Places Visited: How can we pack so much into one day and so little into another? I don't fully understand it but between sleeping late and goofing off today just whizzed past us. We didn't really get a lot of exciting exploring done. However, we did go looking for a grocery store. The first one we found was an upscale grocery store with a huge fresh vegetable and fruit area with all the produce being organically grown. Virtually everything in this supermarket was "earth-friendly"/organically grown or something of that nature. We enjoyed walking around the store since it was so different than the supermarkets we are used to. Even the drink section and ice cream area had "unconventional" items and none of the regular supermarket fare.
The pic to the left is "documentation" providing PROOF that our motorhome has pots and pans and that the stove does work. Note the blue flame under the center pot. Also note fresh tomatoes and avacados on the table. Talk about miracles and this one is caught on film.
We rode down to the beach to watch the sun set tonight. Joyce wanted to get the famous Oceanside pier in her sunset pictures tonight. I think we got in the right area. Her pictures will be available with this travelogue when it is posted to our website.
It just doesn't get any better than this.
Friday, May 13, Paradise RV-Resort Oceanside, California: $39.50. FHU with 50-amps, Paved interior roads and sites plus cable and free WIFI. N33° 10.707' W117° 21.993'. This was another lazy day in anticipation of tomorrow when we are going to drive down to Tijuana with Ken. It promises to be a jam packed day full of excitement.
But back today we took care of clothes washing and motorhome cleaning duties in addition to sampling the RV-Parks Jacuzzi and walking along the beach. As has become routine we headed to the beach to watch the sun sink over the western Pacific. Joyce is getting more sophisticated with this ritual. To begin with we would just go to the beach but that produced the same old sunset pictures day after day. Then we graduated to driving to different spots on the beach so that the sunset pictures would have different objects in them. Tonight was no different we decided to partake of the sunset ritual at the Oceanside harbor where a huge dredge is doing their annual maintenance dredging.
The sun is setting behind the rock jetty protecting the entrance to the harbor (Oceanside Marina).
After enjoying the sunset Joyce had me head to Coyote's in Carlsbad. Coyote's is a trendy eatery & bar in Carlsbad with live entertainment. We could hear the entertainment a block or so away and just followed the crowd. The band was outside as was most of the action. The band had attracted an eclectic bunch of people, there were older couples (40's & 50's) some obviously "dating" I say obviously by the way they are trying to impress the other. Stodgy old married couples are light years away from trying to impress their mates. Oh, I am so thankful that I am not in the dating game……. Just the thought of that should deter even the thought of divorce. VBG Several pairs of "dating" women---was that a descriptive term or what--- were having a good time in the dancing area. There was the usual assortment of single men and single women on the prowl. The mix continued to change as the night wore on. The older set wandered away after the dinner hour only to be replaced by beer drinking younger set. The outdoor setting at Coyote's was unique at least for us it was. The weather in Southern California is so nice that dining and entertaining outdoors is chic. While some tables and chairs were scattered about most of crowd was in chairs around what might be referred to as a fire pit. These "fire-pits" were bricked enclosures about 3' tall with the wall being several bricks across so they acted as a counter for plates of food and beverages. The interior of these pits was filled with sand nearly up to the top. Burning wood was placed on the sand providing both warmth and ambience. Actually, I thought it was burning wood but Ken told me that those were gas logs. Now I really feel dumb. I could not for the life of me see how they could get those logs burning just right and not pop and crackle like wood fires do. There wasn't any smoke. I should have gotten a clue somewhere along the line but NO. I had to have Ken tell me they were gas logs. Sitting around these burning gas logs was a unique yet very appealing arrangement. However, this type arrangement would only be conducive in certain geographic areas were the weather would allow. Southern California is one of those places. We enjoyed the music and stayed long after most of the other 50's couples had departed the scene. The band was playing a variety of music from the 60's and 70's that the younger people were enjoying. Some of those old Beach Boys and Beetles tunes must be timeless. Does it get any better? Saturday, May 14, Paradise RV-Resort Oceanside, California: $39.50. FHU with 50-amps, Paved interior roads and sites plus cable and free WIFI. N33° 10.707' W117° 21.993'. This morning we picked up Ken in our Saturn and headed to Tijuana (Katharine had other obligations). The traffic was horrible (in my opinion) on I-5 heading into San Diego. For most of the 35-miles to San Diego we were only able to run about 35-mph.
