San Diego - April/May - 2016

April-19-2016.

I am in Oceanside now. It is a lot cooler here.

On the way I stopped in Borrego Springs and had lunch with my friend Ron.

I also drove by Peg Leg Smith Monument to see whether any of the regular campers are still there. Only Barbara is there. She told me that the State Park changed the rules and people can only stay there thirty days in the year.The park does not want full timers to live there.

She stays thirty days and then moves across the highway for a few days and then comes back for thirty days more. Eventually the park rangers will catch up with her.

April-20-2016.

After my morning walk I visited old friends. Doris and Jim live in Leucatia, which is a beach community, north of San Diego. We have been friends for many years.

My next stop was Camino Hills in Carlsbad, the park where I lived with Doreen. I visited Pam and Hans, and Gabi.

Everybody is getting old.   

The weather is fine now; the cool breeze from the Pacific Ocean is welcome after this heat wave.  

In the evening I walked to my favorite store. It is a Mexican store and I am one of the tall people there.

I went to buy only lettuce and green peppers. Fuji apples were two pounds for 99 cents. Corn and other vegetables were cheap too. I had to carry two bags with groceries home.

April-21-2016.

I walked all the way to the Oceanside Pier this morning. 

  

Surfers were in the water waiting for the waves. This was a beautiful morning.

I had lunch with Doreen. She has moved to Mira Mesa. She bought a bigger house and her daughter and the daughter’s boyfriend live now with her. In order to remove Doreen from my Escapee membership I had to fill out a form and Doreen and I had to see a notary public. 

In the evening I drove to the Encenitas Elks Lodge where friends of mine meet every Thursday for dinner.

 
April-22-2016.

This was laundry day. After completing the work I had lunch at the Senior Center, which is located almost next to the Elks Lodge.

April-23-2016.

Today I had lunch with Chappy. After lunch we visited Dottie. This was a nice day.

April-24-2016.

The Maritime Museum of San Diego did not charge entrance fees today. I picked the right day.

I climbed into the Russian B-39 Submarine. Inside, there is not much room for people. Most of the room is used for torpedoes and equipment.

The H.M.S. Surprise is a replica of an 18^th century Royal Navy frigate.

The Star of India is the oldest acting merchant sailing ship.

The San Salvador is a replica of Juan Rodriguez Cabrillo’s galleon. Cabrillo entered in 1542, what is now, San Diego Bay.

The USS Dolphin holds the record for the deepest launch of a torpedo.

This is the Steam Ferry Berkeley.

It was a beautiful day. Boats sailed by with two aircraft carriers stationed at North Island.

People were enjoying coffee and sweets at the rear of the Midway aircraft carrier.

April-26-2016.

This evening I had dinner with Garry. We met in Mira Mesa. He is married again and seems to be very happy.

April-27-2016.

In Solana Beach is the Cedros Avenue Design District.

There are Design Studios where one can have a house and furniture designed.

There are also stores for all kind of materials for decorating a home. I was interested in the wood one store was selling. I can see a table made from those beautiful, thick boards.

Tables come in all shapes. This table top is very different.

Besides studious and stores there are also fancy restaurants and a brewery.

April-28-2016.

My favorite store in the San Diego area is Tip Top European Delicatessen. Big John Haedrich is a butcher from Germany and he is the owner of this butcher shop, delicatessen and restaurant.

A lot of German spices and food items are available at this store.

I buy bread there on Thursdays, when the German bakery in Los Angeles delivers it, and freeze it.

My next stop was the Elks Lodge in Encinitas to meet friends.

April-29-2016.

The beach in Carlsbad is the Tamarack State Beach.

It is a State Park, but the city of Carlsbad takes care of garbage collection, and keeping the vegetation in shape.

This morning I walked the upper part of the bluff. I walked south toward the power plant. The saltwater desalination plant is on the same property.

It was early and it looked like it would rain any minute. Not many people were on the beach.

On the other side of the highway, in a lagoon, is a oyster farm.

The Oceanside Pier is visible, through the light fog, in the distance.

April-30-2016.

We were supposed to have some rain today. When I drove to San Diego this morning I encountered some drizzle.

I had breakfast at the Rudford’s restaurant with my former boss. Jim was my first supervisor at Convair.

When Convair closed its doors we both worked for a few years at McDonnel Douglas in Long Beach.

It is always nice to get together with former work mates.

On the way home I stopped in Encinitas and visited with Nick Platas. He also worked at Convair.
 

May-1-2016.

