January 29th and 30th – With only a few days in San Diego and lots to see, we decided to do the 59-mile drive – a circular route that loops its way through the city’s charming neighbourhoods and reveals San Diego’s unique attractions and natural wonders. We took their advice and did it over two days so we could make stops along the way.

Beginning downtown in the Embarcadero district, we passed the cruise ship terminal from which we sailed last year, and the marine museum with beautiful historic ships, one of which – the Star of India – is the world’s oldest active sailing ship, built in 1863. It has circled the globe 27 times. The next section took us out to two man-made islands, Harbour Island and Shelter Island, from which there were great views of the downtown area. Both are significantly built up with condos and hotels.

San Diego Skyline

Point Loma is a peninsula which is the southernmost point of the continental US. It’s also home to a seaside residential community, military bases and a federal cemetery. Familiar white gravestones line both sides of the road and look very similar to what I saw in Italy.

We stopped at Ocean Beach for a comfort stop and to watch the surfers. The community itself is described as bohemian with many antique and consignment shops. Further along we stopped at Soledad Mountain, which provides for a panoramic view of San Diego county. One of many Veteran Memorials has been established here.

Veterans Memorial

The drive through La Jolla (pronounced la-hoya) is probably the most interesting with large houses built on the cliffs and a beach front walk that included sea lions, pelicans, and roaring waves crashing into a rocky shore. No surfing on this section! Pacific Beach and Mission Beach are two typical American beach communities with an old amusement park, small cottage type accommodation and lots of small shops along the main street.

The best stop was probably the next one at Old Town State Historic Park. This park represents San Diego’s Hispanic heritage and merging of cultures from 1821 to 1872 when this area was the centre of San Diego. Many of the buildings are original and have been set up as museums. There was a festival on today so there were lots of families and it was a fun spot to spend an hour or so. Best part – it was all free! While there we enjoyed lunch at the historic Cosmopolitan Hotel in Old Town, refurbished to its 1870s glory.

Dancers in Old Town

Wells Fargo Museum

After winding our way through two or three more communities, we arrived at Balboa Park – the largest urban park with cultural institutions in America. Many of the buildings are examples of Spanish Colonial Revival architecture and were originally built for the Panama-California Exposition (1915-16) and were also used for the California-Pacific International Exposition in 1935. There are some 17 museums in the park, a number of gardens, and sports fields. The park is also home to the world famous Globe Theatre. Unfortunately, we will likely miss the organ concert, played Sunday afternoons at 2 pm, on the world’s largest outdoor pipe organ since rain is scheduled for tomorrow.

Balboa Park Entrance

One of many orchids at the botanical building

The remainder of the tour took us through the downtown core including the banking district and the Gaslamp Quarter, famous for its 100 restaurants, 35 nightclubs and 100 retail shops all in a short three or four block area.

One of our purchases along the way was Girl Scout cookies. They have seven different varieties here and the girls were everywhere today, decked out in cute costumes, decorated wagons and handmade signs to attract one’s attention. The big prize is evidently a weekend at Great Wolf Lodge.

Dinner last night was at The Fish Market in Solana Beach – the list by the front door included a dozen varieties from around the world, all brought in fresh that day. George had trout from Idaho and I had Scottish Salmon.  Dinner tonight was at Sammy’s, compliments of our Entertainment card. The treat of the vacation was their Messy Sundae for dessert…most of the warm chocolate sauce and walnuts were on the outside of the glass or on the plate below. Back to the no-dessert diet!!

January 28th – …well actually here we are. We enjoyed the west coast so much last year at this time, that we decided to do it again this year. We have booked a condo in Palm Springs for the month of February but arrived a few days early so that we could spend a weekend in San Diego since we didn’t really get to see much of it last year.

After arriving in Palm Springs and being talked “up” by the car rental company, we spent a few minutes searching out our condo and then headed west over the mountains towards the sea. We are staying at the Doubletree Hotel in Del Mar again this year, so much of our surroundings are familiar to us. We were both pretty tuckered out from a very busy week and long travel day but managed to stay awake long enough to have dinner in the quaint town of Del Mar before turning in early.

Our first view of the beauty of Torrey Pines – North Course looking towards #12

Today we were off to the Farmer’s PGA tournament at Torrey Pines. It was a beautiful day…about 70* with bright sunshine. We spent most of our time on the North Course but did make it to the South Course in time to see some of the “big boys” like Mickleson,  Snedecker, Johnson, et al.

Waiting on #10 for our Canadian boys to arrive – Graham DeLaet & Adam Hadwin

The hotel provides a shuttle service and we were very fortunate to get timely rides both ways. We rode back with one couple that ended up walking back yesterday afternoon…it only took them 1 hour and 45 minutes (mostly downhill)!

Tonight we visited Fidel’s the cute little Mexican restaurant that we found last year. Siri helped us find it much quicker this year! The food is yummy, the service quick, and the ambiance somewhat eclectic. It’s quite deceiving from the front because most of the restaurant is underground with lots of little rooms and patios.

The rest of the evening was spent relaxing at the hotel, planning our day tomorrow and being frustrated with the poorest internet service ever.

We must have been having so much fun in England in August 2015, that we forgot to post a blog about the end of our vacation there! From Taunton, we moved on to Plymouth to visit with Marilyn and Peter Crabb, cousins on my mom’s side of the family. It was great to greet Doreen Hookway again and to meet Marilyn and Peter, for the first time.

We spent a delightful 2 1/2 days exploring the area around Plymouth, visiting gardens, driving across the moors and checking out the changes that have been made in the Plymouth area…especially the renovations to the historic Barbican area.

We enjoyed Peter’s quirky handiwork with a clock that works backwards and a doorbell for his mother-in-law’s front door so that he can signal his arrival without having to leave the car.

Our last evening was spent in Bicester so that we could share dinner with Gillian and Richard Warson, friends from the British Hymn Society. We spent a delightful evening in their home and then went off to our B&B in a small country village outside of Bicester. Our hostess was a most interesting lady and we enjoyed our conversations with her. The house was something out of medieval times. Imagine our surprise as we ate breakfast and saw the horses riding out to the hunt with the hounds!

All in all … a great vacation with a variety of experiences spent with wonderful people.