Idyllwild, CA to San Diego, CA

Day 12: Sat 2 Aug: Woke this morning with Scott and Doug and the dogs, Lucy and Stevie. What a beautiful location! Doug, morning person that he is, headed off to the store while Scott and I had breakfast at Café Aroma. I got scrambled eggs with penne and prosciutto, which was really good. Scott gave me a tour of the gym (Mile High Fitness) and grocery (Mountain Harvest Market). To help me on my way, they sent me off with some organic groceries so I could eat healthy peanut butter and jelly sandwiches while on the road. Thank you for the hospitality and best of wishes for continued success on the store expansion, guys.

Then I was off to San Diego. After carefully planning my route with Doug, I went the wrong way on Rte. 74 and went through Hemet, which I was trying to avoid. Oh well. In Hemet I saw homes for sale 'Bank Repo!' and closer to San Diego saw lots and lots of subdivisions with units for sale, with a sign outside each subdivision promoting one leg of an "open house tour". "Five Model Homes" said one sign. I'm not sure why having more than one was important. All of this is in, basically, almost-desert, and a long commute from anywhere.

I made it to Robert and Michael's and found a parking space right in front of their building. Since I said I wanted to see the ocean, and Mexico, they took me to Cabrillo National Monument, which commemorates the European discovery of San Diego harbor. In addition to the pictured monument, there are great views of San Diego, and we could see all the way down to Tijuana. There was also an historic lighthouse, with an interesting exhibit on how the lighthouse-keepers used to live. There's a catchment basin in front of the lighthouse to catch rain that feeds into a cistern. Although I knew vaguely what the lenses they used in lighthouses were, it didn't dawn on me until I saw the exhibit that they were fresnel lenses, made in pieces out of glass and then wired together.

We left the park as it was closing, and headed down to Balboa Park. I had never been there before and suffice it to say that it really is a wonderful thing to have in the city: a park filled with museums and botanical gardens. It makes for a great people-watching hangout space. Even though the buildings were all closed when we were there, there's plenty to see just outside: an awesome cactus garden, for example.

When we got home, Robert made a delicious pesto (from basil grown in their front window) ravioli. One of the great things about their apartment is that just down the hall is a balcony that overlooks the street and downtown. There was a Padres game that night, and afterwards (not necessarily related) there were fireworks we could see from their front window. We hung out, had great conversation, swapped YouTube video favorites, and went to bed.

Another really nice day. I'm loving this trip.