San Diego Day 6-- Joshua Tree National Park

Joshua tree is named for the large, so-catcus-like-they-are-often-mistaken-for-cactus-but-are-actually-trees, trees, which Mormon settlers thought looked like Joshua raising his arms to lead God's people.  I am not sure why they settled on Joshua rather than Moses, who actually held his hands aloft while Israel defeated their enemies; best guess is they weren't thinking straight due to the heat and lack of water.

In all seriousness, Joshua tree is extraordinary.  The area divides into several discreet microclimates, of which the Joshua trees actually only inhabit a portion.  They produce large fruits from which seeds sprout and plant.  In a bygone era, giant land sloths ate those fruits and distributed those seeds via the end of their GI tract far and wide; without their nomadic carriers, the range of these plants has diminished and become far more concentrated.

We began our journey at the visitor center, which was very informative; see the preceding two paragraphs.  Our day consisted of several short hikes taking place among the park's many attractions.  The first, Hidden Valley, was an illustration of how much life can exist even in the heat of a desert.  Hidden Valley was actually used for grazing cattle back in the day; the 'hidden' is a nod to the likely overblown claim that cattle wrestlers would hide their ill-gotten bovine herds in the seclusion of this spot.  An oak species particular to the region grew stately; apparently their seeds was an important food source for native peoples.  All around giant rock formations made the place feel otherworldly.

We headed on to Barker Dam, where man's intervention really did allow for flourishing cattle grazing.  While the water level was still low, it was still great to see the colors and life of a desert.  As we traversed from place to place, we munched happily on snacks Alex picked up at a local gas station on our way to Joshua tree.  Of her selections, the yogurt pretzels were particularly prized, and these snacks kept us going the whole day without ever having to actually stop to eat, maximizing our time in this strange world.

Were we to stop for lunch, Keys View would have been quite the option.  This high point gives a lovely view of the park.  Our view extended beyond the San Bernadino Mountains (the map points out they are the "Little" San Bernadino Mountains, stature need not be equated with stateliness) to over the San Andreas Fault into the Coachella Valley.  We pulled up to the spot, took in the view, and understanding the need to maximize the day took off, following a cyclist who, having exerted the effort of climbing to this high point, enjoyed coasting in front of us all the way down.

While Keys View was a scenic point, the longest hike of the day and highest point in the park actually belongs to Ryan's Mountain.  Alex and I excited hiked the craggy landmark.  The peak offered a great view of the park's delineation between the Mojave and Colorado deserts.  It was fascinating to note the plant life on either sloping side.  (Note from Alex:  this was about 1000' in elevation over 1.5 miles to the top.  Arthur scampered up like a mountain goat with his new physique while Alex, also sporting a new physique with pregnancy, huffed and puffed some but the view from the top overlooking the entire park was worth it.)

We drove quickly past one of the park's main attractions, Skull Rock, whose popularity and road proximity offered little hiking and even less parking.  We felt like we captured the essence of the place as we slowed down to view the skull-like formation.  Aptly named, we commented approvingly.

Instead, our next stop was actually towards Split Rock, another apt if perhaps overly literal name.  This formation offered a beautiful trail full of wondrous scenes beyond what even the titular attraction proffered.  We saw pictograms painted onto the rocks by people from past millennia and enjoyed the rocky terrain.

Our day was rapidly heading to conclusion.  Among the microclimates of this park, the Cholla Cactus garden left an indelible memory.  Cholla cacti are a particularly prurient plant, they cloth themselves in needles so thick that from a distance it looks like they're wearing wool.  Up close, their prickly personalities dispel with any thought of cuddliness; some swear the plant will shoot its needles at you should you venture closer than propriety allows.  It was truly curious why this particular section of the park would be so thoroughly dominated by one plant, and I have never found a reason for it.

Past the Cholla came the Ocotillo patch, another cacti species who looked downright friendly after hanging out in the Cholla gardens a while.  We didn't spend much time there; we hoped to hit Cottonwood Spring oasis before sunset.  It seems strange to aspire to visit a place named for the presence of a tree species growing in our own backyard, but indeed seeing deciduous trees of any variety is noteworthy in such a world as this. 

