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What We Do Once We Get “THERE”

This past December my college roommates and I had our inaugural “girl’s weekend”.  It was fantastic!  We hadn’t been together, in one room, for sixteen years.  And although we all have very different lives, it was so easy to reconnect.  My travels intrigued them and after talking a bit about past and future journeys, I noticed a confused look on the face of my driven, most ‘plugged-in’ friend.

“So…” she asked, tentatively, “What exactly do you do once you get there?”

It made me realize that not everyone gets this whole travel thing.  So with this blog, I hope to keep friends and family and any other politely curious spectators up-to-date with where we are, where we’re heading, and most importantly, what in the world we’re doing!

We left our base camp in northern Florida in mid-January and arrived in San Diego a few days ago, our third crossing of the continent towing our travel trailer.  One of the goals of our travels, along with seeing as much of our beautiful and diverse country as possible, is to find the ideal place to live.  Our perfect place would have the following:  be close to the coast so that Mitch can have his surf; close to trails for running, hiking, and biking; be a bike friendly community with paved trails and/or designated bike lanes; a population of 10,000 – 50,000 active, friendly, open-minded, forward-thinking, peaceful people; opportunities to see live theater and music; a couple of good micro-breweries; an artsy little shopping area; an interesting and well-preserved history; be comfortable enough in the wintertime to remain active outdoors; low cost of living; no strip malls or sprawling development; no pollution.  Does a place like this exist?  Probably not, but it is fun to search for it!

San Diego would have been very close to our ideal if we could have frozen it at the turn of the previous century.  But, as usual, we missed it!  I can’t help but wish that I was alive back then to see this incredible landscape without the homes and roads and unnaturally brown haze.  However, it is still a lot of fun to visit!

Paddling off of La Jolla has been the highlight so far. There are caves and cliffs and seals sunning themselves on rocks and a kelp forest gracefully waving in the swells.
Mitch checks out a La Jolla cave.
A Balboa Park street performer playing the didjeridu. He said that, although the didjeridu is an Australian Aboriginal wind instrument, he is not an Australian Aboriginal. He is from the Aboriginal tribe of "New Yorkers".
A person could spend a month or more wandering around Balboa Park and never get bored - every type of museum is represented, beautiful fountains, landscapes and gardens to explore, street performers, restaurants, shopping, and lots and lots of people watching. This photo is of an artisan's area of the park. We watched a glass blowing lesson and a Spanish guitar lesson here. These little shops are both studios and retail outlets for the artists.
Cabrillo National Monument was a great place to take in the view of the spellbinding California coast as well as the skyline of San Diego. The park sits on top Point Loma, a rocky peninsula forming the west entrance of San Diego Bay. It is famous for its tidal pools where, at low tide, visitors can spy on marine critters that survive in this specialized environment.