On my own

Wednesday & Thursday 3/6 & 3/7

Wednesday was a true relaxing day! I lazed around the house a lot, walked the dogs a bit, and started to feel lazy. I put on my swim suit and walked up to the community pool for a hot tub soak and a little swim,

Hot tubbing in the sun -- how delightful

Nicely kept grounds at poolside -- and this afternoon I was the only one there

Other than dog walking, this was my only active part of the day. It felt quite good to relax and not worry about what I should be doing, or the list of chores and errands at home!

On Thursday I walked a LOT! I walked down to the bus stop for an early morning bus to the trolley station into downtown. I had thoughts of renting that bike, so was dressed in my cycling gear (shorts under long pants), picked up a Subway sandwich and proceeded to the bike shop.

The contrast (for Lynne) of the newer buildings with an older building in Gaslamp Quarter

Once in the bike shop -- I lost all interest in biking! So I left and walked down to Seaport Village for some tourist gawking. It was fairly quiet and few people out today. Basically the Village is a collection of shops and restaurants.

The walkway at Seaport Village

 

This is what the Village is all about

I did a bit of window shopping and worked my way to Embarcadero Park where I found a nice picnic table overlooking the Bay for my lunch stop.

Interesting trees (and tree roots) in Embarcadero Park

 

A closer look at the roots.

After my lunch I continued down to the main waterfront -- where I have toured around a lot in past trips so did not take repetitive photos -- and then caught an afternoon trolley home. The trolley system sure does make it easy to get to and from downtown San Diego from many outlying communities.

So far the weather forecasters here have been no better at forecasting than those in Seattle. They have called for rain the past two days but no rain so far. It was sunny on Wednesday and cloudy on Thursday, but warm at about 60 degrees.

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Driving Tour

Tuesday 3/5/13

Alexis had the day off and wanted to take me on a bit of driving tour for the day. It was a nice relaxing touring day and fun to spend some time with Alexis.

We drove along the ocean at Torrey Pines Natural Preserve, through the towns of Del Mar, Solano Beach and Encinitas. Each town has its own flavor and impressive views of the ocean.

Lunch at Pannikin Cafe was a good stop.

Cafe is in an old colonial style house

Joey is looking at me, Billy is under the table waiting for Alexis to drop something

Lots of crumpet choices here ;'-)

Small store attached has so many tea (and coffee) choices, it was hard to decide

 

After lunch and on the drive home we stopped at the beach to give the dogs a nice salt air walk. It was a cloudy day but they didn't care. We took in some more fresh, salt air for ourselves as we watched several surfers out there riding the waves before continuing our drive home.

The weather forecast at this time is for some probable rain for the remaining days that I am here -- with sun returning on the day I leave! Looks like some relaxing and reading time coming up.

 

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Public Transportation

Monday 3/4/13

When I left the house early morning, I planned to take a walk around the area and return in about an hour. As I walked I thought I could get to the trolley and head downtown and leave the day to Alexis for relaxation and rest on her day off. She and Sheri work very hard in the food industry and at least the first day off from work truly needs to serve as an R&R day.

About a mile and a half into my walk I spotted the #13 bus across the street and sure enough, the bus driver said she did go to the trolley station. At our first bus stop I felt I was back at work at DDD for it must have been time for folks to go to work. I was duly impressed with the appropriate level assistance and the respect that the staff members, as well as the bus driver showed these men and women who had a variety of challenges and assistance needs.

After a rather long boarding time at the bus stop, we did arrive at the trolley station and I easily caught the very next one into town.

I disembarked at the Gaslamp Quarter stop.

Strolling around the Quarter gave me some interesting views of an old part of San Diego.

A street in Gaslamp Qurtere

Many old and beautiful buildings but not very good vantage point for me to take photos

I found my way to Zanabar Cafe where I had had the best omelet last year and would love to have another. Though it was lunch time, they serve breakfast into the mid afternoon and I got my wish.

My next destination was the bike shop. I had visited this shop last year and knew I liked it better than the one Sheri and I had found the day before and if I rent a bike it would be from here. I had a good chat with the bike guy and know how to go about renting, what the fees are and which bike I would most likely choose. All that IF I do indeed ride one of these days here.

By now it was time to wend my way back to the trolley for the trip home. Did a bit more walking and gawking before boarding the trolley. Once aboard I thought it would be a nice trip to take the trolley all the way to its end point at Santee Town Square. And low and behold, right there at the trolley stop was a tea and crumpet place (I call all treats crumpets, and this one was a scone).

Tea and crumpet at Einstein's

When I got home at mid afternoon, Sheri was there after work and said she had been at Santee Town Square right while I was there! It would have been quite the surprise to run into each other there. But I boarded the return trolley without seeing Sheri, and got the bus to within a mile walking distance to "home".

We enjoyed a nice hot tub soak (felt so good on my now aching back) a float in the pool, and a delightful dinner that Alexis had prepared for us.

Another full day.

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San Diego Bay

Sunday 3/3/13

First we had to get ready, and Sheri wanted to call and wish her mom (in Buffalo, NY) a Happy Birthday.

Sheri gives mom a call on her birthday

And here are Joey and Billy. I can never tell which one I take for a walk first -- are you Billy? Oh, maybe you are Joey. They are not even the same breed. One is much older and blind (Billy) and the other is much younger and has longer legs. Fine if they are standing next to each other, but you hafta be pretty familiar with them to tell them apart without critical inspection.

Joey and Billy in their favorite spot on the patil

Dogs walked and selves cleaned, we drove up to the public transit parking lot and rode the trolley into town. A perfect way to get to wherever we wanted to go downtown. We got to Seaport Village and found the loading place for the SEAL.

