March 29th: Fun with the Petersons (Links and more info added after the first posting yesterday)

 

After finishing with Disney World, Randy and I left everyone else behind and drove the truck to Ft. Lauderdale where we would pick up Cindy. Tom and Erica had already gone back to work, Nick, Nicky, Liam and Mea left for Canada. So Cindy flew back to Pennsylvania to deliver Eve. She no sooner arrived, dropped Eve off to her parents and then flew to Ft. Lauderdale to meet Randy and me. Our next stop was Banana Bay. 

Cindy found us a very nice hotel to stay in.

So the next morning we drove to Marathon to stay on Yesterday's Dream for five days. Randy and Cindy stayed there with us on their boat for 5-6 years during the winter so we all had a number of friends we wanted to see. It was a fun visit. Sadly, I didn't think to take any pictures!

Next, the plan was for Petersens to stay in California by me for the month of February! We rented an AirBnB on the ocean at Oceanside.

After catching our breath for a few days we went to Studio City to visit my daughter Rebecca.   

We had a good dinner and watched a movie on the big screen in her back yard.

It was a short visit but she was coming to Encinitas for another visit later in the month. Rebecca is working so had to be weekends!

London

Randy and Cindy love dogs so Rebecca's Golden Doodles were a big hit.  

No trip to Los Angeles is complete without a visit to Venice Beach. It is a very unusual place. There are everything from tattoo parlors, to restaurants, to a huge skate board park, an outdoor weight lifting club and of course a beautiful beach with a walking, skateboarding, bike riding path. 

  The skate boarding park was fun to watch. Not only was it fun but inspirational. I noticed, from a distance, a young woman riding her skate board and I couldn't figure out where her legs were. Turns out she was a double total leg amputee. She used her hands to manipulate the skate board with great skill. She was smiling, laughing and clearly had many friends.

Our place at Oceanside was very nice. We enjoyed walking on the beach, making our own dinners, as well as taking advantage of the many local restaurants. The sunsets were beautiful.

My place was only 20 minutes away so some nights we stayed there. It's only one bedroom with a sofa bed so not great for a whole month, plus more going on at Oceanside on the beach. There is a great breakfast place, the 101 Diner that we all enjoyed. One of their many specialties is crepes which Cindy and I ordered.

Next I planned a rather strenuous hike in Torrey Pines State Park. It is an incredible place. We hiked up the mountain to observe beautiful scenery, and then hiked down to the ocean. I knew enough to time our hike so we would hit the beach at low tide. At high tide you'd need to swim the mile or so back to our starting point. It worked out great! Here are a variety of pictures.

The Torey Pines State Park website has great pictures. You can see them here. Torey Pines Pics

Balboa Park

There is a wonderful park complex in San Diego called Balboa Park. There are many museums and attractions and it is fun just to walk around and look at the architecture. The grounds are very peaceful and well kept.

I learned that Cindy loves trains. There was a model railroad museum in the park that people told me was exceptional. It was a little pricey, but Cindy loves trains, so we decided to go in.

Some of the models were built to scale replicating the California terrain. The models were amazing.

Other displays were just for fun. We were amazed that the displays just kept going and going.

I got one video but many more would have been possible. 

The model railroad museum was very well worth the admission. It was not only huge, but had every kind of model train ever built. It also includes a great deal of history related to the impact of railroads on California. There were many displays. A lot of fun stuff to learn about.

The Air and Space Museum has a couple unusual aircraft outside. This one is interesting. It has "Water skis" attached. Look closely at the bottom. It was designed to see if a jet could land and take off in the water. Several were built but it was never put into production.

Here are some pictures of Balboa Park from their website. Balboa Park Pics

While we were in Encinitas, we went to Wendy's house to learn how to make rings using wire. It was pretty easy and fun. Cindy loves jewelry as you can tell from her finished products. Obviously she did not make the wedding ring. The little one was mine! It turned out rather small. We thought it might fit  on Eve's finger.

Sea lions napping

We went back to Oceanside to enjoy the waterfront. We walked over to the marina harbor where there is a small boardwalk with restaurants, ice cream, etc. There is also a floating raft where the sea lions hang out. They weren't very active and they and we could smell them from far away. 

We saw a few swimming around and as you can see from the paddle boarder, they are not skittish.

View from our Oceanside condo

We did not have an ocean view from our condo but did have a balcony that overlooked a lush landscape. Unfortunately, the sun wasn't on the balcony so it was too cold to sit out there. 

Hummingbird on branch

But I enjoyed watching some resident humming birds. I even got a fair silhouette picture. He was too fast for me to get a video.

Unfortunately, Randy had a health issue that necessitated him and Cindy to leave California early. He is doing fine. We'll need to pick up where we left off with the activities we had planned. I think they must have had a premonition about the weather. Here is a video from my window the day after they left!

I'll be seeing the Petersen family again at Erica's wedding in Hershey, PA. I'm combining that trip East with a visit to Cleveland to visit my sister and brother-in law, Julie and Jim. Also I'll get a physical there because my primary care physician is in Cleveland and I really like him. In addition, I'll go to Loudonville to spend some time with the Drouhard clan and my good friends Bob and Sue Brightbill.