May Gray – a meritage to catchup

When I mentioned to Fran I was going to work on the Blog, she asked if we did anything Blog worthy.  Not really a single event, but a couple weeks filled with some fun doings.

1. Little Italy Art Walk

It was full on May Gray and misty with rain, and more in the rain forecast for the afternoon.  But we hopped on the Blue Line Trolley for the ride to Little Italy.  From the trolley it's a couple blocks up Beech St. to the the Art Walk.  It looked like we'd get between the rain drops.

Kg is in Boston studying for her advance degree in Library Science.  She can catalog pretty much anything now.  We found this gift for her at the Art Walk.  

Reaching Forward

The rain came early and now it’s pouring!  The trolley stops have covers over the standing area, but not over the seating area!  Who designed this?

2. Bates Nut Farm

Various events are held at Bates Nut Farm (Bates Brothers Nut Farm) to attract visitors.  Bates is located in Valley center (Bear Valley) just east of Escondido.  The event that had my attention was the Rods, Customs and Classics Car Show.

Some restored customs:

A work in progress

and my favorite restoration:

A restored Texaco tow truck

Towing its mini-me

A few rods:

The 'rust' is part of the paint job
Notice the shine

And some classics:

Bates always has some farm animals for the kids to feed

And this day they also had a craft fair to wander around.

Fran asked me to pick up a few snacks for our trip to the Moonlight Theater.   Good Grief!, where to start???

I skipped the candies

4 long isles of various nuts made for some selections

A fun mix made from 6 small selections

3. Guajome Reginal Park

This is a county park near Oceanside, just an hour from home, and is our overnight for attending the Moonlight Theater.

Although the county raised the one night stay to $48 (from $38) with FHU, I’d rather stay then arrive home at midnight.  The park is a great walking and birding spot.  We walked around the 12 acre lake a couple times, but too many bugs for us to explore into the marshlands.  

The trails connect the local communities, as we sat out we'd see lots of walkers, strollers, joggers and kids on bikes as they go to/from school.

Tonight's Moonlight Theater play will end around 10pm, by the time we return to Rufus it'll be close to 11pm.

I simply cannot drive at night, so a little camping is just part of the adventure.

4. Moonlight Theater

This is a fun outdoor venue in nearby Vista about a half hour away.  It has a huge stage for the plays, but only seats around 2000, which keeps it intimate.

We are here for the stage adaptation of Grease.

Snacks and non-adult beverages are allowed to be brought in, and on site beverages including adult are available, lots of food options too.

The play? The headliners are from a great Broadway cast, with lots of awesome local talent.  So much energy and just fabulous vocals.  Sandy was played by a softspoken gal who had no trouble when it came to singing, she filled the outdoor theater.  She was the best, well except for ONJ … RIP

5. Cinco de Mayo

On another cold May Gray day with a bit of rain, we again hopped on the trolley for a couple stops to Old Town.  But with the heavy mist it was not as well attended as past years, still fun.

The last time we were here was a couple weeks ago with Marty and Juanita and there were Mariachis.  Not this time, there were lots of Folkloric dancers … in the street and on the stage.  Such graceful and colorful dancers.

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This time we ate at Casa de Reyes (Casa de Pico), and would return again.  Fran had the chicken tortilla soup (a cream broth) I had a carne asada tostada, excellent!, but they had a grilled mahi-mahi tostada.  I've not seen that on another menu.  Next time.

Casa de Reyes is near the stage, a big plus for this day, and although it's managed by the group that runs Barra Barra, the menu offers other options.

6. Some plans that were rained out :(((

Motorcars on MainStreet

This is the annual classic car show in Coronado, which we've been to in the past.

We had planned to bike to the Coronado Ferry, take the ferry to Coronado and then bike to the event near Star Circle.

 ... but there's rain

Animals on the Bay

$5 admission to the Chula Vista Discovery Center on Gunpowder Point (usually $20), it's an easy ride from Pepper Park.  Although we've been here a few times it is an enjoyable visit.

and it is adjacent Sweetwater Park is now open.  We’d normally do a bike ride from Pepper Park,

 ... but there's rain

Well, we certainly need all the rain, too bad it's later than usual when fun events have been planned.

7. Up next

Rain permitting, a bike ride to the Grand Opening of the Gaylord Pacific Resort and Convention Center in Chula Vista.  We'll bike from Pepper Park and hope to have time to investigate the new Sweetwater Park along the way.

and here at home it's war on the gophers!
 ... rain or shine!

any ideas?

Please offer suggestions if you’ve done battle with these critters!

Pre-Christmas

It's been very quiet in our corner for the past couple weeks. Not much really blog worthy.

