On Valentine’s Day we took off in the Sebring and headed for San Diego to meet up with my daughter, my grandchildren and my son-in-law and some of his family. The day was sunny and warm; a perfect day for enjoying the wind in our faces, top down of course!

With a stop at Dateland and in El Centro for lunch, we arrived in San Diego just in time for the rush hour traffic – or maybe it’s always rush hour there? Thank goodness for the GPS to help us navigate through the many lanes of traffic, facing into the setting sun. At about 4:30 we pulled up to our hotel, a WorldMark by Wyndham time share that was generously given to us at a great rate by a friend who owns a time share with this group. Thank you so much, Alice!

By the time we got checked in, got a map, vaguely refused the offer of free breakfast in the morning if we listened to a sales pitch and were finally given our keys it was time to meet up with the rest of our party at the house they’d rented, for dinner, so we didn’t get to see our room until we got back.

Dateland

Rows of Date Trees

It was a lovely suite, with a large bedroom containing a king size bed, a TV and an en-suite bath, and a living area with a pullout couch, chair and TV, as well as a complete kitchen. Too bad we weren’t going to be there much to make use of it all.

By 9:15 the next morning, we were parked in the parking lot ready to tour the Aircraft Carrier, Midway. We were early so we had time to walk down the street to grab a breakfast sandwich and coffee before the others arrived. The Midway is a massive ship and we spent nearly two hours touring it and taking pictures.

Aircraft aboard

The Midway

The grandkids were getting restless before Jim had seen enough, so their parents took them off to a picnic area to eat their lunch, then to a nearby playground.

Next stop, the beach! The grandkids enjoyed riding in our convertible and watching the planes descending over their heads as they prepared to land at the airport.

At Ocean Beach we sat enjoying the sun and watching the younger ones play in the water. It was a little too cool for us! There were a few surfers catching some waves, and a group of young people doing tricks on the boulevard. A man appeared with a big rope and a bucket. Huge bubbles were soon drifting across the crowds of people. The day ended with another family dinner back at the house, consisting of various ethnic foods we’d picked up at the restaurants along the street at the beach.

Thursday morning we were up early again and meeting at the Cabrillo State Marine Reserve to see the Point Loma Tidal Pools. We walked the trails along the banks, and watched more surfers riding the incoming tides while small flocks of pelicans soared above us. It was another spectacular photo opportunity, and the kids had great fun playing in the tidal pools and finding little creatures such as crabs.

We took our grandkids out for lunch and back to our hotel to play with a new game we’d bought them while the other adults cleaned up the house. After another family meal we said our goodbyes. It was great to see them all, but, as usual way too short a time.

On Friday everyone left for home; us to Arizona, the others to British Columbia. One family had left on Thursday afternoon for another adventure at Disney Land. We escaped just in time, before the predicted high winds and flooding rains hit the California coast, but the ones who’d planned to see Disneyland weren’t so lucky. The rains had shut it down.

By 5:00 pm we were sitting in a restaurant in Yuma, Arizona having dinner and waiting out the Ha-boob (sand storm) that we had driven into after a short detour to the sand dunes in California and a quick trip across the border into Algodones Mexico.

Sand Dunes

Haboob obscuring vision

We were glad to finally drive into Mesa Regal five hours later.