In Seattle we have the DUCK, here they have the SEAL

 

Capt. Adams and 1st matey Brenda would be our guides

Brenda was in her perfect role as guide around the Bay. She obviously loves nature, loves San Diego and appreciates the animals and the sea. And she is very entertaining and truly likes people.

1st matey went to everyone and took their photo with their own camera. Refreshing way to get you photo rather than getting back to the dock and having to buy one!

Sheri and I had a great day

We did learn that despite the name SEAL, these are not seals, they are Sea Lions.

Baby

 

Tried to get a photo of the egret and a Great Blue Heron near it, but failed.

We passed by the naval training area where dolphins are trained to help the navy in many tasks. Once they are trained well enough to find something, plant something, and do it with a person, the dolphins become part of the Navy Seal Team. Very impressive. Dolphins have always been my very very favorite animal so it was especially nice to see and hear more about them. We did not get close enough for photos, but we saw a few of them leaping in their pens as they were being tended to or trained.

Tried to get a photo of the egret and a Great Blue Heron near it, but failed.

Downtown San Diego

 

LAND HO!! Go that way.

 

Pelicans greeted us as we approached the landing and "got on the road again"

After our seagoing adventure, and before heading home on the trolley, we walked back to town and stopped for lunch. One more stop was a visit to a bike shop to check into bike rentals. I am not sure if I will rent one while I am here but was interested to find a place where I could rent one if I decide I want to do any riding. Chances are somewhat slim that I will, but ... you never know.

 

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In San Diego

Saturday 3/2/13

Not only did we make up any lost time, but we arrived in L.A. a few minutes earlier than scheduled. Connector train is another three hour ride to San Diego which arrives at the most inconvenient time of 1:00 a.m.. Poor Sheri had to pick me up in the middle of the night.

I had my usual trainside walk in the sun before heading south. We finally got to see the ocean.

 

Morning trainside walk

Is there still oil in them thar hills?

Ocean view through the Parlour car window

 

Surf and sand

After a night's sleep I was up early and got out for my (longer) walk around the neighborhood. I knew I was in a "tropical" zone when I passed by the Bird of Paradise flower and the lemon tree.

Bird of Paradise

 

Lots of lemons on the bush

Then I rounded the corner to find the totem pole-like yard art to remind me of home in Seattle.

Looks a little sad

 

Sheri and I then went to enjoy the outdoor hot tub (felt so good on my ailing hip and back) and pool for about an hour. I need to get a photo of that later. It was delightful.

Sheri then boiled up some shrimp and cooked edemame for us all (we had two visitors and Alexis was home from work) to enjoy in the late afternoon.

I am so disappointed that I did not take my camera with me to the Greek Restaurant we later went to for dinner. I missed some great shots of the belly dancer who entertained us.

 

She didn't conduct classes tonight, but she went to each table and offered to dance with anyone (a few took her up on it)

By the time we got home I was bushed and hit the bed hard!

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Signals, not switches...

Friday, 3/1/13

Shows how much I know about the operations of trains. I learned from David, one of yesterday's lunch companions, that we were stopped by signal (not switch) problems. He said that this happened to him last year in the exact same place. Something about these signals needing to be operated by hand, meaning someone has to get off the train to do it. Not as it should be, and wondering why this has not been repaired. Oh well, we continue (somehow) to make up lost time and are not too far behind schedule.

it is hard to get a photo of a room that is about 6 feet by 3 feet, but I tried to get a picture of my bed (kneeling on the other end of the bed). Two people in this roomette would be a little crowded, but people do it. You would have to take shifts for dressing for bed!

This time I slept in the lower bunk

I chose to sleep in the lower bunk to experience that bed, to see which bunk is more comfortable, and to be gentle with my sciatica by not climbing up top. I think I prefer this lower bunk but am not really sure. The upper bunk is very close to the ceiling so there is a little bit of a claustrophobic feel. Both bunks seem quite narrow -- well, they are quite narrow -- for a mover arounder like me. I slept OK and was of course awake before just about anyone else.

Tried to get a shot of the sunrise ...

This is the best I could do for a sunrise shot.

Brief walks along the train at Oakland (misty and cloudy) and San Jose (blue sky and sun!) would have to do for exercise for the morning as we are still running about 40 minutes behind schedule.

i needed to show that there is actually sunshine so took a couple of shadow views.

Shadows in San Jose

A contrast between sunny station in San Jose and wet station in Mulkiteo

This long train trip seems to go by fairly quickly for me and here we are in San Jose already.

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The behinder we are getting...

Evening of 2/28/13

As we passed though Olympia, WA there was still evidence of rain...

Still raining in Olympia

 

We seemed to be making up a bit of the time we had lost from our delayed Seattle departure. The normal half hour stop in Portland was shortened which allowed me to get in only five quick walking minutes. Then another shortened stop in Eugene -- the hippy-ville of Oregon -- for another quick five minute walk.

Inside the small Eugene depot

Let not a store front be unadorned

More of Eugene storefront art

Our gain has been eaten up as we have stopped for what seems like a very long time due to "switching problems". I am not totally sure of what that means, but I do know that when a passenger train gets behind in the schedule, it must give right of way to freight trains that are using the tracks. Freight trains always have the right of way. Interestingly the passengers simply take these delays in stride. One must not be in any hurry if one travels by train ;'-).

My trip involves a connecter train from L.A. to San Diego. That connecter is scheduled to leave about an hour after this train arrives. Last year we arrived late due to an accident on the tracks (remember that delay?) so we were too late for the connecter train. Amtrak got their buses running to transport us to SD. So at least I know they will get us there one way or another, even if late.

 

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