums and restaurants.

 

Above is a mural of Old Town San Diego, before the city was built. Old Town was the town, but when they started to dredge the bay, they used the silt/dirt/mud to build out the waterfront. It became the ‘new city’ which is the Gaslamp District, the waterfront, and Little Italy.

We got in the car and arrived back at the MH, tired, at about 3PM. We both relaxed in the recliners, falling asleep after dinner. Each day this week we have walked between 4 and 5 miles!

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