The I-70 route west across the Rockies was clear of winter hazards when we left on Jan. 27 so we headed that direction towards St. George Utah for our first night. The weather in St. George in extreme southwest Utah was sunny and mild so we decided to spend the day and a second night to see the sites and get a little exercise. We visited the historic Mormon Temple a short walk from our hotel and were offered information and fun facts about the Temple and the Mormon religion and history from two 19 year old Sisters doing their Mission there. The Temple is especially striking at night when it's brightly lit and can be seen for many miles.
While in St. George we also took a 20 mile bike ride on our touring bikes up to Snow Canyon. The roads and scenery were very nice.
We decided to see if our cat Stella could be a traveling cat. Since we are traveling so much more we hated leaving her at home even though she got great care and loving attention from our dear neighbor Sheryl and the entire Wisecup family. Stella had adapted pretty well to traveling in the car and being in different places So far, so good and we've enjoyed having her around.
We were fortunate to have timed our visit to conincide with the rare "Super Blue Blood Eclipse Moon event that happpened in the early morning hours of Wednesday Jan. 31 as the Moon was setting over the Pacific. The picture from my phone can't do it justice. Surprisingly there were a lot of people at the beach that morning around 5 AM.
What's a road trip without fun food? Here were lunching at a little hole in the wall place called La Playa Taco shop.
On a bike ride down to Point Loma we did a little side trip to the NW side of the San Diego harbor to try In N Out one more time. The service and price were excellent and burger and fries very good. So far, we're struggling with consistency in eating healthy. There's so much temptation!
One of our favorite spots along the PB boardwalk is the Lahaina Beach House. We especially like breakfast there or an early afternoon on the deck for an adult beverage.
On Tueaday Jan. 30 we met Angela's old colleague Ed Neilson and his wife Staci at the Torrey Pines State Park north of La Jolla. Angela met Ed through the Ambassadors Group back at GE in 2005. The Neilsons happened to be in the San Diego area from Phoenix so we arranged to meet at the beach park for a little picnic. We commuted on our bikes to offset the calories from the excellent burritos they brought us. Here we're coasting north down the Torrey Pines cliff area to the beach.
Some might say we ride bikes to eat. On Sunday morning we headed north through La Jolla to the beach town of Encinitas along the 101 and had a nice lunch at the Fish Shop before heading back to PB. Very tasty.
On Monday we took a day off from the bikes and took the bus to Old Town and then walked about 5 miles to the Gas Lamp District in down town San Diego. It's fun to take public transportation and the bus and trolley system in San Diego seem very good.
Before every sunset the locals and the tourists move like zombies towards the beach boardwalk to behold the sunset. We have enjoyed quite a few ourselves.
Speaking of sunsets, whenever we are in Pacific Beach we almost always have a sunset dinner at the World Famous right on the boardwalk. That was a pretty tasty Mai Tai my beautiful wife was drinking down as the sun set over the Pacific.
On Thursday we took a day long bike ride down to Imperial Beach at the border with Mexico. The best bike route involves taking the ferry from downtown San Diego to Coronado Island. After the ferry ride we hopped on the bike path running down The Strand that took us to Imperial Beach.
A quick tour of the grounds of Hotel Del Coronado as the sun was setting. It was a great day for a 60 mile bike ride, even with a flat tire and broken brake spring on Angela's bike. We got the flat fixed and disabled the rear brake so she could finish the ride with just her front break. Luckily it was a pretty flat ride.
We had a really low tide, as low as I've ever seen, and had all kinds of shell fish as easy finds on our long walk along the beach.
Another shot of the expansive low tide beach.
Our last full day and our last and longest bike ride on a beautiful Sunday, up the coast to Carlsbad on the 101 highway. Passing through Encinitas here where we had previously stopped for lunch before turning back to Pacific Beach a few days ago.
Our last time in Carlsbad was back in October on our Pacific Coast bike tour from Vancouver on our last day's ride into Pacific Beach. This time we took a little more time to take in the sites of this nice SoCal beachtown.
Torrey Pines parasailing is always a spectacle to watch, especially on this beautifully sunny day as we near the end of our bike ride. The last time I was here gazing at hang gliders was 41 years ago when I was 19 and on a motorcycle trip before I returned for the fall semester at Purdue- Time flies, weak pun intended.
We headed back home on Monday, Feb. 12th and decided to go back through Vegas so we could pay a visit to our good friend Sharon and her friend Kathy. Sharon, who is so full of life, has never met a stranger, and an unbelievable traveler just had her left knee replaced 2 weeks ago. She's up and making good progress on her recovery. We wish her well with her bionic transformation. It was a great dinner at Lola's before we headed on down the interstate towards Utah.
Waking up Tuesday morning in Cedar City, UT we got a wake up dose of winter weather before we headed on east towards the Rockies and home. We're really liking our new minivan and looking forward to more road trips in our future. It was a great two week respite in sunny and interesting Pacific Beach but as they say in Kansas, there's no place like home....
