Monday, July 22, through Sunday, August 4, 2013: At Pio Pico (Part 2):

The "highlight" of the new week (starting with Monday) was going to be my solo trip to Flagstaff for a regular visit to my doctor there.  I chose to go by Amtrak all the way.  Becky had suggested flying to Phoenix and driving from there to Flagstaff.  I opted for the train because:  a) it would not involve driving for at least six hours, and  b) I thought it would be different---and therefore fun.  I was mostly right.  The train from San Diego to Los Angeles was due to leave at noon.

It left at 1:00, crammed to the gunwails with a lot of people who appeared to have attended Comic-Con.  They were at least a little strange, but harmless.  I had a long talk with a 22 year-old girl whose main ambition was to find a graduate school to attend---someday.  In the meantime, she generally hung around or traveled with her mother and her stepfather---a psychiatrist who had speaking engagements around the world.

I had a two-hour layover in LA before boarding the Southwest Chief at 6:15, heading for Flagstaff. We have been on that train often.  It's a nice, restful ride.  I decided to eat dinner in the dining car, as sort of a tribute to the past.  I was not allowed to sit by myself.  I was joined by a mother and her 30-ish daughter from Oregon and an octagenarian (Irene) from New Mexico.  The daughter was a third grade teacher with an interesting speech impediment.  It did not inhibit her, however.  The mother spoke only intermittently.  Irene was a total mute until the dessert arrived after which we couldn't shut her up.  She turned out to be quite nice.  I had a surprisingly good dinner of Linguini Arrabiatta coupled with a vegetable medley that was cooked quite al dente.  In all, dinner was a nice respite.

As usual, the train was late in arriving.  We hit Flagstaff at 6:00 AM, an hour-and-a-half late.  That was OK with me.  What is one supposed to do in Flagstaff at 4:30 AM?  I found a coffee shop that(fortunately) opened at 6:00, and killed a couple of hours over yogurt and coffee, and a few crossword puzzles, waiting for Enterprise Rent-A-Car to open at 8:00.  The car arrived at 8:15 and I called my Flagstaff dentist (Dr. Benjamin Stark) to see if he could take me on short notice to diddle with the crown he had recently installed and which needed a little reshaping.  He told me to come immediately, which I did.

I was out of there by 9:15, and I headed to Dr. Nathan Benson's office.  I arrived there a half-hour before my appointment, but he saw me almost immediately.  I was out of there by 10:15, and had to face the following question: What was I going to do until 9:00 PM, when the train was scheduled to take me back to California?  I answered that question by going to Barnes & Noble to buy a book.  By alternating between reading for a half-hour then doing crossword puzzles for a half-hour, stopping for a delicious Chicken Caesar Salad lunch at Oregano's,

dropping off the car at 4:00 PM, and having an equally delicious Cashew Chicken dinner at Pato Thai, I was able to get to 6:30 PM.  At that point I headed for the train station, to wait for the train for what turned out to be 5 1/2 hours---which was three hours late.  There were a number of passengers waiting at the station.  We felt like stranded souls.  During that wait, I returned to the book/puzzle rotation.  The trip from Flagstaff to LA felt mercifully short because sleep came immediately.  I was awakened at 6:00 AM by the ringing of a nearby passenger's cell phone.  That woke everybody up and we all began our days---perhaps a little earlier than anticipated.

The train was going to reach LA about noon (having lost another hour).  On a whim, just before we reached Fullerton (the last stop before LA heading North and the first stop between LA and San Diego heading South) I asked the conductor if it would make sense for me to get off at Fullerton.  She said it would probably save me time, because the next train from LA was due in Fullerton shortly.  I did what she suggested, and saved about two hours.  Yea!

Becky picked me up at the Old Town station (rather than fight the parking problem at the downtown San Diego station, which was the next stop) and we headed for lunch at the Islands Restaurant in Chula Vista.

I had a Cobb Salad that was very tasty.  We then went to a Firestone store in National City where we bought a new spare tire for our trailer (the new wheel had arrived from the Coachmen factory that morning) and finally headed home, where I crashed.  Whew.  It was great to be home.

The project for Thursday was to mount the new spare tire in its proper place under the trailer.  Since the old one had been stolen, we decided to try to deter a repeat---by attaching a cable to the tire so someone would at least have to cut something to get at the spare.  We went to the Lowe’s in Chula Vista to have a cable made in the appropriate length, then I crawled under the rig and installed it---using a combination lock in our inventory.  We’ll see if that works.

