San Diego, CA

San Diego, CA     February 29-March 5, 2012
It rained on our first afternoon in San Diego of our California adventure. We were home exchanging with a BMW Motorcycle owner, Mike and Kit Lynch, who lived in an area called Isla Vista. Mike and Kit's home is a 1920's remodeled bungalow filled with evidence of their world's travels to Egypt, Switzerland, Australia, and a wide variety of other places. They are leaving their home and BMW motorcycle and BMW car for us to use for a week while they are vacationing in Maui, Hawaii. Their two cats, Paris and Mimi, are staying with us....actually we are sleeping with them.

                                               Gorgeous relaxing garden at Mike and Kit's

                                                                   Paris and Mimi

On our first full day in San Diego we took Mike and Kit to the Linberg Airport (a ten minute drive) and then headed back to Temecula to take Jim Nelson's Honda back. Larry followed me on the BMW motorcycle and we had a great ride back going through La Jolla. What a site! Surfers in the Pacific...Beautiful ocean views....Multimillion dollar homes.....My hunk and I tooling down Highway 1. We enjoyed every minute of a glorious day of riding the motorcycle in the California sunshine.

Crossing the Coronado Bridge is one of the greatest scenic rides in San Diego....views of military ships, San Diego's skyscrapers, harbor boats and the historical Coronado Hotel. Our home  is only about five minutes from the bridge on the San Diego side and we drove across it numerous times; in the morning, afternoon, at sunset, and in the evening . Each time we had unique views. I had thoughts that Larry and I might enjoy walking across the bridge; however, we found that there was no walkways to accomodate my desire so we walked the edge of the harbor and through some of the neighborhoods on Coronado. Many of the homes were small one and two bedroom single storied, well manicured multi-million dollar bungalows...each with a unique structure or architectural design. Large mature trees and scrubs grew around the homes as well as flowering gardens. The floral aromas filled the air as we strolled down many streets. Many gentleman who we suspected to be retired generals or admirals or navy men walked the sidewalks with their dogs or their wife...many rode by us on bicycles. With its mild climate and temperate weather, we could understand why Coronado Island is a desireable  community. Walking around Coronado was visually entertaining because of the busy harbor and manicured homes.

Larry and I enjoyed spending a good part of another day walking through Balboa Park,  1200 acres of museums, gardens, and a zoo . The park was named after Spanish exploer Vasco Nunez de Balboa, who was the first European to set sight on the Pacific. The land for the park was set aside in 1868 and began to be built in 1915-16 during the Panama-California Exposition with ornate Spanish Baroque-style architecture designed by famed architect Bertram Goodhue. Another World's Fair, the California Pacific International Exposition was staged there again in 1935-36 during the Great Depression. We enjoyed the Art Centers where many were working on pieces that were being exhibited and sold. A live guitarist was playing latin finger picking music...really good. Larry and I had been to Balboa a few times in the past, passing through quickly in the car. Today we were able to walk about the park and slowly take in the architecture and beautiful landscaping. It was delightful to be able to spend the day in Balboa Park.

An enjoyable day was spent on Harbor Island. We rode the motorcycle through downtown San Diego past the Conference Center and on to Harbor Island, parking the bike and walking a three mile circle past the Sheraton and Hilton Hotels along the San Diego Harbor. After walking along the harbor we ambled to the back of these two exquiste hotels to find hundreds of $$$ looking sailboats docked behind several gated walkways with a unique whale water fountain that dripped water amongst beautiful floral gardens. Perfect weather and gorgeous views of the San Diego Harbor and Coronado Bridge made for a special memory of this San Diego day.

                                                                 Kay and Karen Way

What a great weekend! We spent two days riding the motorcycle over the back roads of San Diego County. On Saturday we rode with the BMW Riders Club from Escondido. The bikes led us over several swervey curvey mountain roads with vast views of valleys and big California boulders on mountainsides. Hot pink floral California flocks plants lined driveways and encircled many homes. Orange and grapefruit groves, avocado orchards, and eucaliptus trees grew on both sides of the road. We rode through Rainbow Valley stopping to help an unscathed Harley rider who had jumped off his bike before it went over the edge of a huge mountain cliff...Scarey! Large California Live Oaks grew tall covering the sky across the road making our ride have a live green tunnel effect.This area is known as the Enchanted Forest. We stopped at Bates Nut Farm for a snack and a patooch break with our friends Dennis and Karen Way. Large bags of snacky items, chocolates, and seasonal nick nacks were on sale. Farm animals as well as ostriches, emus, and minature donkeys were out in pens to watch. I saw my first pomagranite tree with fruit still high in its branches. We rode on to Lake Wohlford and stopped to have lunch at Smokey's Cafe. The day was perfect for riding and we enjoyed every minute of it.

                                                                              Julian

Sunday morning we rode with the San Diego BMW Club, meeting at Giovannies at 9:30. We took off with about 15 roaring BMW single riders who lost no time in pulling ahead of us. These guys and one lady ride together every Sunday and have no quams about lane splitting and passing cars on a double line when traffic is moving too slow. We scooted up the interstate 15 and then on to interstate 8 going through La Mesa and El Cajon. We all vierd off to a back curvy road going past Loveland Recreational Area and passing through Cuyamaca Rancho State Park. Dennis was quick to point out where the lake used to exist, but had  mostly dried up two years ago.

We rode past places where the forest had burned to the ground. A quick view between mountains to the east allowed you to see  the desert. Crusts of snow lined the road in areas where the sun had not reached out to melt it away. We arrived in Julian, a quaint little western town at midday. This place was bustling with people and tons of other motorcyclists and bicyclists and the aroma of fresh baked apple pie snuggled up our noses. From the old historic hotels, pioneer museum, and cowboy dressed locals to the pony drawn carts, Julian offered a lot of interesting sights to see. After a quick stretch, we rode on past a winery down a winding curvy road, stopping at the Apple House Diner for lunch....yummy grilled chicken on garden apple salads.

After lunch we continued east to Ramona, skirting the town and riding down back country roads. We couldn't believe our eyes when we passed a Camel Farm. Yes, a good number of single humped camels grazed about in fenced lots. Our final stop was at Cosco for huge three scoop Wafflecones of Gelanto. How good was that? A great way to end our Sunday ride! We arrived home just in time to take a neighborhood walk before the sun set! What else could be more perfect?