In Joshua Tree, we hiked roughly 10 miles between our various stops.  We did not break for lunch as we had noted, and while our snacking sustained us, I think we were both pretty excited to eat that night.  Alex pulled up a local eatery named Aqua California and we dined on a sumptuous three course meal (per the recommendation of our waiter who steered us towards the good deal), with soup, entree, and dessert, thank you very much for that extra 's'.  Splitting our courses between us, that amounted to quite the meal, though we both opted for the mushroom soup to begin the event.

And so it was that we headed back from a full day in the desert.

The next morning we got an early start after saying farewell to our B&B hostess who had even gave us a gift for our soon to be little girl.  We had to drive back to San Diego before our flight that afternoon.  We opted for the interstate route which also took us around the mountains rather than up and over. Arthur did a great job dealing with the California traffic on the multilane interstate.  As we were getting closer to San Diego it started to downpour-- the only bad weather we had on the trip.  This slowed traffic down and we were hoping it wouldn't impact us getting to our flight.  Everything worked out great-- finding a gas station, dropping off the rental car, and cruising through security.  Once on the plane prior to take off someone had a medical emergency which required returning to the terminal, unloading them and their checked luggage, and redoing safety checks which put us over an hour delayed on take off.  Most people on the plane were scrambling to reschedule connecting flights so it was nice for us that we had plenty of time for our layover and could relax.  Once we arrived in Dallas we enjoyed dinner and walking around the terminal before catching the flight back home.  Landing at the airport in the middle of February Arthur maybe looked a little out of place with his shorts and sunburn-- but that is what vacation is for.
Omnia Vincit Amour.

San Diego Day 5-- The Desert

It was time to leave San Diego and head east to the desert for a few days.  Arthur and I are always seem to enjoy the drive, especially when we can get off the interstate and see new country and our drive out to Anza Borrego State Park was perfect for this.  We left the beach and palm trees of San Diego and quickly found ourselves climbing in elevation and climbing a mountain range with pine trees and then suddenly dropping down to the flat, scrubby desert floor.  We found a great radio station, hoped the locals would have patience with us driving a little slower on curvy roads, and kick backed and relaxed.

  Our destination for the morning was the trail head for Cool Canyon.  There was a guided hike scheduled for the morning so we were going to try to meet up with them.  The instructions for the meeting point were: Turn on the county high, go through town, and then at the first dirt road past the park boundary sign, pull off.  Four wheel drive is not needed.  This always makes me a little concerned in a rental car but we would give it a try.  At the indicated dirt road there was no parking area or signs but a few places to pull in between scrub brush so we did and then waited for someone to show up.  A few minutes later about 10 vehicles with Canadian tags pull into the area.  As we found out on the hike this is a group that meets weekly doing different hikes in the area and most are snowbirds from Canada or other northern locales.  The average age was easily mid-70s.  One couple had been spending their winters in the area for years and were the naturalists leading the group and pointing out different plants, flowers, and birds.  While the pace of the hike was fairly slow, even for a pregnant woman, it was very interesting to look at the details that the rest of the group was very knowledgeable about-- where to look for pottery chards or rocks that were used to grind grain, the tiny desert plants just starting to poke through the rocky soil, or the butterfly flitting across the trail.  It was also interesting to observe the difference in vegetation on one side of the canyon that was always in the shade compared to 10 feet across the trail that was exposed to the sun and wind.  We met a few interesting people and it also gave us some ideas for our retirement-- oh so many years away.

After our hike we continued to drive across the desert but were fascinated how different desert can look. We finally jumped back onto the interstate with the hoards and made our way to Rancho Mirage.  We had about an hour before we checked into our bed and breakfast so we headed to the local library.  We had a wonderful time browsing around and sitting to read-- pretty relaxing for one of our vacations.  Our accommodations for the next two nights was a PEO bed and breakfast.  PEO is a women's group that Alex is a part of and members from across the country will open their homes as a bed and breakfast with the proceeds going towards scholarships for women's education.  The home we were staying at in Rancho Mirage was a part of a gated community with gorgeous landscaping and a canal with swans and paddle boats.  Our host was lovely and very welcoming.  Each morning she had a wonderful breakfast laid out and even included some local items such as date bread since there are palm dates farms in the area and fresh lemon curd.  We enjoyed talking about traveling and also hearing about living in the region.  Arthur and I have stayed in a variety of locations on our travels-- convents, hostel bunk rooms, off-the-grid tiny houses, tents-- this was probably the swankiest.  At the end of our stay Arthur was sad to leave the king size bed to return to his own bed back home. 

