April 7, 2004
San Diego, CA
The drive to San Diego took us over summit passes of 4,190′, past huge boulders, and through some pretty towns. We arrived in San Diego and got to see the Pacific Ocean on March 28th! Woo-hoo! We love San Diego. Especially the Mission Bay area. We stayed in Campland on the Bay for 10 days. The campground is not much to speak of – it is basically a parking lot and you occupy about 2 parking spaces. Barely enough space for your rig, a picnic table, and for some unknown reason a fire ring (of sorts). But you’re right on the bay with a biking path and the beach nearby. For the first two days we didn’t drive at all – what a relief! We biked everywhere we wanted to go…through Pacific Beach and around the Bay and to the Ocean.
Andy Bikes Past an Old Favorite
We kayaked around Mission Bay and checked out the penguins at Sea World from the water. We even checked out the condos in the area and realized that San Diego is not an option for us at this time – 1600 sf condo for 1.5 mil!! Granted, it was on the Bay with great views, including Sea World’s fireworks, but….
We toured Cabrillo National Monument (to see tidepools and the lighthouse). The original lighthouse hasn’t been used since 1891 because it was built too high up. The fog and clouds would obscure it. So a new lighthouse was built about 100′ below the original.
Cabrillo Lighthouse
We got to see my sister Karen and her husband Craig while staying here in San Diego. We hiked in Mission Trails Regional Park – which just reopened since last year’s fires.
Craig and Karen in Mission Trails Reg. Park
On another day we met my sister at Birch Aquarium at Scripps. The aquarium is one of the most beautiful I’ve seen – artistic display tanks, interactive displays, and the fish actually seemed healthy.
Karen and Diane Gobbled up by a Shark!
A Seal Pup on the Beach
We had considered kayaking the La Jolla Caves while we were here, but the size of the surf changed our minds. We did, however, get our road bikes out for a ride. We enjoyed the Silver Strand Bikeway along Coronado Island (starting at the Ferry Complex) to Imperial Beach. And, on impulse, we signed up for the Coronado Bridge Liberty Run. We were pretty impressed with our times considering we weren’t running 4 miles very often these days AND the run was up and over the *big* Coronado Bridge (the bridge offers a 200′ clearance in the channel).
We enjoyed our week in San Diego, but we were getting antsy to move on and find a campground with more natural beauty and some elbow room. We decided to move closer to my sister’s house and stay in an area called Silverado.
(Added Note on Dec 2008: I was re-reading my journal and had to laugh that we made a note that we had to pay $2.09 for gas in CA. Considering that we’ve recently been paying $4/gal this year, I found my concerned comment quite humorous!)
Diandy's RV Travels from 2004 