Today we will be in CA.

[JoGee]

June 5th. Our delayed anniversary trip begins today. We are packed and ready to go. We are headed to San Diego. It will be a big relief from this heat. Tucson is forecasted for another day at 107° and the Excessive Heat Warning; our destination will be in the low 70°'s. More to follow......

[JoS]

Hope you have a wonderful time. I've only been to CA once and that was L.A. Beautiful beaches out there.

[JoGee]

Thanks, Jo. We've been to CA many times. San Diego, we've been to their science/Planatarium a few times, this time we want to see Old Town and different things. (I'm a gift shop junkie, and their offerings do not come cheap; but I wanted things for kids and grandkids.). Our DD used to live in the Bay Area, so we've seen Golden Gate and many things in that area. We had to drive thru thick fog from Concord down to Bakersfield, and I was SOOO tense til the fog rose about 3-4 stories over the land like a menacing ceiling.

On the short flight from Tucson to Phoenix, I saw a young man that looks exactly like Japanese animae....we have a couple of granddaughters who would have fallen in love instantly! Then there was this little girl, she looked - no kidding! - exactly like Pat's Erin!!!! Spunky kid, she looks like fun to be around.
Our departing Gate area here was so crowded, I thought of Dallas' airport. We thought "what now?!!!" But it cleared up two gates away from ours. I received an airline message in my email confirming the status of our last leg of the flight. Thank goodness.
I saw some books in the store here. I want to get Lisa See's "Chinadolls". But I can get a copy that's not full price. I have all the books in the set, from the first book she wrote. There is a lot of actual China history in her books, which is fascinating. It beats reading Pearl S. Buck's books...I had to force myself to read one of the books in high school, and it didn't get interesting til about the middle of the book. Ms. See started with stories her grandmother told her of "the old country", which escalated in fascinating lives....good and bad aspects.

////////

We finally arrived albeit 3 hours late. E got us a hotel on the beach, with a view of the ocean. There is a Tony Roma's at the other end of the parking lot. Naturally we had ribs for supper. (The Tony Romas' in AZ seem to have disappeared.)
Now we re unpacking to get a good night's rest.

[Paula A]

If you are going out shopping for gifts, maybe get yourself a long sleeved tee shirt?
Enjoy that ocean view!

[Paula A]

Does it matter if I read a book out of order? I just looked up China Dolls and it looks good!

[JoGee]

Paula...I already considered a long sleeved tee when I see one.
I think the books will easily stand on their own. She wrote one or two modern-day books, and they stood on their own just fine. The earlier books are earlier eras of their hardships, wars, etc. Overall, in the end, you get an understanding of the complicated culture, if you come across her other books.

[JoGee]

Friday.... We awoke to a cloudy day. A light rain has begun. We may go to Balboa Park today to stay inside. The science exhibits are always interesting. Well, I'm not sure how E's mind works these days. We will simply do what he decides upon, and I'm okay with that.
Maybe the weather will clear up after noon. I hope.

On the beach, the waves are looking fierce and foamy. I saw a surfer, a wader, and a lot of people (young and old adults) walking or running in the sand. And of course, the sandpipers on the shore. The patio from our room is locked tight.
Naturally, it's a very humid day. But my hair loves it and has conformed into a cap of waves and curls. (This often happens when I visit in MI.). I don't know what to expect of my hair most days.

The hotel has Kurig (?) coffee/tea maker in the room. I don't like it for tea because I can't control the strength. E doesn't like their coffee brand. We use "8 o'clock" coffee at home; second choice a tie between Gevalia Colombian and Starbucks morning blend.
I haven't tried getting just hot water out of the pot, as it has a "cup" setting....what if I don't use their packaged cups???? We will see later. I brought a few tea bags with me.

Time to take my meds and get ready to go to breakfast. There's an IHOP not too far away.

Later.......

Well, by breakfast the skies cleared up, the sun came out, and E thought the zoo would be a good idea. So we went. By 1:30 my leg was locking up. Women I didn't know stopped to help me at curbsides, getting off a tram, etc. by 2 p.m. We were back in the hotel. I'm done for today.

[JoGee]

Saturday.... Good morning,
The wind on the beach is very strong. The waves look harsh. Nobody is on the beach this morning. One bicyclist went by wearing a hunting jacket for warmth, and a cap with ears. There is a paved walkway going past the patio here, the entire length of the beach behind hotels and businesses. Oh...I spied 3 surfers in wet suits, pretty far out, and not staying on the surface. No sunshine this early morning.

Before we go out for today, I need a shower. I was to achey last night to bother with it. I wonder how today will go for us.
We decided on Balboa park today. I want to see the House of Nations. After that, E can pick something.
More later......

Later: Well, we easily found the Houses of Nations this morning ....all locked up, so we could see/learn nothing! A few are open only on Sundays and Tuesdays; the others, no clue. No info on how to find out more, or how to get the self-guided tour. We went instead to the science building, saw some incredible new exhibits, and a few good ol' standbys. The gift shop held little or nothing of interest. We skipped the movie in the planetarium.
Had a drive around town, lunch at Denny's then across the street to "The Baked Bear" which makes custom ice cream sandwiches for you. They have several kinds of cookies (about the size of the new thin bread rounds), brownies, and square waffles. You mix or match which you want and tell them which ice cream to fill it with, and you have a deliciously thick ice cream sandwich. Or they have 2 types of cones; I splurged and had a waffle cone. Chocolate, of course.
Tonight we will have leftover sandwiches for dinner. We aren't very hungry. And we will pack our stuff.

Since our return tickets somehow got changed to a much later flight, E found we can get on a morning tour of the entire city. We don't need to return the rental car til 6 p.m. I probably won't have time to post early tomorrow.
Think of us and hope the rest of this trip goes smoothly.

[JoGee]

Our last day in San Diego (Sunday) was the best. It was sunnier, and in most places warmer and less windy.
Staying on the beach was something we hadn't done before. The room we had looked nice enough, but probably not worth the high cost of staying there. The hotel did not have its own restaurant, nor even a breakfast nook one comes to expect these days. It was also odd that although we had a small refrigerator (at extra cost), there was no microwave in the room.
Eating out for every meal got expensive. Restaurants at the beach areas were higher priced.
Everywhere we went, parking spaces were hard to find, including the hotels. A guaranteed parking place cost $18/day.
Everywhere, cars were parked at curbside, including main roads. Forget side streets, as they are no more than sidewalks or alleyways --- no way in the world you could drive a car through one. If you can get a car through it, you can be sure it's one-way!
Traffic itself, there, scares the heck out of me. They ignore speed limits. I still have no idea how the motorcycle guy got between our car and the one in the left lane. E was being careful at not taking the door off parked cars that people were getting in or out of, and Zoom, that cycle rode that dotted line for blocks. Cars don't merge from disappearing lanes, either, the jump ahead at incredible speeds. One car passed us on the ramp of a highway!

Anyway, on our last day, we took the city tour - a 2 hour ride around the main parts of the city, where you learn more about what's available there; places to see and eat. And the fact something is open only one day a week, or whatever. They manage to tell you the important things that are not included in the city's guide book. This is the ride you should take the FIRST day you're there. But you don't hear about it.... we'd found its brochure. Managed to find a parking spot a couple blocks away from the ticket office. Naturally, the curbsides were all filled up, as were the two parking lots in the immediate area. The parking lots, trust me, are not large. We almost missed the one we did find. (Even the hotel's parking lot. Maybe 2 dozen guaranteed car slots. The free parking was taken by the beach people, and that wasn't more that a couple dozen slots, as it had public bathrooms in the center of it all.)

We made it to the airport. Found this flight was delayed. Delayed flights have a domino effect on following flights. We were supposed to get home by suppertime. Our last light landed about 11:30 p.m., and the airport shuttle got us home a little after midnight.

[Paula A]

Thanks for the ride along! Sounds like it could have been better, but at least you beat the heat for awhile!

[BarbCA]

Well, Jo, now you see why I don't go to cities here. Even in our small rural area traffic is bad at times. Parking down town is almost impossible so I rarely go there. All the main stores have moved to the outskirts.
Delayed flights are a pain the rear.
I'm glad you did enjoy some of the trip.

[JoGee]

Now I know. It's a whole new culture on the streets there, and it scared the heck out of me. I will not drive where traffic is like that; I'll be the passenger, praying hard!
Believe it or not, some places are worse. Boston! They actually trick other drivers by pointing at their tires and the driver will slow down to try to notice a problem. Then the Bostonian swoops ahead full speed in that guy's lane! Stuff like that. I won't mention the double and triple parking on the main streets, that one must maneuver past.

[Paula A]

This is why I don't drive through or into Sacramento.
Also, when Gary and I took a trip to Boston, even the taxis were beyond scarey! Both of us were holding on and praying!
And when we drove to Washington, DC, from CT, I said that trip was a divorce waiting to happen! I am sure Easterners would be laughing at us, but I lost track of how many times we accidentally exited the Turnpike...then had to find our way back on.
I say God Bless those who can drive the rest of us through cities. It's what us keeping me from driving to Disneyland

[JoGee]

Paula, we find that traveling with a GPS helps a lot. Even in our home state, things have changed since we lived there. Thanks to eternal road construction, there are always new detours. E would ask, "are you familiar with this street? Can you tell which direction we are going?" I'm no help.

As for CA, you might see a sign indicating you're going in the right direction for a particular destination, then there are no other signs at all for it. Even the highway exits are not marked well, signs being covered by plant growth or are missing altogether. Often you don't see the sign til you are just passing that exit. At least with the GPS it tells you when you're approaching the exit, and you see it's map; it has an arrow for your turn (right or left) and the distance between your car and the turn. On this particular trip I urged him to rent the GPS with the car....it saved a lot of frustration and driving in circles to nowhere.