MORE SIGHTS AND SOUNDS OF SAN DIEGO

Wonderful Mexican Food



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Darling sister missionaries


PELICANS

THE PACIFIC OCEAN

BEAUTIFUL LDS SAN DIEGO TEMPLE.
WE WORK AS HOSTS ON THE TEMPLE GROUNDS ON THURSDAY MORNINGS.

AN ABUNDANCE OF FLOWERS OF ALL KINDS

 EASTER TREATS. A LADY BROUGHT IN BASKETS OF EGGS AND CANDY UNTIL WE ALL HAD SUGAR HIGHS. SISTER MCCULLOUGH HELPED TO SORT AND ORGANIZE IT ALL.

 WE WENT TO THE MOST MARVELOUS CONCERT. THE MORMON SYMPHONY AND CHOIR. UNBELIEVABLE TALENT. SOME HAD EVEN BEEN BROADWAY PERFORMERS.

 OUR FAVORITE MEXICAN RESTAUANT IS "LA PINATA" GOOD FOOD AND YOU EVEN GET SERANADED.

WE TOOK A TRIP UP TO CARLSBAD TO SEE THE FIELDS OF "RINNICULUS" FLOWERS. IT WAS LIKE A QUILT OF COLOR. THEY DRIVE YOU OUT ON A HAY WAGON PULLED BY AN OLD FASHIONED TRACTOR.

Our Visitors

I am so excited about my tomato plant. I bought it at Walmart about a month ago and now look at it. Over 16 tomatoes and tons more on the way. Looks like a lot of salsa will be up and coming.  I think it grows a foot a day.

We have been fortunate to have several visitors since we have been here. It is so fun to see family and dear friends.

 Betty Hansen Gibbons (Sister to my good BYU Theater friend Linda Hansen Jordan)

 Cousin Lynn Hansen and wife Linda

Coeur d' Alene friends Rod and Kent and daughter Tawny Dunn

Pat's brother Herb Macey

One of our missionary "sons" Thomas Love

Another missionary "son" Matt Kitchen and his family from Las Vegas

More Coeur d' Alene friends Carolyn Sampert and daughter Jenny

Mark's brother Mervin and wife Kathleen came by also but I can't find my photo.

Cabrillo National Monument

After our shift yesterday we drove out to Point Loma across the bay from San Diego. We have been waiting for  warm and sunny day.  This time of year it gets cool and foggy on the ocean so yesterday was perfect.  We drove by the old naval base which has been turned into lovely housing and shopping centers.  It is called Liberty Station.  Then on to Rosencranz National Cemetery.  It reminds me of Arlington but set on hills above the ocean.  We found the graves of two early Mormon Battalion members who were buried there, Lydia Hunter and Albert Dunham. Then we went to the visitor center at Cabrillo Park and saw a wonderful historic lecture by  docent about the early explorer Jan Cabrillo.  We also walked up to the beautiful lighthouse but couldn't go up inside because a couple had just gotten married and they stood there kissing and taking photos for ever.

Grave marker of Mormon Batlion members

A view of San Diego harbor looking toward Coronado Island

                          "IT'S A BEAUTIFUL DAY IN THE NEIGHBORHOOD."

Lighthouse prism

A typical bosn mate on Juan Cabrillo ship in 1580               

Point Loma Lighthouse

Julien and the Gold MIne

Friday was our day off and we wanted to get out of the city for a while so we took a drive up to Julien, about 50 miles East into the mountains. We went there once before but arrived late in the day and didn't really get to see much. It isn't far from Warner's Ranch where the Battalion finally arrived when they made it to California. The town was settled first in 1869 when gold was discovered.  It is a quaint little tourist town with lots of fun shops and restaurants.  We bought a book on the birds of Southern California because we love looking and listening to them.  Julien is famous for it's pies, specifically Apple pie, so we bought a Berry Apple Crumb pie to bring home. It is yummy.  I guess in the early days they discovered that apples grew well in the area.  Then we took a very interesting tour of an old gold mine. I don't recall that I had ever been in one so that was very fun.  We found a great fruit/vegetable roadside stand on the way up in little town called Alpine and bought a ton of fruit and veggies for $20, tomatoes, 25 avocados for $2, oranges, honey, mango ect.  We love the fresh food here.

We had a great lunch in this little cafe with a beautiful mural. I had some of the best corn chowder with Lima beans I have ever had and also a curried tuna salad. Yummy.

The hillsides are filled with wild lilacs that are so sweet and fragrant. I love lilacs.

 The hillsides going to Julien are filled with
beautiful mustard flowers. A devastating fire burned many of the oaks years ago.

I love the California poppies.

Cute store fronts

And now for the Gold Mine

 This wagon had to carry 1 ton of quartz. The gold is found in the rock and for every ton of rock they could maybe get 1 oz of gold which sold for $17 back in the day. How times have changed.

Going down into the mine shaft.

 The veins ran across the shaft and that is where the miners would look for the rocks that contained the gold.

This is a 5 stamp mill.  After the rock was brought out this machine was used to crush it so that they then could sift it out and find the gold. It was quite a long laborious process.



CINCO DE MAYO

Mark and I were asked to put together the booth for the Cinco de Mayo celebration in Old Town. We had displays of some of the artifacts we use at the Battalion and dressed kids up in  old fashioned costumes. We handed out fliers for people to come up and take our tour.  Also one of the young missionaries taught the little kids to play a few notes on the fiddle and they loved that. It was pretty successful because on Saturday we had about 600 people come through.  There were over 200,000 people there that weekend. It was crazy. Last your about 170,000 people came through the Mormon Battalion Historic Site.

Dressing up like a soldier



This clown couple did face painting
at Cinco de Mayo.She is 93
years old and still going strong.
Way to go to keep young!

This was a young group of Ballet Folklorico Dancers.

People in San Diego are crazy over their dogs.They take them everywhere and in expensive baby strollers. It is a bit ridiculous I think. They care more about their dogs than their children. They even have a television channel here for dogs so they can watch TV while their "parents" are at work. Give me a break!

These San Diego police officers were kind to let this young man get a photo with them.

This is a beautiful Jacaranda Tree. It has lovely purple flowers that bloom this time of year.  After the flowers fall then the leaves appear. They are so gorgeous.

WE TOOK A SHORT TRIP TO THE FIRST CALIFORNIA MISSION. MISSION SAN DIEGO ALCALA. IT WAS IN RUINS AFTER THE SPANISH FATHERS LEFT IT IN THE EARLY 1800'S BUT HAS SINCE BEEN RESTORED. I LOVE THE WHITE BUILDINGS AND THE BELLS.

We have many of the San Diego 4th grade classes come through our site for their California History studies.  Mark takes them out on the back lawn and teaches them some military marches, songs, and drills.  He really enjoys that.