August 20th: Trying to keep busy while staying safe

Back yard Magnolia tree

Matt and Wendy were still in Colorado so there was nobody here in Encinitas to play with. I knew I'd be looking for things to do so I had offered to take care of the house and yard in their absence. Nice to have something to do, although it didn't require much.

Hill and Magnolia tree
trunk behind the house,
hundreds of leaves raked up!

There is a very steep hill in the back yard with a large Magnolia tree. Matt climbed it and trimmed it just before he left so the neighbors, behind their house on top of the hill, could see their ocean view. I told Matt and Wendy I would clean up the leaves and branches. The leaves are very tough, like leather. The city picks up one green waste barrel every Thursday, so this was an on-going project.







I also noticed the large bush in front of the house was overtaking the driveway. Unfortunately, I didn't think to take a before picture, but trust me, it was due for some serious trimming.



I learned in the past to be careful with this beautiful bush with the  pretty flowers. It also has serious thorns! Guess how I found that out. Who would have guessed?

As I was trimming, I happily noticed numerous honey bees on the flowers. It's been a long time since I've seen such a collection of honey bees. Very nice to see. I tried to get a picture with several bees, but the little buggers wouldn't cooperate, so I settled for this one, the star!

Last pile of green waste

Bird of Paradise

I finally stuffed the last of the debris into the green Waste Barrel, I wanted to finish before Matt and Wendy returned.

 The Bird of Paradise Plant in front of the house has a beautiful blossom. Matt really likes these plants. So do I and the hummingbirds. Very fun to watch the hummingbirds. I think the blossom will last until Matt returns.



I decided to drive to San Diego and hike around the Juan Cabrillo National Monument. It is a beautiful park with a 360 degree view from the cliffs overlooking San Diego and San Diego Harbor. There is also access to Point Loma and the Point Loma Tidal pools below the cliffs on the ocean side. I've been there a number of times and always enjoyed it. Once you drive to the top of the cliffs, you drive through the Fort Rosecranz National Cemetery on the way to the Monument park.

On my way to the park I realized I didn't have my wallet because I had my hiking shorts on. My wallet has my "Senior pass" to get in free. Oh well, no big deal, I had money so I'd make a contribution to the park. Sounded good but when I arrived there was a sign that said, "Credit cards only, Coronavirus".

Fort Rosecranz National Cemetery overlooking San Diego Harbor

Hmmmm! I decided to see if I could walk around the National Cemetery. No problem as long as you wore a mask and it was completely open. The walk was an impressive and a sobering experience. It is 77.5 acres and has just over 100,000 graves.

Fort Rosecrans National Cemetery

For those of you who are history buffs, you'll find plenty of information to keep you entertained at this site. History of Fort Rosecrans



A few days later I was going a little stir crazy. I called Craig and Karen to see if they were ready for another visit and hike. Turned out Craig had plans to go hiking with a friend the next morning. Good timing. I was once again invited to come up and spend the night before the morning hike.

Bike path to the ocean along
the San Juan River

When I arrived in the afternoon, I learned that Craig still had the neighbors peddle assist electric bikes. So of course we went for a nice bike ride around San Juan Capistrano. The bike paths are amazing. One very close to their house runs along side the San Juan river to the ocean, about 6 miles. It's all very smooth asphalt or concrete. We left the path about half way to the ocean to tour part of San Juan Capistrano. We stopped at the desalination plant. It is a Reverse Osmosis Groundwater Recovery operation. Couldn't see a lot but the concept is interesting. Here is how it works

Craig in front of the San Juan Capistrano desalination plant

We then rode through the Los Rios Street Historic District. The street dates back to 1794, or earlier. Check out a brief history here

Typical store on Los Rios Street

Note the turtles on the wall

There are a lot of nice little restaurants and shops but unfortunately most things were closed due to CO#19. But it was a nice place to ride around and was mostly in the shade. I'd like to go back when everything is open.


After the ride we enjoyed a very pleasant evening on the patio. I was able to get some good pictures.

Patio at twilight

Water sculpture vases at twilight

We spent an enjoyable evening in their back yard. It was very picturesque as darkness settled in.

Patio at night

I love the large vase water fountains. The water gurgles and once it is dark the light is reflected on to the patio. Very relaxing.

Susie and Craig

We went to bed early because we were meeting Susie, the hiking friend, at 8:00 am. We wanted to beat the heat. Craig and Susie picked our route.

As you can see in the picture, Susie's stride is half of Craig's. No problem for her, she was like the Energizer bunny. Of course Craig and I figured we weigh twice as much so we tired more easily, at least that was our story.

Steve heading down

This hike started at the top of a mountain that overlooks Laguna Beach. We hiked quite a ways on top of the ridge and then went down to the valley. It was quite steep. The picture is of me on the way down.  As you can see we still were enjoying quite a bit of cloud cover and marine mist.






Of course we had to hike back up, but we picked a trail that was smooth and not as steep. Our plan to beat the heat worked mostly. The picture on the left was taken as we started. The one on the right was taken from the same spot as we were almost back







Overall, the hike was a big loop and again the scenery was great. The picture on the left was taken on our way back, after we hiked back up to almost the top of the ridge. It was getting pretty warm, but everything was very pretty with the blue sky and the bright sunshine. We finished the hike about 11:30 am so we beat the avoided the hottest part of the day.