Wrapping Up Five Months in San Diego

It's amazing that my last blog post was on April 30th...I've really enjoyed the break. Our summer in San Diego house sitting for my dad is drawing to a close and so is the blog hiatus. We've kept pretty busy with projects around the house, lots of urban walks, visits with friends and family.

Here's a look at some of the fun we've had this summer. There was a Mother's Day group hike at Volcan Mountain.

A gray morning...

   

...that got grayer as we went up...

...but cleared for big desert views at the top!

There was a Port of San Diego sponsored evening concert that included music by the awesome Alvino and the Dwells and a float-by of the San Salvador, an historically accurate replica of Juan Rodriguez Cabrillo's ship that landed in the port now called San Diego on Sept, 14, 1542.

San Salvador floats past the concert and even shoots their canons!

One of the best parts of house sitting for my dad was the opportunity to garden all summer long.

Rosie LOVED hanging out in the yard with me.

My mom was an avid grower of cymbidiums and they bloomed profusely this summer.

The old lemon tree went crazy.

The avocado tree was loaded too.

We hiked in the local mountains a couple more times before it got too hot.

Keeping our distance from the airplane monument because it was full of bees!

Chaparral covered hills, Pine Creek Bridge and the marine layer to the west
seen from Airplane Ridge in Rancho Cuyamaca State Park.

A picture perfect day at Big Laguna Lake.

I loved every phase of the garden this summer!

There were a couple dozen incredibly delicious apricots.

Two of six apples that grew on this spindly young tree.

This former fish pond became a garden and went from this...

....to this over the course of the summer.

Awwwww...

It's scary that the ocean temperature is rising pretty dramatically...San Diego recorded its warmest water temperature ever this summer: 78.6 degrees on August 2nd. Also scary is the fact that sting rays come in to shore when the water is warm so there was a record numbers of stings this summer.

Despite the sting rays we did take advantage of the pleasant water temps to swim a few times, doing the sting ray shuffle of course! There were also numerous walks with feet in the ocean.

A lazy day at Ocean Beach.

An evening walk in the river channel along Dog Beach included crab and skate sightings.

Another stellar day, this time at Pacific Beach.

We even attended the big, beautiful wedding of Hans' niece, Kelly to her long time boyfriend Michael.

The bride and groom with her immediate family.

Epiphyllum

Balboa Park is a great place to walk on warm summer nights.

Happy hour sighting at Fathom Bistro.

We're not sure how Rosie is going to feel about moving back into the RV, she has loved all the room to roam in the house and hanging out with me in the yard. Fortunately we'll be spending the next month or so in Prescott with some great places for Rosie to get out and explore. We are really looking forward to being back in a small town (compared to San Diego!) and having real trails close by.

Onward!