San Diego, CA - Donuts, Ice Cream

And we’re off. We’ve spent 9 days here in Palm Springs and were they ever full. We took 3 full-day hikes, visited the COD, Village Fest, the Art Museum and I even got in an appointment in with a local doctor to look at a patch of skin that I thought might have some aspects of skin cancer. Not easy choosing a dermatologist in Palm Springs. I didn’t want one whose main claim to fame was the products they sold. I want a doctor not a salesperson. But he took a look at it, asked some questions and said that it was not skin cancer, just hyperactive pigmentation. At least he didn’t call it liver spots due to aging.

The trip from Palm Springs to San Diego is about 126 miles and we always take the cut-off south from Interstate 10 to Temecula and then south. Probably takes us longer than traveling by interstate the whole way but much easier road since there’s not so much traffic and so much fun to see something other than Interstate.

One of our favorite places to visit and hike in San Diego is in Balboa Park which not only houses the world-renown San Diego Zoo but also has about 20 different museums. The late afternoon sunlight highlights the architecture of the towers.

The Botanical Center looks pretty good in the reflecting pool.

While we were walking through Balboa Park, Gary stopped to review the plans that George Marston had for its design.

We’re relaxing here in our campground here in San Diego and Gary told me that he could use his new Tide app on his I Phone. I knew he was planning laundry for tomorrow but what would he need a laundry detergent app? Oh, yeah, the tides on the ocean. Gary does all of the laundry and, when I ask him if I can help, he tells me that laundry is his job security. Toilets and laundry - job security. I guess that I cook, wash dishes and keep our rolling home clean. And, with wood floors that show every particle of dust, that job has increased. We must have had the same amount of dust but with tile and carpet, we never saw it. Now, we see every last bit of dust.

We hiked in the mountains on Sat and walked on the beach on Tuesday. We’ve always heard that one of the unique things about California is that you can ski and surf on the same day. Every year in the winter, some TV station will feature this and have one of their reporters do just that: ski in the morning up in the mountains, hustle down to the shore and surf in the afternoon. Well, we didn’t do quite those activities but we were able to hike in some snow on Saturday and walk in the sand 2 days later.

In San Diego the Costco sells surfboards in December. In Des Moines, IA, it sells snowboards.

Have you ever had a benny with holly for brekkie? Huh? What in the world is she saying, you ask. I don’t know if this is California speak or if the rest of the world says and understands these things. I certainly didn’t until I started traveling and looking up restaurants for reviews on line. I guess this is a language that those who deal in breakfast restaurants speak and it means: ‘I want an eggs Benedict with hollandaise sauce for breakfast.’

And, speaking of reviews, aren’t Yelp and Trip Advisor amazing resources? You can find anything reviewed here: restaurants, hotels, of course, but also things like optometrists, campgrounds, beauticians, tire stores and churches. How in the world can you review a church? Do you say something like: ‘the pews are a tad hard but standing to sing gave me some relief?’ We use reviews all the time, especially when we arrive in a new town. We want to eat breakfast out, check on Yelp. We want to visit some of the local attractions, check on Trip Advisor. Not only will they have lots of reviews, they’ll also have lots of suggestions of things you might not have thought of. Of course, some reviews sound like they come from the brother of the owner and give the restaurant a 10 with loads of praise. Then there are the reviews that give the restaurant a 1 and say terrible things about it. You have to weed out the highs and lows to come to a reasonable conclusion.

How in the world did people RV in a world without cell phones, internet, reviews, and air conditioning in the RV? I can’t imagine it but there were many who did and - really enjoyed it.

We saw this guy when we were walking yesterday. Noticed how he wrapped the tree up to protect it.

I broke the temple piece on my glasses and had to find someplace to repair it. They are Silhouettes so only a few places will do this. I found a place about 8 miles away and, right on the way is one of our favorite donut shops. Gee, gotta try it - if only to see if they had maintained their quality since the last time we were here, 2 years ago. Yeah, right, we just want a donut. Sure, enough, Rose Donuts is still on its corner, serving up some of the best pastries, donuts and bagels in San Diego. We ordered, took our donut outside and sat down. Hey, what is that couple inside the store eating eating? Looks like ice cream. Why would anyone be so rude to buy ice cream someplace else and bring it here to eat? Can’t imagine. I’d better check this out. Sure enough, Rose Donuts serves ice cream too. They don’t say anything about this on their store sign or store front so we’ve always been so entranced by their huge case of pastries and donuts that we never looked at the case to the right of the register and noticed the 20 flavors of ice cream.

The last green sign to the right gives the prices of the ice cream. But who can see those when ones eyes are bugging out with the trays of goodies right in front. I’m only human.

The scoops are ‘Thrifty’ sized meaning that they are about 3” deep and circular. Big scoops. And the prices - small prices. $1.35 for a single scoop in a cup. $2.00 for a double scoop. That’s a lot of ice cream. Who knew? Well, obviously not us. But now we do.

Outside they have a sign turner.

Nope, they have a sign turning robot. And, look, she doesn’t even use her arms.

Even sign turners, as poorly paid as they are, have been automated out of work.