Our evenings activities took us into Palm Springs where we found a great Mexican restaurant with delightful surf and turf tacos.  We ate on the patio as the sun set behind the mountain which Alex loved-- she never passes an opportunity to eat outside.  Mosing on to downtown we were planning to go to the art museum which was open late and free on Thursday nights.  However there was a street fair going on as well making parking a nightmare-- thanks again California.  After circling a few times and almost throwing in the hat we saw a car backing out and were in prime position.  We enjoyed several of the special exhibits including one on glass blowing.  The museum had a mix of modern, Western, and Native American art.  I'm usually not much of a fan of modern art but we had a good time discussing the pieces.  Back at our bed and breakfast we settled in for a little quiet reading before bed.

San Diego Day 4 -- The Zoo

Most lists of America's top zoos will rank San Diego near the top.  Armed with that knowledge, when we began planning this trip, the Midway and the zoo topped the list of things to see, and it lived up to the hype.

As we did most days, we ate a quick breakfast in our room and drove through Balboa park to the zoo.  Wishing to optimize the time available to us, we made sure to arrive in plenty of time, and that allowed us the opportunity to talk to a kind retiree volunteer who gave us a map and some great suggestions about how to see as much of the zoo as possible. 

With a plan in place, we set out to explore this magical place.  The San Diego zoo was different than any other zoo we'd ever experienced in many different ways.  Situated in its wonderfully temperate climate zone, many exhibits we thought would be confined to indoors could all be outside.  Even the reptile displays stood in open-air buildings, something impossible in the Midwest.  The zoo is also noted as a botanical garden, with many varieties of plants able to thrive.  In fact, there are plants extinct in the wild that continue to flourish inside the zoo's boundaries, and they hope to reintroduce these plants to the wild over time, just like they would any animal species.

Among the many, many things we saw, here are some that really stood out:

• In the cheetah exhibit, we saw dogs lying around with the cheetahs.  Apparently the dogs helped the zoo keepers train the young cheetahs and kept them calm.  They seemed surprisingly content coexisting.
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• The zoo had an Australian section where several koalas lived.  I knew koalas ate eucalyptus, but did not realize eucalyptus could grow right there in San Diego.  Male koalas emit a very strange, deep grunt for the diminutive stuff animals they appear to be.  Apparently the little guy in question smelled a female in rut a couple trees over.
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• The elephants as always put on a good show.  The zoo keepers do a good job creating enrichment activities for the elephants so they don't get bored or lazy.  We watched as one Asian elephant figured out how to reach its trunk over its head into something like 50 gallon barrels to extract a tasty treat.
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• The lemur display really stood out.  Wild lemurs reside exclusively on the island of Madagascar, where their habitat is quickly being overrun, so it is quite a privilege to get to see these rare animals up close.  Perhaps counterintuitively, they keep one the the lemur's natural predators, the fossa, in an exhibit close by where they can see each other.  This apparently keeps both predator and prey alert and gets them to maintain the behavior both would display in the wild.
• It was interesting the extent to which the zoo personnel allowed the animals to act as they would in the wild.  A zookeeper gave a talk at the baboon exhibit and talked about how the males would fight each other and the injuries they would sustain.  For the most part, the zookeepers would allow these fight to continue and wounds to heal by themselves (it can apparently be even more dangerous for a treated baboon to try to reenter the group after receiving care because the group will recognize them as an outsider.)
• It was a small thing, but a sign talked about how large ice age herbivores helped many plant species with large fruits increase their range by eating their fruits and distributing their seeds.  Among the tree species suffering from the lack of the giant mammoths and land sloths: the Osage orange, which apparently would have gone extinct if not for human intervention.  Alex found this unlikely.  Another plant suffering from the lack of land sloths: the Joshua tree, which now grow much closer together than in days of yore with no animal carrier for their seeds.
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• The polar bear habitat was also open air.  They are kept cool via a large pool to swim in and a few ice machines in the back making about a cubic meter of snow available to roll around in at any given time.  The diets of these polar bears actually contains far more vegetables and far less fat than a wild polar bear would live off of; by keeping their body fat low, the bears feel more comfortable in sunny California.
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We spent the entire day at the zoo, from opening to close, and loved every moment of it.  After driving back to our room, we set off on foot for our dining experience that evening, a place with ramen noodles.  At only about a miles distance, not only was the walk reasonable and give us opportunity to take in the neighborhood, it saved us attempting to park.  We both enjoyed our delicious and satisfying noodles and headed back in, ready to shower, contemplate the wonders of the natural world we had just seen, and prepare for the adventures of the coming day.