On Friday, we tracked down Tom Chance, the new Wilson guy, and bought a signal booster to go with the new antenna we bought last week.  Finally, we can make and receive cell phone calls here in the RV park.  Thank you, Tom. 

We also extended our stay here for a week.  Thanks to our membership level, that cost only $29.00.  

Saturday, we piled Ramsey in the truck and headed for Mission Bay and the La Quinta Inn.  Becky took Ramsey for a walk while I got the truck washed. 

We then drove to Point Loma to join Randy and Sheri Roonan at a party for her 61^st birthday.  The party was at her brother’s house.  Sheri is a friend Becky traveled with in Europe in 1975.  She and Randy (a New York lawyer) have lived in Fairfield, Connecticut for many years.  We last saw them there in 1995.  It was fun seeing them again, even if only briefly. 

After a short visit with the Roonans, we then went to the home of Frank and Victoria Hobbs in La Jolla.  Shortly, Marshall Rutter and his wife, Terry Knowles, arrived. 

Frank and Marshall were partners of mine when I practiced in Century City.  (Marshall and I started the firm in 1973.)  After a few adult beverages, the six of us headed for Enoteca Adriano, an Italian restaurant in La Jolla that is Frank’s favorite.  We had a delicious dinner (which Frank and Victoria paid for, thank you) and a wonderful time. 

After breakfast on Sunday (Becky met Sheri for a long breakfast while I ate the Continental breakfast in the hotel) we returned to Jamul.  Just a few miles from “home” we noticed smoke coming from the hill behind our RV park.  It turned out to be nearly out by the time we got to the park, but there were still tankers and helicopters dropping water and retardant for about another half hour.  Once it was out, we relaxed for the rest of the day.

Monday was an easy day.  I got a haircut and we then headed to Rancho San Diego (about 10 miles away) to Yi Sushi for some delicious food during “Happy Hour.”  Yum.

Tuesday was an even easier day.  I accomplished three things:  Going to the hardware store

to get a power strip to deal with the six things we plug in under our computer desk, phoning a former client who just got home after spending two months in the hospital and six weeks in rehab after a nasty bout with viral pneumonia, and finishing the book I bought in Flagstaff last Tuesday (and which I haven't looked at since I got off the train).    

Wednesday morning, Becky dropped Ramsey off at Camp Schultz, a dog resort in Benito, just North of Chula Vista.  



Ramsey was going to spend three nights there while we partied with the “Smith Sisters” gang in Point Loma.  The relatives of the now-deceased Smith Sisters (Becky’s mother, Nancy, was one of the three sisters) get together every two or three years.  This year the center of the party was the Villa Magnifica, a very large ’60s-built home on Sunset Cliffs boulevard, right across the street from the ocean.  



The group aggregated more than 30 people, not all of whom could stay at the party house, so five of us took rooms at the nearby Ocean Beach Hotel in Ocean Beach---10 minutes from the party house.  



Becky and Kathy Boggs (the wife of Steve Boggs, Becky’s cousin) were charged with the job of stopping at Costco to buy a ton of supplies.  After that shopping spree, which seemed to last forever, we dropped everything off at the party house---and stayed for the first evening of craziness.  Most everyone showed up by 5:00, and the delicious Vodka Slushies, provided by Becky’s sister Carrie Carroll, started flowing.



That evening, Carrie and Becky were responsible for providing the dinner.  Carrie did most of the work; Becky provided three desserts---cookies, a delicious combination cararmel/tres-leches cake, and an apple pie.  It turned out that I was the only one to have a piece of either the cake or the pie that evening.  After dinner, the group broke into small groups playing board games, cooking in the Jacuzzi,



or just sitting around---in each case laughing our heads off. 



Rich, the owner of the Ocean Beach Hotel, has a beautifully restored 1949 De Soto “woody” that he parks in front of the hotel.  My folks had a 1950 De Soto and the two vehicles were very similar.  Early Thursday morning, it was fun talking to Rich about his.

Later Thursday morning, the group slowly re-assembled for a staggered breakfast, then all pursued whatever tickled their fancy/  Some of us took a little field trip to Cabrillo National Monument---15 minutes away---and the tide pools.  Very dramatic scenery.  

To get there, you drive through the Fort Rosecrans National Cemetery, which turns out to be the second-most popular tourist attraction in San Diego.  Like all military cemeteries, it’s very sobering.   Across the street from the party house is a stairway to the ocean, at the bottom of which is a rope for rappelling to the beach.  Becky did that; I did not.  Some went swimming in the ocean.  Others went who knows where.

Thursday, the rest of the group, including Becky’s father, Bill, arrived. Dinner was pizza. Yum!!!  The post-dinner partying was a repeat of Wednesday night.

