San Diego – Mar 2016

San Diego – what a great town! And this is a first in months of traveling: no wild animals outside the trailer baying at the moon, no threat of poisonous snakes, no razor sharp cactus to remove from your paws. Life is good.

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After two months in desert surroundings, we have been experiencing in San Diego the pleasures of city life, full hookups, and great connectivity (internet, email phone etc.). OK, two out of three.

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Now, granted, we are basically parked in a parking lot (Mission Bay RV Resort), but we are still camped in what would be Position A right on Mission Bay in San Diego (a pitching wedge to the water). You could not find a better location.

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There are so many outdoor activities to participate in San Diego. We biked about 12 miles around Mission Bay in pristine weather. During our visit I kayaked several times around the bay (first time getting the boat wet since shoulder surgery last year – went great!). Not dissimilar to Austin, San Diego is fairly dog friendly and we took Rosie to romp on one of the beach dog parks in the city. Awesome. In fact, this city has a goodly amount of public space to enjoy, with parks, walking/biking trails and beaches.

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Fiesta Island – one of the dog parks on the water that overlooks San Diego

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And I was treated to views of a couple of the local population, who greeted me with a typical level of disdain.

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Two out of three birds say…
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Three out of three…
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Or was it one out of three…
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Unadulterated disdain
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Paddling’ buddy

I played golf at the Mission Bay Golf Course.   This golf course is no Torrey Pines, but it is a respectable par 3 course that I can ride my bike to (maybe a quarter mile?) and get out and walk 18 holes in a couple of hours.   Is your schedule jammed up? Not to worry! This course is open at night under the lights.

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We visited one of the 100 +/- brewpubs around town (Amplified Ale House), which is a block off the beach, and offers rooftop outside seating, some great brews, as well as interesting and delicious food choices. Oh, and it is dog friendly – we brought Rosie. She says the food, ambience, and water bowl was exactly what she needed after a tough day of sleeping.

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Karen found a place she thought sounded interesting – the Flower Fields in Carlsbad, just a bit north of San Diego and one of the largest ranunculus (member of the buttercup family) cut flower and bulb production operations in southern California. The flower gardens there were stunning. While new flowers in the flower fields were not in season their gardens were spectacular – well worth the price of admission. Not unlike me, I took over one hundred pictures here, and again, it is almost silly to pick out just a few pictures to share. And saddest of all – the prettiest flower there would not let me share my picture of her.

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Flowers at The Flower Fields, Carlsbad CA

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Now back to the two out of three discussion. Connectivity? Not so much. When checking in at the campground we were told they had just upgraded their internet service. I have to ask. What was it like before?? The wifi service here makes dialup look great. It is worse than dial up. S. L. O. W. Actually, consider it useless. Double threat: annoying and useless.

But these are quibbles! San Diego is GREAT! Love this town, and we will surely be back!

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