Sun. Jan 2nd, 2011 Ramona CA

Join us as we travel North America in our Holiday Rambler Vacationer, 

 since August 2006

      Today is bright and sunny for a day that's supposed to be rainy. But a walkabout the resort checking out the unheated pool (they only heat it in the summer, go figure) and hot tub then after a chat with a few people we decided to hop in the car and head west. I did notice an old baby blue Volkswagon in showroom shape just like my 1973 Bug, very nice! And an old Dodge motorhome, the same one we saw at St. David Resort in Arizona.

sign by our pool

      The plan was to go check out some beaches, the air was a bit chilly but the sun shinning and a nice day for a drive. So with our map in hand we drover the California country side, its hilly everywhere not much level land so always something to look at and the roads are fun to drive.

todays route

      After a nice 45 minute drive we arrived on the coastal road of hwy 101 and the city of Del Mar. We managed to find a free parking spot and walked to Seagrove Park, with some grassy areas, nice walkways on a small bluff overlooking the sandy beach and Pacific ocean. The windswept trees are interesting, large trees almost bent to the ground, leaning away from the ocean, evidence of the fierce winds. There was a lot of adults, children and dogs everywhere, this area is very dog friendly, as well as bicycle friendly. We noticed bicycle paths, lanes and even a separate road beside the interstate for bikes and pedestrians only.

dog fountain too

      The surfers were here in large numbers, in their wetsuits paddling out waiting for the right wave to come along. After a while here, back to the car and head north on US Route 101 the coastal hwy that runs all the along the west coast of the United states. A little further north we saw the Dog Beach with dogs and owners enjoying the sand and surf. We carried on past Solana Beach , another scenic seaside community, all the way to Encinitas another nice place with white sandy beaches, very hilly streets and like most of the other places the theme is surfing! Surf boards, signs, shops everywhere quite interesting.  Here we also stumbled across a farmers market, so stopped and to check it out. It was a small market compared to what we are used to and interesting vendors. In particular was the food vendors, vegan burgers, and vegan hot dogs, sushi, and salads all interesting but expensive, no meat. Not for us so we carried on.

     At this point we hopped on I-5 and headed south to see if we could find our way home. Noticing the rolling hills and houses built on the edges of them on pillars and stilts, no wonder they have a problem with houses sliding down the hills here after heavy rains! It looks like not enough flat land here to build on so not much can be done about that. We headed east on CA 56 and look for a place to grab a bite to eat. In the city of Carmel Mountain Ranch we saw a plaza with a few stores and restaurants we spotted a interesting looking hole in the wall Chinese Restaurant (Chop Sticks) with half a dozen tables. Well a great meal here at a good price, the lunch specials, soup, egg rolls, garlic chicken for Suzie, Sweet and Sour pork for me with rice and veggies. So much food and so tasty the whole thing was $14.00 including taxes and tip, much better deal than a fast food place. After this we walked about the Target store for a while, checking things out, huge lineups at the cash so, not desperate enough for anything to stand in long lineups we just window shopped.

      Now back home around 4:00 pm get our books out and relax, it begins to rain about one hour after we got here, no matter, we had a great day exploring some more of southern California, and no supper tonight after such a great late lunch.

Today's Pictures

Visitor Number

Caribbean Cruise, 2008

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