South of "the 805" (that is how Californians identify I-805) things mysteriously cleared up and we were able to maintain normal interstate speeds for the remainder of our ride to the Mexican border. Joyce snapped this pic of the bridge from San Diego to Coronado out the window as we zipped past on I-5. We stayed on I-5 until the LAST exit in the US. We took that exit and pulled into the Border parking lot paying $7.00 to park. We took the bus that enters the parking lot and for $2.50 each took us to downtown Tijuana ----- about a 5-mile walk otherwise.
Ken found a neat restaurant for lunch. I had their carne asada a dish I would not have even thought twice about if it had not been brought to my attention by Helen Montgomery. Thanks go to Helen for introducing me to carne asada, even though it was the most expensive dish on the menu. The carne asada came with a bean soup. When the waiter delivered the bean soup he brought along a side dish heaping with shredded white cheese, finely chopped onions, finely chopped tomatoes and cilantro then made hand motions that I should put these items in the bean soup. After discussing this with both Ken and Joyce they agreed that the waiter had indeed indicated that I should add these items to the soup so that is what I did except for the cilantro. I only put a little of it the soup. I don't know about you but a little bit of cilantro goes a LONG way. I added about a teaspoon of the cilantro and left 4 or 5 tablespoons on the dish. The soup was great with all these ingredients. To bad, I will probably never see bean soup on a Mexican menu again.
This is Ken showing us how "folks out here" eat hot peppers. As you can see he is eyeballing that hot baby before taking his second bite. In all fairness to Ken he ate several of them, much to our amusement. I got the biggest kick out of the sweat that popped out on his brow and upper lip area.
We went in a number of pharmacies looking for a specific medication that my Brother in Law wanted me to look for in Mexico. We were able to find his medication and got it for a good price. Joyce purchased a leather backpack. I think she likes bargaining with the vendors.
One addition to the Tijuana scene that I have never seen before was donkeys painted to look like zebras. I guess they have taken a white donkey and died stripes on it so that it looks like a zebra. There was one on every corner along with someone to take your picture with it or on it. There were 10 or more of those funny looking critters. They must be a money maker for so many of them to be there but I couldn't understand the attraction. As you can see it doesn't take much to amuse me. VBG
That is the Mexican boy hawking the bicycle in the pic to the left you can make him out on the right side of the pic between two of the poles.
Once back in the Saturn we decided to return to San Diego up CA-75 and the Silver Strand into Coronado rather than take I-5. This was Saturday afternoon and the parking lot at the Silver Strand State Park was packed with automobiles as was the RV-Park. The RV-Park appears to be nothing more than a parking lot with RV's stacked like cordwood in parking lot spaces barely large enough for the RV itself to fit. There did not appear to be room to extend an awning. With that said the place was jam packed so it must be a "deal". In Coronado we drove past the Hotel Del then down Ocean Boulevard along the public beach then through some of the residential neighborhoods with impeccably manicured yards before heading across the Coronado Bridge and back to I-5 for our return trip to Carlsbad where Katharine joined us for dinner at a Chinese place Ken knew about in Encinitas. Again
today we went hard at it from can to can't and we have a heavy schedule tomorrow.
I guess those slow days earlier in the week were preparing us for this. Until next week just remember how good life is. Mike & Joyce Hendrix
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Between
what we purchased at "Market Day" yesterday in Carlsbad and what we
picked up in this organic yuppie store we had enough for a GOOD meal so Joyce
cooked. We had a great meal in the motorhome. Getting a meal of vegetables is
right next to divine since we have been eating out so much. I am getting addicted
to Haas avocados. If I lived out here there would be several avocado trees in
my yard. I actually have an avocado tree in my back yard in Pensacola but it freezes
back every year and never produces any fruit. Joyce is devouring fresh strawberries.
We
took a taxi back to the border and walked across because customs was being particularly
picky with bus passengers. Busses returning to the US were being detained in customs
for over 2-hours. Although we had to walk a short distance to the border from
where the taxi let us off we cleared customs in less than 15-minutes then had
a half-mile walk across I-5 to the parking lot. The border crossing inconvenience
was just part of the experience of visiting Tijuana. The bicycle lane was even
faster than walking. One small Mexican boy was hawking a bicycle to the "walking"
line. While we did not grasp the significance of the boy hawking that bicycle
when we saw him it dawned on us the significance of that bicycle when we saw people
on bikes whizzing past us and the horrendous line of automobile and bus traffic.