San Diego Jan. 17-Feb. 17, 2020

San Diego 2020!  We are camped out in a little one bedroom cottage a 60 second walk from this Belmont Park sunset in Mission Beach for the next 31 days!!

We always try to meet up with my old pledge brother Mike and his wife Carolyn, also a Purdue alum, when we visit town. They just bought a new place in Point Loma so we rode our bikes there the first Saturday that Mike was back from the Newark Airport project he’s running to see their new place and walk to lunch at the Fish Shop near their house.  They brought their new “grand-puppy” that you can see below the table. Very cute and well trained puppy!

Since we’re away from our home gym for a month we signed up for a month of boot camp and strength training at Cali4Fitness about a 4.5 mile bike ride just east of Mission Bay.  Tato from Brazil and his wife Jillian run the very successful operation. Ang and I both are working to improve our strength, overall cardio fitness and drop a few pounds. At the end of the month we’ll be tested to see if we met our goals. 😬

I earned my Keelboat, Inter-coastal and Bareboating sailing certifications in Grenada last year so I thought I’d further hone my sailing skills on this 18’ Capri rental sailboat at Mission Bay. It was a 3 minute walk from our cottage and I got 10 hours of mostly solo sailing in.  My primary focus was docking and I feel I’m much more confident docking under sail now.  My next sailing adventure will be the Italian Coast this May. Va Bene!

We made several longer distance bike rides up the coast to Del Mar or Encinitas.  This carving was off the beach near Del Mar. 

There’s almost always an exodus to the beach to watch the sunset and we partook often. 

We had a chance to meet our friend John Croft’s sister Bea and her husband Tom. They live up near LA but spend a month every year at the Beach Cottages in Pacific Beach. They treated us to wine and hors d’oeuvres and a sunset at their cottage.  A very nice couple and we had much in common including John!

 

Once we parked our car in the tiny little garage we used our bikes or feet to do everything and go everywhere. Here we’re returning from the grocery store up in Pacific Beach with our panniers full of beer, liquor and food. 

  

This gentleman had his ear ring sales techniques down to a science as he demonstrates how the sun and your “color” magically effect the color of the stones.  He probably spent 20 minutes with himself and Angela (and sometimes me!) comparing different ear rings under different angles to the sun.  It was like our own personal infomercial.

😊

We now have a memory we won’t forget and Angela has her new souvenir ear rings as well. 

We have to have at least one breakfast on the deck of Lahaina’s to make our month in San Diego complete. 

Of course we brought our two cats with us and we shared time on our patio. They like going to the beach too!

One of our many sunsets, this one setting behind Crystal Pier in PB. 

Angela’s sister Sandy and partner Steve came from Ft. Lauderdale to spend 5 days with us.  We had a great visit and they got us out of our typical San Diego habits by going to different places and doing new things. Here we’re taking a hike above the cliffs of Torrey Pines on the one rainy’ish day we had. 

They coaxed me to get my car out of the garage for a drive to Coronado Island where we enjoyed a sunset with drinks at the famous Coronado Hotel followed by dinner. 

We also went on a whale watching tour off the coast where we followed 3 gray whales and saw many dolphins.  There was also a trivia night at the Barrel Republic on Garnett where we battled all the millennials placing 2nd and won a $20 gift card! Ok Boomer was our team name.  It was a nice visit and we’re glad they came. 

After our Thursday morning Bootcamp we showered up and took a leisurely bike ride along the bay and ocean to the Lahaina Beach House to split a cheese burger and onion rings and a Lagunitas beer for me. Yummmm. 


Our last Saturday we joined all the weekend cyclists on 101 and took 64 mi. round trip up to Carlsbad.  We bucked a little headwind on this sunny and mild day which became a nice tailwind on our ride home along the beaches and beach communities  


We found a nice little Italian bistro in Carlsbad where I enjoyed a healthy quinoa salad with salmon al fresco. 

Our last day in San Diego was a full day. We had our last workout at Cali4Fit where we got tested and measured for our progress over the last 4 weeks.  If you’re curious, let’s just say we might be a little more fit in-spite of our over zealous vacation diet.  After the celebratory champagne brunch with the group at Bayside Landing  we took some nice walks, did most of our packing and had a nice last night’s dinner at the PB Alehouse. Tomorrow we begin our two day drive back home to winter in Colorado. 

