Ron and I left Albuquerque and drove for 8 hours to
Kingman, Arizona on the first day of the new year. The next day we drove 5 more hours across the great emptiness of the
Mojave Desert and made it to
Poway in California's southern-most
county of San Diego.
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Here are again on January 3, 2016 |
We spent the night with Page and Laurie, our friends who hosted our wedding in their backyard 10 years ago this month.
The weather was warm and sunny (smile). They were delightful company as we caught up on each of our family's lives. Laurie made Ron's favorite breakfast - Eggs Benedict - in the morning before we headed off to the
Grand Pacific Palisades Resort in
Carlsbad.
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Our wedding (January 14, 2006) was at Page and Laurie's Poway home |
Ron's daughter, Margaret, her husband, Jeff, and five year old son, Max, were joining us for a winter vacation in California. Coming from Cleveland, Ohio, I thought San Diego would be a treat for them. Actually, Cleveland was experiencing warm, sunny weather and no snow at all in December. San Diego, on the other hand, was about to get an historic winter storm brought about by the Pacific Ocean's
El Niño. We picked their family up at the airport at 1:00PM on a gorgeous clear sunny day. The
San Diego Harbor was glistening below a sunny blue sky. We had a lovely resort with pools and a children's waterpark and sunset views over the Pacific Ocean.
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Our condo was on the 3rd floor |
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Resort grounds |
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Fun! |
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Max enjoyed the pool area before all the rain |
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Great place for a 5 year old. |
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Enjoying one of the many hot tubs |
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The view of the Pacific Ocean from our condo |
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Entering Legoland at 10AM |
The next day we went to
Legoland (which was just next door to our resort). It was a beautiful morning and little Max was having the time of his life. He rode his first roller coaster (twice) and loved it. He rode boats and planes and horses on various rides. We stopped for lunch
and soon after the wind and clouds descended, then a heavy rain. We donned ponchos, dodged flowing streams of rain water and exited the park although it was only 1:30PM.
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On the boat ride around the world in Legos |
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The Taj Mahal in Legos |
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The Eiffel Tower in Legos |
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New York City in Legos |
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Mt. Rushmore in Legos |
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Jeff in Legos |
We had three days of heavy rain. But the vacation must go on. On Tuesday, January 5th, we walked the length of the
Oceanside Pier in a torrential wind and rain storm. We were able to warm up at
Ruby's Diner at the end of the pier before walking another 1/3 of a mile of the pier back to the car. Needless to say, your tour guide for the day (me) didn't get a tip.
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Here's a Brown Pelican fighting the wind to stay put on the pier |
On Wednesday, January 6th, we visited the beach during a morning respite from the rain and Max got to experience his first ocean waves.
We headed for La Jolla after the beach visit. The weather looked omninous but it was not yet raining. We had lunch at
George's at the Cove and enjoyed a marvelous view of
La Jolla Cove.
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Ron, Jeff, and Margaret with a ocean-view lunch spot at George's |
And here are our views of La Jolla Cove:
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Leopard Fish |
When we left the aquarium at 2:50PM in a massive rain storm, wind and lightning, I received a loud beep from my phone - it was an "Urgent Alert" from the National Weather Service of a tornado in the immediate area and to take cover immediately. Never having ever experienced a tornado in San Diego before, we were all a bit confused on what to do. We decided to drive along the coast 101 route north rather than risk congestion and accidents on the I-5 freeway. Apparently
the conditions in La Jolla-Torrey Pines were the worse but we made it back to Carlsbad with careful maneuvering through the flooding Pacfiic Highway of the beach towns. The news reported that a twister had upended a tree and shut down the power to 8 houses in Vista about eight miles inland from us. Here is
a video of the area where we had lunch earlier in the day. Social media in San Diego had fun mocking the tornado warning.
We did have some serious flooding from the
El Niño generated storm. Here is
Kearny Mesa on Tuesday, January 5th:
By Friday, January 8th, it was sunny again and we all headed for the San Diego Zoo.
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Polar bear viewing pool |
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Max with model of baby polar bear and Margaret and Jeff next to a model of a fully grown male polar bear |
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Polar Bear enjoying a few rays of warm sun |
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Jaguar |
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Secretary Bird |
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Marmot |
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Giraffe Family |
Friday evening, I stayed home with Max while Ron, Margaret and Jeff went out to
McCormick & Schmick's Seafood Restaurant in San Diego for their last night before departing Saturday morning for
Cleveland, Ohio where it was warm and snowless.
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Sunset over the Pacific Ocean from our Carlsbad condo balcony |
The next morning, Ron and I drove back to Albuquerque via the southern route (I-8/I-10) through
Tucson. We enoyed a delicious Mexican dinner at
The Guadalajara Grill in Tucson Sunday evening. We arrived safe and sound January 11th to freezing, windy weather and snow and ice at the house.