San Diego Day 4- La Jolla

We wanted to get an early start on the morning since we had a lot to do so we headed out and braved the morning rush hour.  Arthur did an amazing job not getting frazzled by the traffic on the 4-5 lane freeways.  In all actuality driving around San Diego was not as bad as I had expected.  We discussed how it seemed similar to driving in Kansas City.  It wasn't until I sat down to write this I looked at the population.  Kansas City has about 500,000 residents.  San Diego is three times that size at 1.4 million.  It is actually the 8th largest city in America-- just ahead of Dallas.  Now given our choice I think I would choose to drive around San Diego in a heartbeat instead of Dallas.  Maybe because we were centrally located or didn't drive at peak times for the most part but it was never overwhelming (at least for the copilot). 

Our morning hike was at Torrey Pines State Reserve.  Since we were early we found a parking spot along the beach and were able to walk into the park rather than paying the $20 entrance fee-- another win for internet research.  Torrey Pines is home to the rare torrey pine tree which is only found in the area or on the Channel Island.  The area is a wild, scrubby landscape with sandstone cliffs overlooking the ocean below.  We enjoyed the expansive views from the cliffs looking up and down the shoreline for miles watching the waves rolling in.  We then descended down to the beach below the cliffs and sat on a rock and pondered our lives for awhile.  On the return hike we walked past the Torrey Golf Course which will host US Open in 2021.  During WWII the golf course area and part of the park were part of a US Army anti-aircraft camp built to protect the West Coast.  We discussed how almost everywhere we had visited in San Diego there was some military history at some point.  During our hike we were often looking overhead as military helicopters or fighter jets were doing training formations.  It seemed like there was always something to watch.

After our hike it was time for brunch so we headed into the town of La Jolla to Richard Walker's Pancake House.  This place was a little swankier than the average pancake or waffle joint with stain glass windows and string instrumental music playing in the background.  We shared a Mediterranean omelet and apple Dutch baby pancake-- both were incredible light and fluffy.  Arthur also enjoyed a fine cup of coffee with fancy creamer-- he may never be the same again. Arthur was also excited to get a call to schedule a job interview while we were having breakfast.   Since we only had a parking space for 2 hours we had to do a quick tour of La Jolla and which we could have spent more time.  We checked out the National Geographic art gallery and marveled at the photography.  We felt pretty knowledgeable when we saw a photo by Jim Richardson and were able to chat with the sales lady about him being from Kansas and that we had been to his gallery in Lindsborg.  After taking in amazing images from around the world we headed down to the water.  The protected cove makes a great place for seals which are always a blast to watch.  There were also a variety of sea birds hanging out on the rocks. I also enjoyed all the different types of flowers blooming near the water.

We continued along the coastline to the south toe Cabrillo National Monument on Point Loma separating the bay from the Pacific.  Cabrillo the first Spanish explorer to come up the Pacific Coast and San Diego was his first landing in the area that would become the US.  At the park there was also an old lighthouse as well as some bunkers left from WWII to protect the entrance to the San Diego harbor.  Grey whales also migrate just a few miles off the coast.  While we didn't see any migrating while we were there we enjoyed the stories about some of the men on watch during WWII shooting at the whales because they were mistaken for a submarine-- that would be an embarrassing day at work.  Probably the highlight of this stop was watching one of the active aircraft carriers stationed in San Diego leave the harbor and head out to the Pacific right off the point we were sitting.  It ended up that the trails closed earlier than the park so we couldn't get our last 2 mile hike in so we decided to go back to Sunset Cliffs to walk along the water front but then also explore the neighborhoods and homes with their magnificent landscaping.  Once again, it is amazing the enjoyment we get by simply walking and looking at things and wondering what life would be like to live here. 

