Dinner at Tom Hans Lighthouse overlooking San Diego Bay

Randy and Chris live in Liberty Station which was established in 1923 as a Navy Training Center. The entire area is alive with parks, walk able neighborhoods, great indoor-outdoor restaurants, lots to do. Randy and Chris live the good life in San Diego. We had a great time eating awesome meals and then walking it off. Saturday we walked 7 miles round trip to downtown San Diego with a view of the bay. Plus, I spent a little time, maybe one mile, on a rental bike. The rental was from Lime Bike, an appropriate choice for St. Patrick’s Day. The bike ride actually hurt my aching knees more than the long walk.

Sunday we started the day with brunch at the Broken Yolk and then headed to Pacific Beach and Mission Beach for an interesting 5 mile walk along and among the bikers, hikers, skaters, scooters, baby carriages and runners. This is a great place for sight seeing—the ocean, the beach, the volley ball games, beach soccer games and other things people do on a beach.

Monday morning we started the day with my first ever electric bike ride. We had a short ride in the park and then climbed a hill with ease. Randy installed battery packs on his and Chris’s bike. You can tell which bike I rode from the photo. We need to get e-bikes for rides through Forest Park.

Having a great time with our hosts, Dennis and Brenda at thier beautiful home in San Marcos. 

Dennis and I got in 36 holes at the St. Mark’s Executive course. This par 3 course is challenging. Shot a 76 the first day and a 75 on day two. If I could putt I would be dangerous.

We enjoyed the day trip to the top of Double Peak where you can see Catalina Island and San Clemente and more. We had time and energy that day for a fun pontoon boat ride around San Marcos Lake enjoying good conversation and an occasional beer.

Sandy and Brenda were at the top of their game making fantastic home cooked meals each night we were there. Brenda prepared Jimmy Dean’s home made gravy one morning. So good it is worth bragging about. The bar-b-q pork chops one night and ham and bean soup the other was awesome! Good times-good friends.

Drive from San Marcos to Dana Point on Hyway 5 was easy…arrived in time to take Donna (Sandy’s cousin) to lunch at Proud Mary’s.

Donna, Chris and their 15 year-old son, Kevin were perfect hosts. Kevin is an excellent volleyball player. We got a chance to see him play as his high school team at Dana Point High defeated their opponent two matches to one.

Chris and Donna prepared a scrumptous tri-point beef dinner with green beans. Then, we spent the evening enjoying the most fantastic backyard I have ever seen. The pictures including hot-tub do not do it justice.

We really had an awesome time even though it was a short visit.

Early the next morning we were back on Hyway 5 for a very long drive around Los Angeles. Heavy traffic. Not much fun.

We arrived in Santa Cruz by 4pm just in time to greet Amber when she got home from work. We spent some time visiting with Luke, Amber and Leo then headed for the beach.

The Santa Cruz Warf dinner including ice cream at Leo’s favorite place was great. The walk along the beach and through the Monarch Butterfly park, led by Leo’s full explanation of what were seeing was a delight. He is such a cute kid.

Early Saturday morning we headed north to Santa Rosa. We have so much to share about that visit that we will save it for next week’s blog. Peace-out. Love to all.