Friday, a bunch of the men held a golf tournament.  I don’t play golf, so I stayed back with the (mostly) squaws.  Becky’s brother John surfed for three hours.  Five of the women went shopping in Ocean Beach.  

Bill, his caregiver, Romeo, and I went (via wheelchair for Bill) to the top of the bluff and watched John surf for a while.

Friday night called for barbecued hamburgers and hot dogs. 

 

After dinner, it was another repeat of the previous two evenings.  We all had a great time, again.  One of the games was Telestration, sort-of “Telephone” with pictures.  What a riot.

We all returned to the party house Saturday morning, to say goodbye and clear out everything we had brought.  It was a little chaotic.  

Becky and I drove Rick and Donna Haste (Donna is Becky’s cousin from Woodstock, Georgia) to the airport so they could pick up a rental car.  They were going to stay in San Diego for a few more days.  Because we had to have the luggage for all four of us in the truck we had to leave the bed cover open with everything stacked up.  We looked like Okies.

Becky and I then drove to Rancho Bernardo, to the home of Richard Petrie.  We met Honoria Vivell and Richard there, and went with them to the beautiful Rancho Bernardo Country Club for lunch.  

I had a Cobb Salad, of course.  We had seen Richard and Honoria just a few weeks ago, so we didn’t spend a lot of time catching up.  The visit was mostly to see Richard’s new house.  He just moved there from El Cajon a couple of months ago.  He has a nice place on a bluff with a great canyon view.

After lunch, we picked up Ramsey and headed home.  It had been a very busy three days and we basically just crashed when we got back.  While Becky was dozing on the couch, I took Ramsey on his last walk o  the day---to the off-leash, fenced dog run.  Shortly after arriving, someone, somewhere nearby, started firing a rifle.  It spooked Ramsey a lot, and, while I was focused on locating the shooter (who was up in the hills outside the park) Ramsey moved a trash can that was blocking a hole in the fence---and took off. 



I went looking for him immediately, with no success whatsoever.  I even joined up with a park ranger in a golf cart to aid in the search.  After about 15 minutes, Becky approached in our truck to tell me that Ramsey had come home.   A neighbor saw him trying to get into our truck, and redirected him to the rig door, where a surprised Becky saw him and wondered what had happened to me.  I was greatly relieved to know that he was not only safe but had caused no trouble during his flight to freedom.       

Sunday was a combination of more relaxation and preparing the rig to leave on Monday.  After spending a month at Pio Pico, we were ready to hit the road again.
 

Tuesday, July 9, through Sunday, July 21, 2013: At Pio Pico (Part 1):

Tuesday was a much more typical day for us.  The big item was to find a suitable place to house Ramsey while we split to La Jolla on Thursday to spend a long weekend with Donna, Rick, and their respective families---as a belated celebration of my birthday.  The first place we went, the Jamul Veterinary Hospital (which has a dog “hotel” on the premises) was quite satisfactory.

We will drop Ramsey off Thursday morning, and pick him up Monday morning.  If past is prologue, when we pick him up he will be exhausted from all the excitement of living with other dogs.  He usually sleeps for several hours immediately after arriving home.

When we were here a few years ago, we found that one of the permanent residents (Bob Aton) was a dealer in Wilson antennas.  That company, based in St. George, Utah, makes a variety of antennas that, among other things, improve the cell phone and wireless internet service in places like Pio Pico that are located in canyons or other places with weak signals.  We have a small Wilson antenna we bought here, and were considering upgrading to a larger antenna now that we have a smart phone and a new computer.  (The larger antenna is not compatible with a “dumb” phone.  We don't know why.)  When we arrived on Monday, we located Bob’s motor home (it had a Wilson advertisement on it) and planned to see him on Tuesday.  On Tuesday, we could no longer find his rig.  It turns out that he died last week, and they took down his Wilson sign Monday night.  (His motor home is still here, but without the sign we didn‘t recognize it.)  There is a memorial dinner scheduled for July 28, which we plan to attend.

For several years, I have been carrying around a portable satellite dish I bought (for a measly $10.00) from a fellow camper who could not figure out how to use it.  (The connecting wires I had to attach to the dish cost five times what I paid for the dish.)  I last used it in Williamsburg, Virginia, in 2010, when we were in a heavily treed park that made my rooftop dish useless.  When we got the new trailer and some new DirecTV equipment in 2011, I learned that the portable dish was no longer compatible.

