Tuesday, April 4th - Monday, April 10th
Mission Bay RV Park –
San Diego, California
The drive to San Diego took us across the southernmost
desert of California and then over mountains through the Cleveland National
Forest. Wow, we had no idea there was a major mountain range to cross. There
were several windmill farms in the valleys, along with growing communities with
homes dotting the mountainsides and valleys. Again, we saw more new urban
sprawl outside of a major city. The drive was through a different environment
than we have seen before. As we descended the mountains and entered the urban
areas, the population (housing) density was even more incredible. Houses on top
of mesas, on sides of mountains and along the highway. Finally, we arrived in Mission Bay, such a
gorgeous area of San Diego.
We stayed a week at Mission Bay RV Park. This park was our
choice due to the location (on Mission Bay waterfront) and the amenities. There
was a walk path along the bay where we were able to walk our dogs with a
waterfront view.
The first day we headed out for a drive around the area and
to visit the Cabrillo National Monument. This monument honors the landing by
Juan Cabrillo, being the first European to discover the west coast of America.
We were so surprised to find an amazing peninsula with high elevation and rocky
cliffs. This property is also occupied by the US Navy, with various naval
institutions operating there. The views of San Diego are spectacular! On the
Oceanside, there are whale viewing areas for the winter migrations. Anyone
visiting this area should drive up there to see the beauty and views. We drove
through many areas of San Diego heading back to Mission Bay.
Another day we headed north to the Carmel Valley (not to be
confused with Carmel By the Sea near Monterey). This is a sprawling valley with
many housing communities. Black Mountain Community Park is located there, which
has a mountain bike trail system. We rode several miles and enjoyed the views
from the trails. From there, we headed over to La Jolla, a community along the
elevated, rocky coast. It is very upscale and is the location where Scripps
Research institutions were founded. The coast was incredible with high rocky
cliffs, tide pools, beaches and coves where seals and sea lions were hanging
out. It was a beautiful day and we truly enjoyed walking along the shore.
We discovered there is a trolley (actually a train) public
transportation, so we found a parking place near the station, which happened to
be next to Old Town San Diego. First we walked through the historic area,
viewing the buildings and learning about the founding of San Diego. We also had
a great lunch from a taco stand, authentic Mexican tacos and salsa. After that
we got back on the train and took it to San Ysidro at the Mexican border. Kurt
just wanted to see the border and he saw that the traffic going into Mexico was
miles long and was told that if we entered then the return could take up to a
couple of hours waiting in line in immigration. Fortunately, we did not cross
over to Mexico, I just was not excited about going into Tijuana. On the way
back, we decided to get off the train in downtown San Diego. We walked around checking out the area, what
a nice clean city. We were impressed. Anyway, the train trip was long and we
finally got back to our truck to return to camp. It was a long but fun day.
The next day we took our bikes down to Pacific Beach and
rode the beach boardwalk from the north end down to the inlet at Mission Beach.
It was a beautiful day and we had a lot of fun people watching. The beaches are
so different here from those in south Florida. After returning to camp we took
the dogs to Dog Beach, on the south side of the inlet at Mission Beach. This is
an off-leash, dog designated beach. Our boys had so much fun running, sniffing
and playing with any dog who wanted to play. It was one of the nicest beaches
for dogs we have seen, other than our Jupiter Beach at home.
One afternoon we decided to take the dogs to a beachside
area called Sunset Cliffs. This is on the south side of San Diego and has a
walk path along the several miles. The dogs enjoyed the walk and we all had
fun. Again, the coast line beaches are so amazing with the big waves, cliffs,
rocky ledges and great views.
Our last day there we decided to go to the world renowned
San Diego Zoo. We don’t normally go to zoos, but this was the San Diego Zoo! And
we didn’t know if we would ever make it back out here someday. It was worth the
price and we spent most of the day there observing the wonderful animal
habitats and looking at species we had never seen before. Our favorite exhibit was the meerkats! A few
years ago we watched a series on NatGeo called Meerkat Manor, so we were
already biased about this sweet little animals.
We were sad to leave San Diego, but again, California is a
big state and there is still so much to see! On to Joshua Tree National Park.