Another Busy Week

Well a toast to another fun week of winter 🙂

We had a good time at the Welcome Back Party in Algodones, lot’s of free drinks and food and some good entertainment.

Lot’s of dental and optical shops give away free t-shirts and other trinkets, along with free drinks, so I was able to restock our pen collection which was getting low. I would rather restock with free pens rather than going to the store and buying some 😀 We didn’t stay too long and had less than an hour wait to cross back into the US.

After a couple of hours at home doing some chores we joined friends for the Electric Light Parade in Downtown Yuma.

This years theme was Neon 80’s and there were many floats with rubik’s cubes on them but I liked this one the best.

Over 40,000 people attend the parade every year and we always arrive two hours early to get our favourite spots along the corner of the Giss and Main Street. This location allows us to see the floats coming down Giss and making the turn onto Main Street.

This is a fun way to get into the festive mood without having to sit in the cold and snow watching a Christmas parade.

I loved the job Coke did on decorating their trucks!

And of course I show this float every year because the amount of lights are amazing!! Hubby counted at least a dozen generators tucked in the back running all the lights.

Being a farming area of course you need some tractors in the parade and this one did a good job.

And what is a Christmas parade without a Christmas tree 😀

Sunday night we had a large group over for a chili dinner and the golf cart parade. There was some confusion with the organization of the parade and we thought they were not going to come down our street but we made enough noise and they eventually came by.

This week hubby is working at the Wood Shop and I’m helping a friend with a few craft fairs.

She hand makes all this jewelry and it is really beautiful!

We have another week before we head home for Christmas and it is shaping up to be a busy time … yes life in the desert is good.

Until next time …

This and That

I was late getting my Christmas decorations up this year because we didn’t return from Oceanside until November 25^th, the day I usually start decorating. November 25^th is also the day I am allowed to put the Christmas SD card in the truck’s music system.

The lines on our patio are from our solar lights, I like the pattern they make.

Hubby doesn’t mind Christmas music but he prefers his playlists so imagine how unimpressed he was that November 25^th fell on the day we made the three hour drive back from Oceanside 😀 But he was a good sport and we listen to Christmas music the entire way and of course he will have to put up with it again on our three hour drive to Palm Springs when we fly home for Christmas … can you see my smile and hear me laughing 😀 😀

We have had lot’s going on since we got back to Yuma. Hubby won $7.50 at music bingo last Thursday and I won $60.00 at card bingo last night. I won three times last night and was starting to get threaten with being thrown in the river if I won again 🙂

Last Saturday we headed down to Algodones for the Welcome Back Snowbird’s party, which it turned out isn’t until this Saturday ☹️ Oh well Algodones is always fun, especially with friends, and even though the weather was cold and damp we still had a good time.

I thought this was a nice view along our drive to the parking lot.

I’m not sure what was going on last Saturday but traffic was lined up long before the entrance to the parking lot. Maybe it was the weather and everyone decided to drive into Mexico instead of parking and taking the short walk. When we left three hours later traffic was still backed up.

This morning we could hardly see the other side of the golf course!

But it wasn’t long before the fog lifted and the golfers where able to get out and enjoy a warm sunny day of golf.

Until next time …

A Night Of Comedy

One of the nice things about being in an RV Park for the winter is the access to entertainment. The other night hubby and I enjoyed an evening of comedy. The headliner was Mike James who is an award-winning and nationally-recognized comedian.

His show was very funny and a great deal for $10.00 each but as an added bonus another comedian opened for Mike. I can’t remember his name but he was also very funny and again all for the low price of $10.00 each.

Considering you can bring your own drinks, it’s a short walk to the ballroom, and the popcorn was free I don’t think you can get a better deal.

Until next time …

Our Time In Oceanside Is Over

After a wonderful visit with Mr & Mrs C in Oceanside, CA our time at Guajome Regional Park came to an end. We had a great time and loved our family time as well as our time at the park.

Societe Brewing in San Diego

I honestly can’t say enough about Guajome Regional Park, you just can’t beat the price and proximity to everything.

I love these Hibiscus trees!

It was about our second day there when hubby and I decided we had to come back next year, and that feeling didn’t leave, so before we headed back to Yuma we booked two weeks for next November.

While it was nice to return to our southern home base in Yuma we are looking forward to our time in Oceanside in November 2023.

Until next time …

Little Italy. San Diego

We left Old Town and took the Trolly to Little Italy. Little Italy is a neighborhood in Downtown San Diego, that was originally a predominantly Italian and Portuguese fishing neighborhood.

Once home to San Diego’s flourishing tuna fishing industry and generations of Italian families who made their living on the sea, Little Italy is now a lively neighborhood with cozy patio cafés, international restaurants, craft brew stops … hmm maybe we visited a few of those 😀 … urban wineries, art galleries, shops, and boutique hotels.

The neighborhood boasts of being the largest “Little Italy” in the United States, spanning 48 square blocks. I have been to Little Italy in New York, and now in San Diego, and found both of them interesting and different.

We had a great time wandering the streets, checking out the menu’s at the various restaurants, and as I said visiting a few craft breweries. Little Italy is definately worth a visit!

