June 2nd: Another fun visit with Karen and Craig in San Juan Capistrano

It's always fun to visit with Craig and Karen in San Juan Capistrano. I hadn't gotten together with them for a couple months given my trip to Florida, Ohio and back to Florida. Craig and I went for a nice bike ride along the river. We once again ended up at the ocean and the harbor. 

We rode to a museum where there is a tall ship docked alongside it. Craig informed me that a man built the ship in his back yard. It's amazing. He was running out of money to finish it so he sold it to the city and was able to finish it. It is now available for boat rides. 

After a very enjoyable evening we planned our hike for the next morning. We went to O'Neill regional park. We had planned to go there on an earlier trip but there was a mountain lion sighting and Karen said, "No way you are hiking there!" I made a joke about the mountain lion not being interested in a couple old guys, but then I realized she was very concerned and serious. 

Craig wisely chose an alternate site for us to hike back then. But it had been three months since there was a sighting so we felt very comfortable going now. 

I will admit that we were so distracted by these signs that we missed the entrance to the trail we wanted to take. We walked up a steep incline and the trail just ended. There was a nice young woman at the end who hikes the hill for exercise. She told us people often miss the trail, especially if they see her heading up the hill. She also informed us that she had been hiking here for years and had never seen a mountain lion. In general, mountain lions do not like to be around people. She also gave us some good information about the trails. We told her our hike route. She asked, "Are you sure you want to go that far?" Hmmmmm! Craig said, "Oh yeah, we'll be fine." Okay then!

The park has a lot of open spaces and hiking from sea level to 1500 feet. There is enough wilderness that mountain lions do hang out there.

Craig walking the trail
through the Live Oak Trees

There were many beautiful live oak trees along the river at the start of the hike. There was a lot of shade and it was very comfortable for hiking. Live Oak info

10 acres of the park had been the site of a ranch property. We came across this sign giving some of the history.

Here is a picture of one of the succulents that Anna had planted many years ago. It is about six feet tall. 

Saddle Back Mountains

The views from the top of the ridge were spectacular. The hike was fun because the terrain changed quite a bit from along the river where the Live Oaks were to the top of the ridge which had no shade at all. Fortunately it was not too hot that morning. 

When we returned to the house Karen had some drawing supplies ready for me. I told her I was interested in learning to draw. She gave me some great materials to get started.

I returned home to Encinitas and found Wendy and Matt working on the house. Wendy was painting the trim and Matt was replacing the molding around the windows. Matt, Wendy and I had put the original molding in place many years ago. It was due to be replaced. Matt and Wendy did a great job and the back room looks very nice. I missed most of the action but I arrived in time to hold the molding while Matt nailed it to the wall. 

I began drawing the next day. I highly recommend this book. I'm just getting started but it is going well. Here are my first three subjects. (I did several attempts at each to get to this point, but each took no more than 30 minutes.)

I joined the Encinitas YMCA which is a fabulous facility. I'm told it is the largest in the country. Fortunately, the Magdalena Ecke family donated a great deal of money to build the facility. The Ecke family raised and shipped a very large portion of Poinsettias across the country and were very successful. I have been going to physical therapy to get my left shoulder back in shape. I did something to it months ago and couldn't get it back in shape. Turns out what I was doing was making it worse. Swimming at the Y has been helpful as well as working with the PT who is telling me what to do and what not to do!