Our biggest adventure was a attending the Holiday Celebration presented at The Welk in Escondido.

The Welk Theater at Lawrence Welk Village continues to draw top talent.

The show was a very high energy performance of holiday classics, including Feliz Navidad with Folkloric dance and a rap version Silent Night. We both enjoyed show and the holiday decorations in the lobby.

A one and a two …

We continue to bike ride along Mission Bay and into Pacific Beach.  Saturday we rode into PB  for the annual Christmas parade.  The Mission Bay High School provided the only band this year.

The LoRiders from South Bay put on a show with their hydraulic antics

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and beautiful rides

and restored classics

The Old Mission Bay Athletic Club (OMBAC) Fire Department is present at most local events.

No holiday parade would be complete without Santa!

In responses to a comment left by Jim, I challenged myself a couple blogs ago to make a rattle out of a Coyote Gourd, as that's all their good for.

Coyote Gourd

Rather than wait weeks for it to dry I used the kitchen oven (don't tell Fran)

A native Kumeyaay shaman would use a sharp rock, but …

The seeds are the only part of the gourd that is edible, although there are a lot of seeds, it's defiantly an acquired taste!

Yes that is a Julian Pie tin holding the seeds :)

I put the dried seeds back in the gourd.  And used a hot glue gun to secure the gourd to my pine branch.  A Kumeyaay craftsman would make one as show in this YouTube video  HERE.

We always seem to have a puzzle on the puzzle table.

Wishing all a very Merry Christmas and a Happy New Year.  And that’s all for now, we'll be heading back to Borrego for their New Year festivities.

Birthdays and Idyllwild

With Fran returning on Monday evening, Marty and I had a couple days to hangout.  A couple of the adventures we did include Queen Califia's Magical Circle.  It is only open when docents are available on the 2nd and 4th Saturday of the month.

Located within Kit Carson Park in Escondido.  It is fun to see the artist interpretation of the legendary queen that California is named after.  This is Queen Califia on her eagle.

The underside of the eagle represents the universe.

I did a more complete blog on Queen Califia’s Magical Circle HERE.

We turned our outing into a long loop with a stop to visit the Hale Telescope at Palomar Observatory  Once inside there are another 70 steps to the viewing area.

We continued over Mt Palomar and past Lake Henshaw.

With a brief stop at Dudley’s, we made our way to Edwards Vineyards, my favorite local fermenter.  We'll test the 'Original 2017 Syrah' (old vine) against the '2017 New Syrah' (new vine), and a 2017 Cab ... just because.

Victor Edwards died of cancer last December and his widow Beth Edwards is now making a go of it on her own.  I’ll certainly visit again and check out her releases. 

We celebrated both Marty’s and Fran’s birthdays in Idyllwild near Mt San Jacinto. 

The Manzanita Cantina easily has the best Margarita on the hill. 

And they offer FREE birthday shots!

Fran skipped the tequila shot, but enjoyed Happy Birthday sung in Spanish.

Tahquitz Peak is the signature photo of the area.  There certainly is no shortage of granite boulders in the area.

Strolling the shops at The Fort is an easy way to see some of the tourist traps.

There are over 50 whimsical deer sculptures around the town, but I only saw this one unicorn.

The small Farmer’s Market had a nice selection of veggies and citrus, but little else.  These are brought up from the farm in Riverside, providing fresh to the locals.

Marty and Juanita taking a break in town

At 11 weeks post-surgery ... finally my FIRST hike.

OK it was just the 1 mile Nature Trail, but with my boots on and a hiking stick it indeed counts!  Our favorite hike up here is the Earnie Maxwell Scenic Trail.

But the reason for this trip, was not just the birthdays … We wanted to do the Idyllwild Home Tour supporting their Historical Society.

The Southern California AAA Westways magazine did an article on the tour that most of SoCal must have seen.  It was a huge turnout.

My favorite was a 1928 cabin that retains the charm and period furnishing of that era.

The 500 sq ft cabin was used in the 1962 filming of Kid Galahad staring Elvis Presley.  The cabin has been in the same family since its construction, thus home to nearly a century of memories.

The most unique home was the Donaldson Futuro House.

The link details the restoration and moving of the house from San Diego to its present location on a granite outcropping.  It is on the California Register of Historic Places.

Relaxing by a campfire is often the best part of camping.

The blog of a previous visit to Idyllwild offers more information on the town and the Ernie Maxwell Trail can be found HERE.  As mentioned in that link we hike the trail up to Heber Park and return.  There is also a link to John and Sharon's hike 'backwards'.

And of course fish tacos: