FRIDAY & SATURDAY, JULY 3 & 4

FRIDAY & SATURDAY, JULY 3 & 4:

      Slow, relaxing days. Still mostly overcast, although mostly warm, and occasionally the sun would come out and we'd see partial blue sky. The warmth feels so heavenly then. It does feel less humid than it did a couple of days ago.

      Spent Friday morning mostly in McDonalds and WalMart. McD's for their Wi-Fi, and grocery shopping at the WalMart in the same plaza. Then, in the afternoon, I read and dozed in a Jonathan chair outside (and felt some of the heavenly warm sunshine described above).

      Then a nice steak dinner eaten outside, and then a long walk at dusk with Pappy. We walked past Paradise, by the park (strangely mostly empty for a holiday eve),

                                                             

 

 

 

down by the beach and up the street paralleling the beach. Took in the waterfront properties . . . pretty narrow facing the street, but very deep. Some seem to be single-family homes, others subdivided into condos or other rentals. Each a little different, which made it very interesting.

                                                                 

 

 

 

                                          
                                                                            

We of course wondered how much these homes would sell for . . . really don't have a clue, but we did surmise that just across the street, where they didn't have ocean frontage, the same property would probably sell for half-a-million less. Location, location, location. A lovely, balmy evening.

     On our nation's birthday, we spent most of the morning with Rachel & Eric and girls (Lupe, 9, and Elise, just 2). They had us over for breakfast, which was plentiful and delicious. Caught up on what's been going on with them, especially their recent trip to Pittsburgh (to see Eric's family) and then to Florida, where they connected with their Columbian biological sister, who was older and out of the home at the time Rachel, Hannah, & Jonathan were adopted by Bill & Katie. Also talked with Eric at length about his prosthetic leg, how his prosthetist (person who designs, creates, and adjusts his prosthesis) is so adept and capable – this work is as much an art as it is a science, as each person's prosthesis is different and needs to fit the person exactly) and his passion to participate in IronMan and triathelon competitions now. Lupe is maturing into a delightful, extremely well-mannered little girl and was absolutely a pleasure to be around. She's in her 4^th year of piano lessons and played some pieces for us, very, very well. Very expressively, says her musician Grandpa.
                                                              

 

And of course Elise is a typical fun 2-year old, just beginning to use a few words, one of which was “Pop” for Pappy, whom we brought over to introduce since they'll be dog-sitting him when we go up to Laguna next week. They're a lovely family now.

      Got home in the early afternoon after another grocery run, and then headed out on our bikes to the Oceanside pier and marina. The pier was a lot of fun – gave us a bird's eye view of the beaches in both directions. This is how lots and lots of Southern Californians celebrate the 4^th!

 

                                                                     

 

 

 

 

 

Had fun watching a few surfers,

 

                                            

 

 

and some fishermen trying their luck.

 

The sun was mostly out, blue skies, pretty water. Very enjoyable!

 

                                                                

      Then pedaled on another mile or so to the marina, where we were Wednesday night with Steve & Loretta. Nice, quaint beach village feel . Clouds had come in again. 

 

                                                

 

                                                      

 

 

     Pedaled on back home. A really nice ride – our first on this trip. Oceanside is a very bike-friendly town. The narrow roads close to the beach give bike riders the right-of-way, and car drivers pay attenton to this. So it's very safe and therefore feels very relaxing. There was a very large police presence this afternoon. Saw probably over 30 different cops in the areas where we were . . . our guess is that they're diligently enforcing the “No Alcohol, No Loitering, No Loud Noise” ordinances on this holiday. I think that Oceanside is a pretty conservative, staid, older community (excepting the Camp Pendleton Marine presence), and they're not about to put up with out-of-control summer visitors taking over.

       On our way back, pedaled past “our” beach, “our” park (by now filled with holiday celebrations of various sorts). They became familiar and well-known landmarks to us in the past 3+ weeks, especially during those 10 days when Beth & Landon were with us. Wistful seeing them for the last time. We will miss them and the wonderful fun times they represent. Hope to return and re-visit them sometime in the not-too-distant future.

       Had leftover steak and accompaniments, including a new box of Merlot. Then we decided to spend part of our last evening here at the hot tub here. Mmmmm . . . felt wonderful in the mild evenng air.

 

                                                              

       Didn't see any fireworks, although we heard lots going off. Evidently the city of Oceanside had their display last night, which we were unaware of. Someone said that, if we wanted to see them tonight, we could walk down to the beach and see San Diego's and/or Camp Pendleton's from a distance. But we were so relaxed and wrung out after the hot tub that we didn't feel like another walk.

       Tomorrow on to Santee Lakes. It's several miles inland from San Diego – will no doubt be warmer, but we also hope sunnier!