HOME SWEET HOME

We made it home today. While it's always sad to see a vacation come to
an end, it feels good to be home.

LAST SUNSET IN SAN DIEGO

Here's that sunset we watched during our evening picnic. We had
planned to watch it from a lighthouse but discovered access to the
lighthouse ends at 5pm. Fortunately a college on Point Loma allows
public access to beach views.

SUNSET PICNIC

It's our last day of vacation, at least the out of town part, so we
enjoyed an evening picnic while watching the sun set over the ocean.
Chipotle makes a mean burrito bowl and the spectacular sunset was
compliments of the man upstairs.

HOTEL DEL CORONADO

We almost decided to stay at Hotel Del Coronado but decided we'd
rather have food and a roof over our head for the next year. Rates at
their beach village, for a two bedroom with a PARTIAL ocean view,
exceed $2,000 per night. The snack stand on the beach was selling a
hot dog & bag of chips combo (no drink included) for $9. Oh, or a cup
of Dippin Dots for $7.50!

DARN POOR EYESIGHT

If only I had passed that eye exam, it wouldn't have taken me so long
to get in the cockpit of a fighter jet. On the upside, I didn't have
to go through ages of training - all I had to do was pay the $17
admission fee at the USS Midway museum.

$2 PER 15 MINUTES

We stopped for lunch in downtown San Diego and upon our exit
discovered the parking garage charged $2 for every 15 minutes.
Fortunately the fish tacos were really good.

BALBOA BOTANICAL GARDENS

After the Museum of Man we stopped by the botanical gardens in Balboa
Park. My favorite flower was there... and the largest specimen I've
ever seen at that. I ran out of space on the memory card in my camera
so I was left with nothing more than my iPhone camera.

BRAIN SURGERY

The Museum of Man at Balboa was a bit of a dud but one fascinating
fact I learned was that the Mayans eventually reached a 90% success
rate with skull surgery. I feel bad for all the warriors who helped
the doctors 'practice' while working their way up from their original
30% success rate.

BALBOA PARK

After Starbuck's it was off to Balboa Park. I was thrilled to see the
fountain since I had forgotten to shower - plus I had forgotten to
pack enough clean clothes so it gave me a chance to do laundry at the
same time.

THE MOST IMPORTANT MEAL

We got Friday off to a great start at Starbuck's. A decaf latte,
croissant and yougurt with fresh fruit beat the granola and milk I've
been eating the previous days of our vacation.

HUNGRY DONNA

Donna got so hungry after wondering around Sea World all day that she
ended up chewing on her bottom lip. We wondered over to the beach
after our day at the amusement park. Yet another great day!

REALLY?

Have you ever shopped here? If you just answered yes, YOU HAVE TOO
MUCH MONEY! Get in touch with me and I'll give you a list of charities
where you can more productively spend that cash that's burning a hole
in your pocket. Better yet, just send that cash directly to me.

WE MET A CELEBRITY!

I personally met my first celebrity, face to face, since moving to the
Los Angeles area two years ago. Nope, not Mr. Ed, but rather the
Anheuser Busch Clydesdales!

WHAT A BIG MOUTH!

The shark jaw in the background is pretty impressive too! Imagine all
the yappin' those things could do! Sea World does offer an impressive
shark exhibit - there were a few small children visiting the exhibit
that I was tempted to feed to the sharks. Then I heard Sea World
frowns on that sort of thing.

FISH ARE FRIENDS

These guys apparently never saw Finding Nemo because they didn't seem
to think that 'fish are friends, not food'. We joked about how bad
they smelled but later wondered if they were grossed out by the aroma
coming from the pizza place next to their exhibit.

WHO IS WATCHING WHO

Donna made a new friend today. I've never seen a fish sit so still.
Whatever you do, don't say that last sentence real fast!

UNDERWATER CAMERA

I finally got an underwater camera housing and the folks at Sea World
were so impressed that they let me go swimming with the sharks. Great
shot, isn't it! Believe all that and I'll tell you another one.

FEEDING THE BAT RAYS

For $5 I got a tray of stinky fish that I could feed to slimy bat
rays. How could you not like anything with 'ray' in it's name?

SEA WORLD!

We made it to sea world this morning. The dolphins were our first stop
then it was off to the dolphin show. From here we're off to see Shamu.

GELATO TIME

What better way to cool off, after climbing a huge flight of stairs,
than with a gelato from the Gelateria.

JUST BEING US

Here's a snapshot of us on the beach in La Jolla. Notice, I have my
hat on - the one I climbed all the stairs for.

MEET THE HARBOR SEALS

We had a chance to get a sneak peak of Sea World's offerings while
strolling down the beach Wednesday afternoon. Harbor Seals, as cute
and funny as they are, stink to high heaven. We did our best to stay
up wind from them.

DAILY WORKOUT

La Jolla doesn't offer any steep singletrack but I got my workout for
the day going up and down these stairs. After realizing I had forgot
my hat and would burn to a crisp without it, it was back up the stairs
to the parking garage to get my hat, then back down to the beach again.

LA JOLLA CAVE

$4 each bought us admission to a cave in La Jolla. A cool site for
sure though climbing the stairs on the way back up was tiresome.

A HARD ROCKIN LUNCH

If for no other reason than to make my sister jealous, we had lunch
today at the Hard Rock Cafe! Yummmm!

LA JOLLA OR BUST

The drive to La Jolla wasn't bad. Right around 3 hours of drive time.

