Our plan was to eat breakfast at Bread & Cie, a local bakery and sandwich shop, and then go to Balboa Park to visit the Air & Space Museum which has a special Da Vinci display. But my Aunt Marilyn called last night and invited us to dinner tonight and, because Gary is going to help her with an outdoor project or two, we need to be there at 4:00. Doesn’t leave much time for the Museum so that’s Monday’s plan. Today, we’re going to try a new place called 86°C Bakery (called that because they keep their coffee at 86°C which is the optimum temperature for coffee. Don’t ask me - that’s what their literature says.) Yum, we might have found a new favorite - ahead of Panera. Nah, probably not but we will return. They make ‘breads’ which is just their word for light baked good with sweet things inside.
Not the best explanation but it’s the best I can do. However, I’ll show you what we got: the chocolate chip bread and the milk bread. Huge, they are but, in our defense, they are much lighter than danish or bear claws - just trying to absolve us of guilt here. We bought two planning to share. Delicious and we’d get them again BUT there are so many others treats that look equally delicious that we’ll try something else next time. When you go in, you pick up a tray and some tongs and then pick the ones you want from the 25 or so cases. Just try to pick one. Can’t do it. In fact, some people had several on their own tray. While we were there we saw a steady stream of people trying to pick theirs. There was never less than 5 or 6 in front of the display cases.
When they bring out a fresh ‘bread’ people mob the tray they’re on. Whoosh, they swoop in. Hey, it’s bakery as a combat sport. We stepped aside and let them go at it. Whoosh and the tray was empty.
We ate outside since it was so beautiful out. Temps to the high 60’s and sunny. Let’s just sit here all day - yeah, right. We’ve gotta earn this treat.
San Diego is built on canyons with the housing perched (sometimes precariously) on the rims and the parks in the trees below. Today we found the Marian Bear park with a trail that went through the bottom. Now, the question is: did we take a walk in the park or did we hike? Hmmm. Good question - what determines if it is a hike or a walk? I’m thinking it’s elevation and energy expended plus maybe the type of surface. Lots of times we’re walking, around Mission Bay, along the canals in Mesa, along the sand at Pacific Beach and through neighborhoods. If that’s walking, then today we hiked: we were on a trail, there was elevation involved, at times we were scrambling up and down stony, sandy cliffs and we needed hiking shoes. Sometimes it was fairly steep without good footholds and I was scrambling up on all fours. Nope, sorry, no picture of this.
Very nice trail, very nice use of a canyon, making it accessible for all, and we saw quite a few people here.
OK, I have some more about this hike - somewhere along the line, I touched something I shouldn’t have and broke out several days later - in a bubbling rash. Oh, crap.
At the rim, we scrambled down to the bottom only to scramble up to the rim again and then back down. Sometimes we were balancing on rocks to get over a stream. Now, I know this doesn’t look like much but - remember, I have no sense of balance I cannot stand on one foot for longer than a few seconds before I begin to wobble, them topple and finally have to put my other foot down. Stepping from rock to rock for me is not easy. Gary tells me to smile and look at the camera - but I’m concentrating on my footwork too much. Come, on, Big Gar, what kind of trail have you chosen here?
No, it was a great trail and we’ll definitely do it again. Now, it’s time to head home but first a stop at Gary’s kind of store.
Then home to clean up and head over to Marilyn’s for dinner. Funny: she told us last week to call her up if we were going to do anything. We thought and thought about what she might like to do and finally asked her. She replied with a chuckle, ‘you know, when I think of you two I think of work and food.’ And, tonight Gary is going to remount her flagpole and upload and save all of the photos she’s taken while she and I are going to turn her carpet. Work and food.
But the food was superb and the conversation - it was hard to leave we were having so much fun. She’s quite a character and fun to be with.
‘Nine out of ten people like chocolate. The tenth person always lies.’
John Q. Tullius (Artist and cartoonist)
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