Bringing in the New Year in El Centro CA…

We are always a bit concerned when leaving San Diego since we have to drive up 4,500 feet and down 4500 feet to cross over the mountains on Highway 8. Why? Because often there are very high winds blowing through the mountains. Fortunately for us, the day we left there were very light winds and as a result the drive over to El Centro California on the other side of the mountains was uneventful, just the way we like! Our only excitement was reaching the top and seeing snow…

We stayed at Rio Bend RV Resort on the way over to San Diego so we were glad to be back. So much so that we had planned to stay 5 days and ended up staying 12! While there may not be a lot around this park this is truly a great place to spend some time. It is a very scenic park with sites facing palm tree lined lakes, a very green onsite golf course and views of the mountains. Staying 12 days we even made a few new friends…

As I mentioned this is a pretty active park. Sharon enjoyed using their large fitness center and I enjoyed a daily jaunt over to the pool and hot tub. I love a good soaking in a hot tub. There is also a café and bar by the pool which was great since the closest town is El Centro some 15 minutes away. The park offers music and a happy hour several nights per week which we enjoyed as well.

Not far away is Sunbeam Park which is a small lake with a walking trail around it. We went there one day and enjoyed our stroll around the lake but seriously once done, we felt no need to do it again since walking around our park has been a bit more scenic and green.

We did discover a small nine hole disc golf course at Sunbeam park and although the course layout was odd it was nice to play a little disc golf. The course uses shared baskets for several of the holes and even with a map we found online it was still a confusing layout. We actually never found one tee box to a hole (and it was a 720 footer-wow) so we made do by “creating” our own tee box.

Another great find in EL Centro was the Cardenas Grocery. This is a Mexican grocery store as large as most grocery stores with a great produce and meat selection with really inexpensive pricing. For example, they had avocados 8 for a dollar and onions at 4 pounds for a dollar. They also have a small restaurant within the building where buyers can get some great (and inexpensive) Mexican fare. We loved their fully cooked carnitas which sold for $5.95 per pound on certain days Muy deliciosa!!!

While in El Centro we also celebrated the New Year! With our Texas tradition of black eyed peas, corn bread and tamales we are now ready for luck this next year. We really enjoyed our stay at Rio Bend, made new friends and look forward to coming back. Our site facing one of the lakes offered us the opportunity to see palm trees, ducks and many great sunsets but the time had come to move on and so we did…

NOTE: We are currently in Tacna, AZ until Jan.11th before moving over to Mesa Arizona for the rest of the winter.

Winter Birds of Mission Bay, California…

As I mentioned years ago in a blog one of the great reasons I love staying at Mission Bay RV Resort is the fact that it is a great spot for watching birds.The trail along Mission Bay provides great opportunities to see an abundance of shore and bay birds right in the middle of San Diego. The pictures below are of some of the bird species I spotted during our stay this year.

                  Male American Widgeon                     Male/Female American Widgeon

                       Brandt                                                      Marbled Godwit

                Female Bufflehead Duck                              Male Bufflehead Duck    

               Spotted Sandpiper                                                  Willet                

               Male Redhead Duck                                     Female Redhead Duck

               Female Greater Scaup                                    Male Scaup

                     Horned Grebe                                              Pied Billed Grebe

              Little Blue Heron                                                   Western Grebe

                         Says Phoebe                                              Black Phoebe

We saw many other birds here as well and again all of these photos were taken with my 3 year old Nikon Coolpix S9700. This small compact camera packs a great optical zoom of 30X which is powerful enough to zoom in on birds far away yet small enough to tuck in my pocket. I love this camera but have my eye on the newer Nikon Coolpix 500 camera with a 40X more powerful zooms. Even better is that it is on sale at Amazon right now…. tempting me greatly!

No Surf Scoters, Whimbrel, Black Bellied Plover or Long Billed Curlew this year and only a few Ruddy Ducks, There was one oddity that came through the park one day. We heard a loud noise which I was sure had to be some sort of Parrot. Scanning the tree tops I finally spotted it and it turned out to be an African Grey Parrot. I am sure it was somebody’s pet that had escaped but it was fun seeing it none the less.