PACKIN' UP

We left Big Bear Lake Wednesday morning and headed to San Diego. We're
actually spending Wednesday in the town of La Jolla, just north of San
diego on the coast.

ONE LAST SUNSET

We watched our last sunset over Big Bear Lake Tuesday night after an
evening picnic at the park. It's gonna be tough to leave Wednesday
morning but we're looking forward to all the fun we'll have in San
Diego.

A 40oz REWARD

What better way to treat yourself after a long, hot workout than with
a 40oz Fanta Cherry Slurpee from 7-Eleven!

DO I LOOK EXHAUSTED?

I am!

GO FOR IT!

We couldn't resist but extend Tuesday's ride. Given the physical
condition we're in, that might not have been the best decision. The
singletrack was far better than anything we see in Ventura County, but
the car was a sight for sore eyes after our legs and lungs gave out on
us. All in all we got in a 4 hour ride.

BREAK TIME

We've been riding for 2.5 hours and just got back to the car. PB&J is
on the lunch menu as we look over the map, deciding where to go from
here.

SANTA ANNA RIVER TRAIL

The ride today has been great. Lots of open exposure which isn't my
favorite given my love for heights, but I'll take singletrack over
dirt roads any day. We're sitting trailside right now, contemplating
how much further we want to go.

BLOGGER IS BROKEN

Well we're doing great but the Blog site is busted and not accepting
photo posts. As soon as it's working again we'll get more vacation
photos posted! Darn computers!

MOTIVATION

It seems no matter how much I enjoy something, such as mountain
biking, my motivation level is much higher the night before than the
morning of. There's just something about dragging yourself out of a
nice toasty bed so you can torture your lungs and legs on an all-day
ride.

COMIDA!!!

We wrapped things up Monday evening at the Cantina. Unfortunately
nobody ever told the chef about herbs and spices. The food was very
filling, key after a day like today, but had absolutely no flavor.
Fortunately the company was great.

THE HAPPY COUPLE

Monday after hiking and floating around the lake we cleaned up and
went for a drive around the lake. Most of the waterfront is privately
owned but we found this unclaimed vantage point for a nice picture of
the two of us.

TIME TO CHILL

All the hard work paid off and we managed to float around the lake a
bit. The water was so cold at first that I couldn't catch my breath
for about 30 seconds. After that it really did feel good, but we froze
when we got out and had to make a mad dash for the car and the
awaiting $3 beach towell we purchased along with the floaties.

GOT LUNGS?

As if the hiking and biking havn't worked the lungs enough, we decided
to purchase two inflatable flotation devices so we could cool off,
drifting around the lake. Once Donna passed out, I was kind enough to
step in and take over.

DON'T FEED THE WILD ANIMALS

Pretty scary eh? But the bear statue is pretty cool. We found this guy
outside the Big Bear Discovery Center. If you ever have the time, I
highly recommend that you don't waste it at this place, although the
bathrooms were nice and the bear statue is worth a few minutes of your
time.

PACIFIC CREST TRAIL

So the highlight of the day was hiking the Pacific Crest Trail....
well, at least part of it. The view was great, the trail was nice and
rugged, and we found a great shaded spot to stop for lunch.

HIKE, NOT BIKE

Monday we decided to hike instead of biking. A number of local trails
are closed to bikes so hoofin' sounded just fine. We stopped about
half way to the top for this photo, with Big Bear Lake in the
background, as well as the mountain ridge we plan to bike tomorrow.

MY WIFE, THE TREE HUGGER

Donna has been thrilled to be among the trees once again. I keep
reminding her that generally to have such plant life means either rain
or snow, and I don't like either! Besides, this heavily forested area
is just hours from home and easy enough to get to over a weekend to
help donna get her 'tree fix.'

VIEW FROM THE TOP

The climb to the ridgeline was definately worth it. The view was
spectacular. It took some coercing to get Donna up on the rock, which
was quite tall, but doesn't it make for a nice picture? She really
knows how to work the camera.

RIDE 1 DAY 1

We didn't expect to have the time to get out for a ride our first day
in Big Bear Lake, but the bike shop folks were very helpful and we
managed to get in a four hour ride Sunday afternoon. The air is
definately thinner at 7,000 feet - my legs are fine but my lungs still
hurt, hours later, after a few thousand feet of climbing.

TALL GREEN THINGS

They have these tall green things out here. If memory serves correctly
they're called trees - and donna's favorite kind at that...pine! No
palm trees in sight, making it feel like we're a lot further than 2.5
hours from home.

VACATION HAS BEGUN

We made it to Big Bear Lake Sunday before noon. Our cabin was all
ready and absolutely fantastic!

THE BOTH OF US

Well, it's kind of a photo of the both of us... Donna by the beach
with my shadow on her shirt. Monday was yet another beautiful day to
watch as the sun set over the ocean. This coastal living never gets old!

SUNSET AT THE BEACH

We enjoyed a beautiful sunset at the Ventura Pier Sunday night. She
thinks I'm the greatest thing in the world... which of course, I am.

FLY DONNA FLY!

Donna discovered, much to her disappointment, that she does not have
the wingspan of a California Condor. Fortunately she does have about
10,000 times more brain power given how dumb the giant birds are.

SAVING GA$

Donna, being the trooper that she is, is still riding her bike to
work. With gas prices hitting $4.58, her concern for the environment
has the added benefit of saving us gas money.