Nevertheless, I have continued to carry it around.  On Tuesday, I decided it was time to get rid of it.  I asked Ken, the ranger at the gate, where the “free table” was.  That’s the place people put stuff they no longer use but do not want to throw away; anyone who wants the discarded items take them for free.  The ranger told me where the free table was, then informed me (I thought, jokingly) that rangers get first dibs on anything headed for the free table.  He asked what I had, and proceeded to relieve me of it without my having to bother dropping it off.  Thank you, Ken.

Becky dropped Ramsey off Thursday morning and we headed for San Diego a little after noon.  It was less than 40 mile to out first stop---the Costco very near the house we rented for the weekend.  We loaded up on the usual essentials:  wine, cheese, crackers, and grapes. 

We met the owner (Michael Solis) at the house for our orientation at 2:30.  The first of the gang (Donna, Meghan, and Emily) arrived about 4:30.  Donna and Emily had driven from Park City (spending Wednesday night in Carlsbad) and they had just picked up Meghan at the San Diego airport.  (She had flown in from Washington, D.C.) 

Rick, Joell, Jake, and Beck arrived at about 5:00 (they had spent the previous week in and around southern California after flying in from Austin) and Donna picked up David at the San Diego airport at 5:30.  (He had flown in from Ohio.)  Becky cooked salmon for dinner.  We had a few adult beverages and a lot of laughs, and all finally crashed at the end of a long day.

Friday was a varied day.  A few of us spent some time in the jacuzzi,

some in the pool (after braving the two slides),



some watched a little TV or did crossword puzzles, Donna and Emily went for a two-hour walk, David took a 50-mile bike ride, and a few of us went to the beach for a brief time.  At 6:00 we headed for dinner at the Cafe Coyote, an immensely popular Mexican restaurant in the "Old Town" area of San Diego. 

My Sea Bass Vera Cruz was not very good, but the rest of the food was delicious, and the Flan was the best I have ever had.  After dinner, we walked around the nearby historical park, which was ostensibly where San Diego was born.  It was interesting and fun.  When we got home, everyone immediately went to bed.                

Saturday was our day to go to the San Diego Zoo.  It’s world-famous and for a very good reason:  It’s fabulous.  The 11 of us (including Barbara Coad, who met us at the zoo) toured it for five hours, and were tired.  We returned to the house and opened the bottles of pre-mixed Margaritas and started pouring them into the Margarita blender the kids gave us three years ago.  Very refreshing!

Becky cajoled me into hopping onto one of the two waterslides the pool had.  I am not a big fan of pools or slides, but it was fun---even though I scraped a knee going down the slide.  I did it once, and immediately returned to the Margarita blender.

We tried a couple of sushi restaurants for dinner, but no one could take us because there were so many of us . So we gave up and ate at home---at the market on the way there, each person chose his own entree---mine was steak.  Delicious.

Sunday morning, Rick and his crowd had to leave early to catch a plane back to Austin, so the remaining seven of us (again including Barbara) met for breakfast at The Cottage, a delightful, and very popular, restaurant in La Jolla.  I had a delicious bowl of oatmeal.

We all then said our goodbyes and we headed back to Pio Pico, 39 miles away.  We unloaded the truck, put everything back where it belonged, and hit the sack for a necessary nap.  It had been a great three days.

Monday morning we were able to sleep in a little since Ramsey was not there to awaken us at the usual time---before 6:00AM.  We leisurely headed for the dog hotel to pick him up.  As hoped, he was glad to see us.  They are doing some electrical upgrading here at the RV park, and we expected to have no power for a while, perhaps even when we returned with Ramsey.  But we lucked out---so far---and we have been able to run the A/C to stay comfortable.  (It’s going to be about 90 today.)  After the weekend, we will welcome the opportunity to just relax for a while.  It’s so exhausting having fun with the family.

Tuesday was a slow day.  Becky went on a long walk with Ramsey up in the hills behind the RV park.  As usual when they do that, the Border Patrol showed up to inquire whether Becky had seen anybody or anything unusual. 

She had not.  But Ramsey had seen a coyote that he thought was a friendly dog.  Becky did not let them play together. 

Wednesday was another slow day.  Again, Becky took Ramsey for a long walk up in the hills, this time on non-Border Patrol property---above the other side of the RV park. 

The big event on Thursday was going to the Oakzanita Springs Thousand Trails Preserve.  It’s only 39 miles from Pio Pico, up at 4,000 feet, and we’ve never been there before.  We went to check it out for a possible future stay.  That’s not going to happen.  It’s very old, quite remote, with very narrow sites (all back-ins), very hilly, not many sites with sewer connections, and not pretty at all.  It appeared that most of the campers were fairly permanent (never an attractive feature).  We completed the trip by returning through El Cajon, where we stopped at U.S. Bank to pick up some currency for the several countries on our cruise next month.  When we got back, we had lunch at the café on the RV park premises. 