For dinner we headed back to Liberty Station Market for a miniature food tour.  We ordered the Very Good Grilled Cheese at Venissimo Cheese with was an alpine cheese with mustard, an array of tacos for a Taco Tuesday, topped off with scoop of birthday cake and coffee ice cream from MooTime Creamery.  Either we are getting old or haven't adjusted to the time zone or just wear ourselves out we decided to call it a night and head back to our place about 6:30pm.

San Diego Day 3- USS Midway

Our adventure today was going to be along the waterfront of downtown San Diego with the USS Midway being the main attraction.  Arthur had been to San Diego previously for a conference and expo show a few years ago and didn't see much of the city except for the aircraft carrier the USS Midway from the Convention Center.  That was not close enough to a large engineering wonder for him so it has been on his list to visit an aircraft carrier.  Last year we were across the harbor from one in San Francisco but didn't have time in our whirlwind day in the city so we had to skip it. I think there are only 5 aircraft carriers in the country open to visitors and most certainly none within a thousand miles of our landlocked location so San Diego and the USS Midway were our chance to make this happen.

We headed downtown to the waterfront early to make sure we got a place to park and to wander along the parks on the water's edge before the museum opened.  Sometimes we are both amazed by how much we just enjoy walking through a new place.  There were naval monuments scattered through the parks as well as activity at the marinas for us to watch with curiosity.  It was also a gorgeous morning with several people out and about enjoying a day off for Presidents' Day.  We decided that owning a boat isn't for us, although we would consider kayaks some day.  Much to our disappointment we needed to turn around on our walk so we could go back and get in line for tickets at the Midway.

Once aboard our first stop was a tour of the command center of the ship-- home to the control tower for the flight deck and the ship's control and navigation rooms.  Next we stopped in to look at the radio room.  My grandfather was stationed on the USS Solomon aircraft carrier in the Atlantic at the end of WWII and served as a radio operator.  We then meandered through the interior of the ship below decks-- all the areas that kept this floating city of 4500 people afloat including the kitchens and mess halls, laundry, post office, barber shop, sleeping quarters and engine rooms.  It is hard to imagine that many people trying to move about through these narrow hallways and ladders.  With Arthur's height he walked around in a continual crouch most of the tour. 

 In many of the areas were volunteers to answer questions or to share more about the history of the ship.  While looking through the Admiral's quarters and strategy room everything was set up the way it would have been during the Desert Storm operation.  The volunteer in this room had been on the Midway during Desert Storm so we heard about the experience first hand.  Most of the volunteers we spoke to had actually served on the Midway. Our last stop was the flight desk where we meandered through the display of airplanes and helicopters that had been used on the ship.  We also sat in on a few fascinating presentations about the intricacies of launching and landing aircraft on the ship and how all of these complex steps took place about every 45 seconds since that is the frequency at which the aircraft took off or landed.

Arthur probably could have stayed on the ship the entire day but I was getting hungry so we walked up the water front the other direction to the Little Italy neighborhood for a late lunch.  We decided to have the carbonara which we fell in love with at a sidewalk cafe in Rome a few years ago and some shrimp linguini since we were on the ocean and seafood seemed to be an appropriate choice. 

 After being stuffed for a late lunch it was time to make our way out to Point Loma on the other side of the bay to watch the sunset for the evening at the aptly named Sunset Cliffs.  Once again there was a traffic jam and parking was an issue-- who knew sunset was such an event.  We walked a little ways along the shore taking in the scenery but also watching the people.  Some were down below the cliffs in the water surfing in wet suits.  Others had brought picnics.  Several were in their camper vans parked along the roadside. We enjoyed watching the sun drop below the western horizon of the Pacific Ocean and had a brief disagreement about whether the sunset held a candle to any of the sunsets we see in Kansas.

Since we had a larger, late lunch we decided to find something simple for dinner.  We headed to Liberty Station Market on our way back and it soon became one of our favorite stops due to ample parking.  The area was originally a naval training base but after it was no longer needed in 2000 it was converted to a shopping and arts districts. Many of the barracks buildings are now shops or art studios and the mess hall is a food market where we stopped.  We browsed the eatery selections and also did a taste testing of olive oil and balsamic vinegar-- you don't find this in Kansas much.  We decided on chocolate and salt caramel crepes.

