We had a nice day visiting Pacific Beach and Mission Beach.
I’m glad we didn’t need to move today and get to enjoy this campground, the area and nice warm weather until Sunday. I just looked at the forecast for Grand Canyon and Flagstaff, and it’s mid 40s during the day and mid 20s at night. Yikes. I am concerned with our pipes freezing there overnight, but there are not many options to see the Grand Canyon without going through this.
We had a normal morning routine. Both girls were done before noon and ready to go when we were.
I got stuff done, wrote the post I needed, and went to the front office to see if we could stay in our spot. Unfortunately, there was someone staying there already, and all other smaller spaces were taken, so we had to move. We were given a bigger spot by the pool, so that was ok. I took the paperwork and walked to the spot first. It is a nicer spot. Big trees nearby, right in front of the pool, showers and laundry, so great. Good upgrade. I went back, we just packed enough to close the slide out, and move. I disconnected everything, put things in the back of the truck, hitched and we were ready. We first rode our bikes to the spot, and I took one more look at the path I’d need to get a good spot in the first attempt. This spot is pull through, so much easier anyway. I got out, a little worried I’d hit the truck from the guy next door, or have to maneuver, but was able to make it with a few inches to space. I only needed to go two blocks, so I got to the new site quick and pulled in. As I got out of the truck, so Carol and I could decide if we needed to move the trailer in any direction, that’s when we realized how much bird poop was all over. I guess they love the trees by that spot because it looked like war. hahahahaha… We were in a good spot, so we decided to just stay. We reconnected everything and were all set by 10 or so. Carol cleaned the area a bit as it was a bit dirty with dirt, and poop. But, no way to get the white splashes from places. It didn’t take long to have a few on the trailer and truck. I’ll definitely need to get them washed when we leave here.
After we were all setup I went for a run. I ran away from the beach this time, and it was quite a different scenery. This way I went towards Chula Vista, and the path along the river had a lot of homeless people under the bridges, and sides of the road. I didn’t see all the people living there, but saw a few. Notably, one area had a large tent, with lots of kids toys outside. Another one had a cot under a bridge, but no-one there, and even had some stuff, a bike frame, etc. Early in the run two vans were driving on the path, and stopping when they saw homeless people to give them stuff. I could not tell what it was, but it looked like some food and clothing. That was nice. The vans had stickers showing they were with some entities. It was a good run as it’s mostly flat, and not a lot of people, but it was a bit different with all the homeless tents and things. After I got back, I showered and started getting things ready to go to the beach.
Carol helped the girls, worked on some stuff she wanted to do, prepared lunch and snacks to take, etc. We talked about our potential situation in northern AZ and decided to skip the first campground, which had already told us they would not have water, and instead we’d go right to the second, which is the Flagstaff KOA and we’d buy a heated water hose so our water and pipes would not freeze. With the heated hose, I can leave water flowing slowly and not worry about freezing as much. So, later in the day I called the KOA and extended our stay, and cancelled the other one. Now we have one week in the same spot, to visit three parks, the area, and manage the very cold overnights (20s) and cold days (40s).
After we had lunch, we left to Pacifica Beach. It was a quick 20 minute drive, which could have been less but there was some traffic on the way. There was a small section of the way that was full of cars, going very slow, and we could not tell why. As we got closer, we saw two traffic control trucks, those with the arrows blinking, that were next to each other showing those lanes were closed. Problem was, the trucks were moving, and not just forward, they moved sideways, closing different 2 lanes at a time, and creating a nightmare for traffic behind them. Cars went left to pass, and they moved left… later same thing on the right. hahahaha.. It was weird and crazy. It took about 5 minutes to get past them, and once we did, we were by the beach in no time. We found parking easy near the pier and got to it.
The beach there is nice, lots of sand, very big, with bars and restaurants on the sidewalk, restrooms, lots of stuff around. The pier was closed due to high surf, and it was very windy. They had made big piles of sand with some tractors, so the girls immediately went on the piles and started playing there. They pretty much played by the piles of sand almost the entire time we were there. They’d climb, slide, dig, you name it. Carol and I threw the frisbee around for a while. It was a bit different today because it was so windy, any wrong throw would send the freebee all over. I had to chase it a few times pretty far as it just rolled with the wind. We had fun playing though. I had paid for a 2 hour parking, so when it was close, we left to go to Mission Beach.
Mission Beach is at the bottom of that piece of peninsula, if I can call it that. It’s a very pretty area, with lots of stores, nice long walking path, etc. We went all the way to the end where there is a canal, and the Rescue team’s building. There are lots of volleyball nets there and basketball hoops, and there were lots of people playing volleyball, basketball, soccer and football. That was nice to see, and it looked like other nice beaches we’ve been to, like Newport Beach. As we walked into the beach, the big piles of sand were there as well, so off went the girls. Carol and I found a spot nearby to sit. We enjoyed the sand there, but it was windy and cold. The views were pretty awesome, definitely a beach to come back to. We stayed another hour, and as we got cold, we left.
From there, we stopped at a Havaianas store (Brazilian flip flops brand). Only Carol went down, and she got new flip flops for her and the girls. I love those, and have a few myself.
Then we went to Ballast Point Brewing. I’ve always wanted to go there, and decided to make a quick stop and see the place and get a few beers to go. It is a very cool building, the one they have in little Italy. It is too bad we could not stop and have a beer there, but, I got to see it and got a Serrano Peppers Pale Ale, which I’m looking forward to trying. A few years back when I was here in San Diego I got a Jalapeño Sculpin, which was awesome, so I wanted to try this one. Quick stop and we moved on.
Then we stopped at a grocery store called Ralphs, that Carol picked. It was close by, so we went there and she went and got some stuff. Then we drove back. The girls were completely covered in sand, so as soon as we got back we had them shower in the campground showers, which are across the street from our site, super convenient. I unloaded the truck and went there as well, while Carol finished dinner.
After we had dinner, the girls had to read, so Carol finished some stuff and went to shower. I finished the dishes and worked on some future reservations, and bought the heated water hose, etc. The girls read the rest of the night, and we put them to bed. I worked on some posts and more reservations until a bit later, and we called it a night. No TV today.
We had a nice day and enjoyed the beaches in San Diego.