Until next time …

Old Town San Diego

Our first stop on our Coaster ride was Old Town which is an easy walk from the transit center where we got off the Coaster.

Old Town is a San Diego State Historic Park and is the oldest settled area in San Diego. There are over 30 restaurants, most with outdoor dining, and 75 unique places to shop. I could have spent hours wandering through the shops and looking at stuff but hubby doesn’t enjoy that as much as I do 🙂

I love this Cactus!

Old Town became California’s first Spanish settlement when a mission and fort were established in 1769. Later, it passed into the hands of the newly made Mexican government before gaining statehood in the United States after the Mexican-American War.

The Old Town area remained the heart of the city of San Diego until the 1860s, when a newcomer to San Diego named Alonzo Horton began to promote development in “New Town” where Downtown San Diego now sits. New Town became the more popular area because of it’s location to the water and in 1871 government records were moved from Old Town to the new county courthouse in New Town and the new downtown area replaced Old Town as the focal point of San Diego.

I really enjoyed our time in Old Town and will definitely return to spend more time wandering through the shops and attending mass at this beautiful Catholic Church.

But this day we had more adventures planned so we jumped on the Trolly (a light rail transit) and headed to our next destination.

Until next time …

The Coaster Train To San Diego

During previous visits to this area I have often seen the Coaster Train zipping along the water towards San Diego so I was happy that we were able to take a trip on it. We drove into Oceanside and parked Mr. & Mrs. C’s car for the day and boarded the Coaster.  We were surprised to find out they don’t charge you to park at the station!

Picture from the North Country Transit District because I forgot to take a picture.

The train runs for 41mi/66km and has eight stops, it takes about an hour and five minutes to run between Oceanside and Downtown San Diego. The Coaster first entered service on February 27, 1995, and sees about 2,300 passengers a day on weekdays.

Picture from the North Country Transit District.

There are two levels on the train, washrooms and free wifi. We chose seats on the second level which provided us amazing views of the ocean, but unfortunately the windows on the train were really dirty so the pictures didn’t turn out great.

We purchased a daily commuter ticket for $15.00 which allowed us to ride the Coaster all day but it also allowed us to ride buses and the trolly (another commuter rail system). We could have walked to a bus stop from the park, taken a bus into Oceanside, and then bordered the Coaster into San Diego and use the trolly to go to different areas in San Diego … which seems like a great deal to me for $15.00.

We made four stops during our day out and had a great time. I will do another post or two about our stops because I think they deserve their own post 😁

Until next time …

A Walk Along The Trails At Guajome

I love all the trails around this park and we have really been enjoying our morning walks. I am sure I will use morning walk pictures in other blogs during our stay here but I thought I would share some of them with you today. I hope you enjoy the views 🙂

The County of San Diego purchased the land in the 1970’s and established the 394 acre Guajome Regional Park. The park includes the campground, a reservable family cabin, two day use areas with playgrounds, an outdoor fitness area, amphitheater, volleyball, basketball, and horseshoe courts, a soccer field and a small rock climbing formation.

There are also two ponds with fish, shore fishing is allowed, and a wide variety of migratory birds.

It was hard to even get a view of the second pond but I can see how it would be a great habitat for birds.

Within the boundaries of the park there are approximately 3.5 miles of well maintained trails that meander through woodlands, chaparral, wetlands, and mixed grasslands. Hikers, bikers, dogs on leash and equestrians are all welcome along the trails.

When I stopped along the trail to take the picture below …

I could smell licorice and I kept looking around thinking someone coming up was eating black licorice but it turned out the path was lined with wild fennel. The plant in the picture looks dead but the stalk is green and all you need to do it touch it and there is no question as to what it is.

A few days later we could smell fennel again and came across a plant with some life in it.

Hubby ran his hand down one of the branches and came away with a handful of fennel seeds.

I could post many more pictures of our walks/hikes around the park but I think you can see from the above how interesting our morning walks have been.

Until next time …

 

Happy US Thanksgiving

We hope all our US friends had a very happy Thanksgiving. Hubby and I are thankful that we were able to spend our second Thanksgiving this year in a beautiful location and in the company of wonderful family.

We spent the day at the campground visiting, playing games, and enjoying an awesome Tri-Tip dinner … just another perfect day 😀

I hope you all enjoyed your day!

Until next time …

Mr. C Is On The Mend

Yippee Mr. C is feeling better and has joined us in Oceanside 🙂 We had planned another event for today but we switched that over to tomorrow so Mr. C could join us and we decided today we would wait for him to arrive and then do some tastings at more local craft breweries.

The advantage to visiting craft breweries today was that it allowed me to use free internet to get a few blogs posted. And what better way to do that than with some tasty beers to enjoy.

I know some people have questioned how we can drink so much and ride our bikes or, I’m sure they are thinking, safely drive home … well what you need to know is tastings are small samples and hubby and I always share our tastings so usually that amounts to one, or many times less, than a beer a day. When we are all going to breweries in a vehicle one of us is the desiganted driver.

This day Mrs. C drove and we ventured further afield to do some tastings at four different breweries, we found some good ones and some okay ones but no terrible ones … that’s a good day!

Until next time …