The Carlsbad Street Fair is the largest single day street fair in the United States. Over one thousand vendors are selling almost everything from kettle corn to vacations on a ship.

Several streets are closed for vehicular traffic.

Getting a parking space requires patience. I drove around for a while, waiting for somebody to leave.

I believe the vendors selling food make the most money.

I cannot understand why people bring their dogs. There is so much foot traffic and it is easy to step on an animal. One person brought a pig. The poodle had a difficult time to figure out what he was smelling.

There was also a giant playground for children.

For my morning walk I had gone to the pier again. I watched the surfers waiting for the right wav

This pelican seems to be always there.

At the end of the pier is Ruby’s restaurant. It is a fifties themed eating place.

Late afternoon I went to Palomar Airport where a B-17, B-24, and a B-25 where on display this weekend. I had toured all of the planes some years ago and was only interested in the B-24.

This one might have been built in the forties in one of the buildings where I was working in much later.

May-2-2016.

I walked a lot today. In the early morning I walked in the neighborhood. Almost all the people speak Spanish.

While the sun was still in the east I walked on top of the Carlsbad Flower Fields. Here are fifty acres of Giant Tecolote Ranunculus in bloom. I am a little bit late. They looked better a few weeks ago.

In the afternoon, when the sun was in the west, I went back and took picture at the bottom of the flower fields.

Years ago there were no buildings on top of the hill. The flower fields were larger and it was free to walk in the fields and people picked as many flowers as they could carry.

The city of Carlsbad gave the owner of the land a permit to sell the land to a time share hotel with the stipulation that fifty acres of flowers have to be grown. The city subsidizes the nonprofit organization with over a million dollars each year. A lot of people volunteer at the flower fields. They drive the tractors with the wagons which give the visitors rides in the flower field.

The flower fields are very important to Carlsbad.

May-3-2016.

On my morning walk I see several vendors selling food items. Their trucks are stocked with items the average Mexican family needs. They are more expensive than a grocery store, but many poor families have no car and depend on that service.

John Hartsell and I went to San Diego to have lunch with the Convair tooling group. The group gets smaller every year. Glen Gill and his wife came though the area and were able to join the group too.

In the afternoon I went to Guajome County Park where the Convair Camping Club has their monthly three day outing. We started with the meeting.

Then came the most important part, the pot luck. Everybody likes to eat.

The company is gone now for twenty one years. Some of the clubs are holding on. The Convair Sailing Club is also still in existence.
This was my Convair day. I loved every minute of it.
 

May-4-2016.

Today I drove to Murrieta to have lunch with Rhonda and Frank. Rhonda has had her second back operation and she feels very good. We hope she never has to live with back pain again.

Frank is responsible that I still own most of my tools. When   I moved out of Doreen’s house he was supposed to bring them to a thrift shop, but he stored them for me and gave them back to me when I moved to Eureka. He is a real friend.

May-5-2016.

This was an easy day. I visited Carson Oswald, a friend from my Convair days, in San Diego. He is 93 years old now. His wife died a few months ago. They were married seventy years.

While driving through my old neighborhood I saw Helen, the wife of Aaron Roberts. He died two years ago. Everything changes.

In the afternoon I checked the liquids in the car and motorhome. I am getting ready for my trip up north.
 

May-6-2016.

This weekend is the Cinco De Mayo celebration in Old Town. Old Town is the smallest State Park in California. Here started San Diego.

San Diego County also has the largest State Park in California, the Anza Borrego Desert State Park.

San Diego Street was closed for motorized traffic and booths were set up.

Café Coyote is in Old Town but outside the State Park.

So is Old Town Mexican Café.

The pottery store is in the State Park.

Fiesta De Reyes is a little shopping center with Mexican restaurants and shops.

They serve good food at the Casa De Reyes restaurant and the atmosphere is great.

It is a beautiful place.

There were two large stages. At the Coyote Café stage Mexican dancers performed and a Mariachi band was playing.

Most of the restaurants in Old Town are Mexican.

Everybody can guess what is being sold here.

At the Fiesta De Reyes Stage the band was made up of young people and the sound was great.

The Sate Park Visitor Center has a small movie theater which was not patronized much today. There was too much going on.

The Cosmopolitan Hotel was Casa Bandini many years ago. When the leases came up everything changed.

May-7-2016.

The Cinco De Mayo celebration continues. In the evening I went to Camino Hills in Carlsbad. This is the place where I used to live.

I joined friends in the club house. Since I moved from there many people did the same and I did not know many of the attendees.

Before the official start of the celebration women did some line dancing.

It was a pot luck dinner and there was plenty of good food.