San Diego Day 2- Balboa Park

Sunday morning we woke up ready to see San Diego in the light of day since the sun was setting the previous night as we arrived.  We were headed off to Sunday brunch early before spending the day at the park.  We ate at Breakfast Republic, a hip SoCal breakfast joint.  Even though it was February were seated on the patio since about every restaurant we ate at had about half their seating on a patio to make use of the perfect weather practically year round.  As our vacation custom we order two different dishes and then split them so we each get to try a variety.  This morning we shared the protein scramble and the strawberry and mascarpone french toast-- the perfect mix of savory and sweet. 
Probably one of the funniest moments on the trip happened while eating breakfast here.  Arthur had gotten up to use the restroom and then came back shortly.  He confessed that he wasn't sure which bathroom to use and the signs were a little ambiguous. On the wall over both doors was the word WOMAN with the WO in pink over one door and MAN in blue over the other door.  Both doors were also labeled "gender neutral restroom".  He didn't think it was worth the risk to make the wrong assumption so he would just wait.  As we found throughout the week there are more "gender neutral restrooms" in many places in California.  While people have different feelings about labels I work for a Catholic hospital in the Midwest and we have 3 "gender neutral" bathrooms in our clinic-- they are each just labeled "bathroom" and we skipped the whole gender issue in the first place.

As we were walking a few blocks to where we had parked the car we were discussing how Southern California seemed like a different world even though this wasn't "foreign" travel.  The weather was completely different, we didn't recognize any of the plants, simple things such as going to the bathroom were an adventure.  As we drove along the neighborhood streets to reach the park we were spending the day at we just couldn't get over how different it looks than our hometown streets.  Trade in the towering oaks trees for palm trees, the homes with siding for stucco, shingles for tiles, three car garages for street only parking, mowed lawns for small spaces of rocks, cacti, and blooming tropical plants. 

Our plan for the day was to spend it exploring Balboa Park which the city has used for a variety of purposes over the years from the Panama-California Exposition in 1915 to the Navy Hospital complex during WWII.  Most of the buildings are Spanish-Renaissance architecture.  One of the early uses of the land around the turn of the century was as a tree nursery and in turn the woman who owned the nursery planted hundreds of trees in the park each year.  This woman is probably responsible the the landscaping beauty seen across the city since San Diego naturally is scrub desert but she brought in palms, eucalyptus, cypress, pines, and oaks to the park which then sparks residents to plant similar species at their homes.  Our first activity in the park was to just walk around and explore the different gardens on the grounds.  One of these gardens was devoted to cacti.  Most of us have a general idea in our head with the word cactus but the variety of cacti just in this small space was mind-blowing.  I do not know cacti come in so many shapes, sizes, and textures.   Other highlights of this garden tour was the 100 year old fig tree that is one of the three largest in California, walking through a canyon between the two mesas that park is built on field with palm trees, and surprises such as the large elephants trimmed into the hedges. 

Since we got to the park relatively early it was quiet and peaceful with a few joggers going past once in awhile.  It was interesting to see how the feel of the park changed throughout the day as crowds started to fill the area and the energy level increased.  We joined a tour led by one of the park rangers to learn about the history of the park.  One of my favorite parts was that the lily pond was used as a rehabilitation pool during WWII when the area was part of a hospital.  The ranger also talked about how the main purpose of a park is to encourage public assembly.  It is an area where like-minded people can come together whether it be the horticultural club, the Shakespeare society, or the cultural
cottages.

Our next stop was the House of Pacific Relations which is basically a group of 30 cottages with each cottage representing a different country.  On Sunday afternoons the cottages are opened up and have displays of cultural items from that country, some different food items, and a person to share about the country.  It was like a mini-World's Fair.  I enjoyed talking to a few of the people in each cottage since most had grown up in that particular country.  There was the man who left the Ukraine when he was 4 years old when WWII broke out, the woman from Sweden with grandkids in Chicago but it is just so cold there, and the gentleman in the UK cottage who chatted Harry Potter, The Crown, and other BBC TV shows with us. 