We’ve been threatening to try the café for some time.  I had Fish & Chips and Becky had a BLT.  They were very good and the portions were so big we had half for lunch and half for dinner.  We must go back soon.  

Friday, we took it a little easy (except for another of Becky’s two-hour walks with Ramsey up in the hills), with just a quick trip to nearby Chula Vista for some groceries and to pick up Stoker, a Redbox loser with Nicole Kidman.  I didn’t even bother to watch it.  Becky did, and regretted it.  

We first went to the wrong Vons to pick up the DVD, and then our GPS took us to only a mile away from the correct Vons.  Frustrating.  We also tracked down Tom Chance, the guy on our RV park who is liquidating the inventory of Wilson antennas that belonged to the now-deceased Bob Aton, and we bought a new, much larger antenna for our cell phones.

Saturday, we dropped Ramsey off at his hotel in Jamul then headed for the Best Western Hotel in Escondido, where we checked into our room. 

We had planned to meet Honoria Vivell and Richard Petrie there for a jaunt to Temecula for some wine tasting and dinner.  They arrived on time and we piled into Honoria’s car for the leg to Temecula.  We met up with Kathy Sage and Peter Shapiro at the Keyways Vineyard & Winery about 2:30 and settled in for some nice wine. 

(We had last seen Kathy and Peter in Casa Grande a couple of months ago.)  We then moved to the Leoness Cellars.  The weather had been overcast all day, but suddenly the sky turned dark gray.  While relaxing in the very nice patio there, and sipping some more wine, it started to sprinkle a little---just enough to be felt, but not enough to make us want to move.  It was welcome relief from the heat of the past several weeks. 

From Leoness, the six of us headed for the Thornton Winery for dinner.

Thornton is a beautiful location with a very well-regarded restaurant.  We all ordered our favorite items from their interesting menu.  According to our server, Kyle, the menu was completely new that day.  Whether it was the new menu or something else, everyone but me was unhappy with his meal.  My Cioppino was delicious.  It didn’t help, I suppose, that it took a very long time for us to get our food.  Kyle volunteered that one of our dinners had fallen on the floor and everything had to be made again so the meals would all be ready at the same time.

We wrapped it up and headed back to Escondido, arriving just after 8:00.  A long but very nice day had come to an end.  We were asleep by the time our heads hit the pillows.

Sunday morning, we had breakfast at the hotel (waffles) then returned the Redbox movie Becky had rented on Friday, and immediately headed for San Diego.  We had 1:00 PM reservations to have lunch at the La Villa restaurant in Little Italy with Roberta Ruddy and her husband, Stephen Walde.  We went early to see if we could spend some time at the USS Midway Museum.  It is supposed to be the most-visited attraction in San Diego, and our visit there did not disprove that.  The place was mobbed.  It was also quite worth the trip. 

We had only 1½ hours available so we asked for help on what to see.  We were fascinated with the ship.  It was commissioned in 1945 and actually played a major role as late as 1991 as the flagship for air operations in Desert Storm.  It was decommissioned in 1992.  It’s absolutely gigantic, but all the interior spaces are tiny---except where the admiral and captain hang out.  Ignoring the fact that the spaces were for an Admiral and a Captain, it was explained that when the ship is in port, there needs to be room to entertain local dignitaries.  At one point we rode in an elevator with an older gentleman had a slightly rumpled “USS Midway” cap on.  It turned out he had served on the ship in 1947 and 1948.  He was a neat old guy.

On the bar in the restaurant, I noticed a stack of copper mugs.  I recognized them as having been popular in the '50s for holding a drink called a "Moscow Mule," a summer drink my parents liked for a while.  The bartender said the drink was having a renaissance.  I ordered one.  It was delicious.  

We met Roberta and Stephen on time, and had a very nice lunch.  The odd thing was that we were the only patrons in the restaurant. 

Normally, Sunday is a very busy day in Little Italy generally (and in La Villa, specifically) but either the overcast weather or the existence of Comic-Con in San Diego made the crowds very light in the whole Little Italy area.  After lunch, we took a walk through the area, and ended up at a new hotel (the Porto Vista) with a drop dead view of the San Diego waterfront in the bar (The Glass Door) on the top floor. 

The four of us had an adult beverage (I had another Moscow Mule; not as good as the first one---too much "bitters") and watched the world go by for a while.  Delightful.  Thus ended our exciting weekend, and we headed into the new week.

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