NOTE: We are currently in El Centro CA until Jan. 8th before moving over to Arizona.

San Diego CA… It’s a Wrap!

We managed to squeeze in a few more fun things in San Diego before our departure. We keep discussing the possibility that this might be our last time to stay at Mission Bay RV Park but if things improve over time, who knows, we might return…

One thing we had never done during all our stays in San Diego was to walk out to the end of Ocean Beach Pier. It was originally named the San Diego Fishing Pier and at at 1971 feet It is the longest concrete pier on the West Coast.

Another interesting tidbit about the pier is that currently a fishing license is not required for fishing there. Fish such as calico bass, yellowtail, barred sand bass, halibut, surf perch, croakers, jacksmelt, mackerel, sharks, halibut, rays, barracuda, and white seabass can be caught.. Maybe next time I will fish there especially since a license isn’t required making it free to go and the views are amazing!

We also enjoyed several walks in OB (Ocean Beach) and of course couldn’t resist  visiting a couple of the well known establishments there. We mentioned Hodads for burgers and fabulous onion rings already but OB Noodle House is also a great place for a bite combined with a wonderful happy hour of half price craft beer!

Another hike we did that we had never done before was to hike to Black’s Beach. Black’s Beach is most well known for its nude sunbathing which is why many don’t go there. However, the day we went was cloudy and very cool so we figured that we wouldn’t have to see anything our eyes wouldn’t be able to un-see!

We began the hike at the Torrey Pines Glider Port where parking is free. The hike is only a short distance to the beach however, it is pretty much straight down about 400 feet on a not so easy trail down. They have done a good job of placing boards as steps to go down but with all the foot traffic and normal erosion it is a bit hazardous and required careful attention from us as we were descending.

Black’s beach itself is a great beach especially during low tide where we found many interesting shells.  The beach has a large expanse with cliffs rising above it. We walked several miles down the beach and back then eventually decided to just climb back up the trail we came down. We were surprised that we didn’t take more “breathing breaks” while ascending the trail and actually found it much easier to go up than down.

Before leaving San Diego we had one last Happy Hour with Jeff and Fran at their house. They treated us to some of the best shrimp from Mexico as well as an array of treats to snack on while we had some great conversation.  Thank you for your wonderful hospitality, Jeff and Fran!

Of course we also had to visit our favorite Happy Hour at the Draft House in Mission Beach to savor one more beautiful San Diego sunset…

NOTE: We are currently in El Centro CA until Jan. 8th before moving over to Arizona.

More Fun in San Diego…

There were a few final places on our list to see with Katie and Brooks before they left San Diego. One of which was a visit out to Point Loma. The Cabrillo National Monument is a great place to be during low tide. We timed it perfectly and got there at the peak of low tide so we could easily navigate to the tidal pools to see what we could find.

While we didn’t find any starfish we did see lots of hermit crabs towing their new homes around and lots of anemones including one that was brooding. I also spotted a small grass crab who blended in with the seaweed perfectly and was hard to find.

The final place we visited with them was Coronado Island and we simply couldn't have picked a better weather day. It was sunny and warm yet when we arrived we were surprised how uncrowded it was. There were times we felt as if we had the beach all to ourselves. It was also low tide and we were finding sand dollars everywhere!

It was a great day at the beach and we enjoyed the Christmas decorations at the Coronado Hotel. Afterward we made one final stop at the Coronado Brewing Company for a frosty beverage and had some spirited games of cornhole out on the back porch.

It sure was fun having them but the next day we dropped them off at the airport where Katie and Brooks headed back to North Carolina. While it was great having them with us it sure was nice getting our space back. Four adults in an RV is really two too many!  Sharon is happy that the clutter has gone and we are back in our little nested home. It didn’t take long for us to get back into our winter routine in San Diego.

Our time too is soon coming to an end so we had a few more events and places we wanted to revisit. First up was the Saturday Little Italy farmer's market. This is one of the largest and best farmers markets we have seen. It is here that we first found Bitchin’ Dip, an almond based spicy dip we love. Rain is back in the forecast but we hope there will also be some sunshine so we can be out and about a little more before we depart.

NOTE: We are currently in El Centro CA until Jan. 4th before moving over to Arizona.