Our next two stops show our different interests.  I wanted to see the botanical gardens building and could have spend all day looking at the exotic plants or just sitting there relaxing.  Arthur was more interest in the art museum and studying the Rembrandt on display.  However we had to make good use of our time since the outdoor organ concert was about to begin.  Each Sunday the organist for the City of San Diego (yes, this is a paid city position) gives an hour long concert on the largest outdoor organ in the country.  Apparently there are very few places where an organ can survive the outdoor climate.  The brothers that donated the organ in the early 1900s stipulated that a free Sunday concert must be given each week.  The organist was amazing and also did a very good job with music selection and explaining the music to the lay audience.  We listened to a four part sonata to Bohemian Rhapsody while munching on our sack lunch.  Afterwards we got a quick peek at the extent of the organ pipes and who it works before heading off to our last stop in the park-- The San Diego Natural History museum.  Exhibits here included the different flora and fauna in the Southern California region from the coast to the mountains to the desert; a comparison of different skulls of different species; stunning photographs of insects; and how normal people with an interest in the natural sciences became the first citizen scientists just because they were passionate about a particular area and devoted their lives to it.

It had been a full day in the park and we were ready for dinner.  We headed to Crazee Burger and tried to find some place to park the car.  The general lack of parking was becoming a recurring theme.  Crazee Burger was basically a burger joint but had exotic meats for the burgers such as elk, camel, or alligator.  We went relatively tame and ordered the venison and wild boar burgers.  After dinner we headed back to our place and watched a great documentary on Mr. Rogers called Won't You Be My Neighbor?

Southern California

The night before our trip started was Valentine's Day.  We had our traditional meal for Valentines of waffles since we are "wafflely wedded" and exchanged cards.  We both mentioned in our cards that we are excited for this upcoming trip but it is a little bittersweet to us as well since it is closing a chapter on our adventures as just the two of us but opening another completely new adventure.  This was a sentiment that we returned to several times through the trip with thoughts like-- this is so much easier without a toddler in tow or wouldn't this be a little more exciting seen through the eyes' of a child.

We opted to fly out of Manhattan on this trip and our flight wasn't until 10:45am so we had some time to finish last minute items around the house before our short drive to the airport.  Let's recount all the ways flying out of Manhattan is wonderful-- free parking, not having to drive 2 hours or get a hotel room, short security lines, if a gate change suddenly happens you just have to run 50 feet to the other gate, shorter boarding times, usually there are a few empty seats and flight attendants take mercy on very tall people who can't stand up on small planes and get them a seat to themselves, and no long lines taxiing waiting for clearance from the tower since that plane is the only plane and therefore top priority.  

We flew into Dallas first and had a 4 hour layover.  Plenty of time to grab some BBQ and sit and read.  I also watched a few fascinating shows on the CNN travel channel while Arthur sat quietly listening to podcasts.  We arrived in San Diego about 5pm.  We hopped on the shuttle bus to the rental car center which wisked us along Harbor Drive with views of palm trees, marinas, and the ocean-- not a bad first impression of San Diego.  We picked up our rental car for the week and headed out on our own to brave the wilds of California freeways.  At this point we will revisit the glories of technology and GPS.  For free, on a device which is almost standard issue these days, are maps that give you verbal directions to drive to almost any address.  There are also hints about how soon your turn is coming or which lane to be in at a given time.  While I am the first person to say that everyone needs to be able to navigate using a map instead of a talking box and refuse to GPS in most situations it is certainly a lifesaver in an unfamiliar city.  It navigated us around congestion during rush hours, pointed us towards the nearest gas station when needed, and even provided some information about the amount of available parking in an area.  Prior to Google Maps would it even be possible to find most AirBNB locations since side streets are not marked on even the best city maps.  Now I even know which house on the block and have a street view photo of it.  

Our activities Saturday evening were all about the prep work for our stay.  Our first, and possibly most random, was to find the closest Macy's store and ask the sales associate for a discounted museum pass.  I thought this was a shot in the dark but the lady was more than happy to help and had the passes on hand.  During February, San Diego has museum month so most of the museums in town are half price admission with the pass that can be picked up at Macy's.  I won't even get into how handy the internet is when researching trip planning but this was a tip that I wouldn't have found otherwise.  For dinner we broke our rule of no chain restaurants and ate at Buffalo Wild Wings since it was in the same mall-- sometimes you just have to take the easy route.  Our final stop was a grocery store to pick up breakfast and sack lunch items to have on hand for the week.  After all of our stops were made we settled in at our AirBNB for the night.  Our place for the week was probably a garage that had been converted into a nice, cozy guest house that was just perfect for us.  The two hour time difference had taken a toll and we headed to bed about 8pm.