Miles Goes to Glenwood Springs

Miles is 3 years old now and for our grandkids 3rd birthday Nana and Papa take them on a trip to Glenwood Springs on the Amtrak California Zephyr.  The conductor is about to give us our tickets so we can board the train at Union Station in Denver on Monday morning. 

We brought lots of activity books, story books and his iPad to help pass the time for the 6 hour train ride over the Rockies.  Miles worked on the letters M and N before watching part of  “Into the Spiderverse”. 

Lots of great views of the mountains, these were near Winter Park. 

We spent some time taking in vertical views of the canyons in the Observation Car before our lunch in the Diner Car. 

Nap time always follows lunchtime for Miles. 

We arrived at the station in Glenwood Springs around 4pm.  Miles used his scooter to get around town with us. 

Staying at the Glenwood Hot Springs Lodge gives us free time in the hot springs next door. We take a dip and play with Miles to work up an appetite before dinner. 

Miles chose the pasta and Angela the tacos at the Glenwood Canyon Brew Pub for dinner. Papa focused on his Octoberfest beer. 

🍺 

A morning swim and playtime with Miles’ new friend, Peppy the Penguin. The weather was beautiful for the whole trip and the swimming pool is kept around 90 degrees warm, like swimming in a giant bathtub. 

We had promised Miles ice cream if he ate all of his dinner last night but by the time dinner was over the ice cream store was closed. We treated him to an ice cream before dinner on Tuesday to make sure it didn’t happen again. Not exactly picture perfect grand-parenting but we thought we could make an exception for a treat before dinner this one time..,,,

Walking back to our hotel across the bridge over the Colorado River and the train tracks we get a beautiful light show from the Glenwood Hot Springs, the largest hot springs pool in the world. 

Our last morning in town, Miles chooses to go back to the park for some rock climbing and play time. 

After boarding the California Zephyr it was well past his nap time. Minutes after this photo was taken Miles was sound asleep on Nana’s lap as we road the tracks west back through Glenwood Canyon and through the Rockies on our way back home. 

Cruising up the Colorado River valley we experience the wide Azure Valley....

Radium Hot Springs empties here into the Colorado River, only accessible by boat or hiking, where the water is always in the 80’s just below the Lower Gore Canyon....

and the Upper Gore Canyon where rafter and kayakers can find Class 4 and Class 5 rapids as we get closer to Granby Lake, the source of the Colorado. 

Wednesday night Miles is home at last into the loving arms of his Mom, and our wonderful daughter, Michelle and his dad, Adam (who was upstairs wrangling an angry Baby Sister Merritt.   It was a wonderful trip with Miles and we’re so glad we did it. 

New Trails Part II

Our second and last day riding on this trip took Angela and I back on the same route we road yesterday, first southwest on the Katy Trail for about 20 miles outside of Sedalia and then about 50 miles WNW back to our van parked at the Pleasant Hill trail head. The trail was the same but the weather would prove to be much warmer today. 

Everything all along the trail was green and blooming, a little surprising so late into the summer.  These yellow flowers littered the trail, especially in the sunny spots like these.  You can barely see a busy bee on the far right flower. 

After 20 miles to Windsor, about to jump off the Katy onto the more sparsely supported Rock Island Trail, we exploit the Casey’s for our favorite guilty pleasure, an apple fritter washed down with a half gallon of milk. Carbs and hydration!  Mmmmmm. 

Does it seem like we’re always eating??  A little after noon we try our hand again at getting some real food at the “Home Town” convenience mart in Chilhowee.  They are open today, and packed so we order our sandwiches and enjoy them in the shade with Gatorade for me and an Arnold Palmer for Ang. 

Much of the Missouri Trails often seem like your traveling in a tunnel of trees but occasionally you get some nice long views of the verdant and rolling hills and farms of Missouri. 

At 2:15 we stop for some shade and to soak our heads in the water faucet at the Medford trail head.  Yesterday the high temps hovered around 90 to 91 degrees. Today we consistently saw 97 to 98 degrees in the shade. It’s hard to believe it’s less than a week until the Autumnal Equinox and the beginning of fall. 

Only 18 more miles to Pleasant Hill, lets do this!!

3:45 as we pull into to Pleasant Hill. We stash our gear in the van and find the first place we can get out of our soaked gear, wipe off some of the grit and get headed back towards Colorado.  After a Big Gulp Mountain Dew and a Starbucks Frappuccino we have enough liquids and caffeine to get us to Hayes, KS for the night. Tomorrow we’ll be back home in Niwot!