San Diego, CA - Reverse Christmas Elves

I know, I know. You think that Christmas has come and gone and about a month ago. Well, we’ve still got Christmas stories playing out here. I’ve told you about working with my Aunt Marilyn to put her Christmas villages back into storage on Monday and Tuesday and today we get to help Fred, her husband and my uncle, with a few things.

But, I better start at the beginning. The plan was to stop off at the opticians to pick up my glasses on the way to Fred’s house in Coronado. As we were driving I took a big swig of my coffee and found a big blot on my polo shirt. Oops. This day is not starting out well. At the opticians I asked if I could use some of her water to wash it off. She then gave me a jug of some yellow stuff that she said took out every spot she’s ever had - like wine on her silk blouse. I believe in using plain old water and worked with that for a minute or two. Then thought I’d try the yellow stuff. I dabbed it on the towel I was using then dabbed it on my shirt. Holy cow. Where once I had a coffee stain that was mostly erased using the water, I now had a bright yellow 3” in diameter stain that wouldn’t come out. This day is not continuing well.

Then she asked to have my glasses so that she could put on a new ear piece to replace the one I had broken. Uh, uh, I had forgotten to bring it. What was I thinking? This answer is clear: I was NOT thinking. Oh, well. We need to come this way again next week anyway. Meanwhile, I dabbed and dabbed and dabbed with more water and had mostly removed the yellow stain. Of course I had a wet blouse but used the optician’s hair dryer to dry it a bit before we took off.

And, on to Fred’s. Fred is my half-, step-uncle. Or maybe he’s my step-, half-uncle. I can’t get the ‘steps’ and ‘halfs’ straight. Let me explain. My grandmother and grandfather on my mother’s side, had moved from Colfax, IA to Hollywood, CA soon after they married. Here my mother was born (in Hollywood, how exciting) and my grandmother took her back to Colfax at the age of one to meet her grandparents. While in Colfax, my grandmother took ill and died, sadly before my grandfather could get back to Iowa. That left my grandfather alone with a 1-yr old, my mother. When my mother was 7, he remarried and had two more children, Marilyn and Chuck. Thus Marilyn, my aunt is really my step-aunt.

Marilyn’s first husband, Bob, died before his time about 15 years ago. Along came Fred, with whom my aunt had worked and who, with his wife, Jo, was a friend of Marilyn and Bob. Unfortunately, Jo had also died and Fred was left alone also. Well, I”m sure you’re way ahead of the story here and know that Fred comforted Marilyn when Bob died. Of course, when Marilyn told me about Fred on the phone, he was just a ‘friend’. However, when they visited us in St Paul, MN, where we were living, Fred put his hand on Marilyn’s knee once and I could see where this was heading. Sure enough, at the age of 82 Fred married Marilyn who was 76. And, they’ve been married 12 years.

Interestingly, they each have kept their home: Marilyn in La Jolla where she has her groups and clubs and friends, and Fred in Coronado where he has lived for 55 years. But, they are together most of the time.

Isn’t that a neat story? Thus Fred is really my step-uncle and half-uncle combined. Now, don’t tell me that I’ve got my ‘steps’ and my ‘halfs’ mixed up - I know. (Don't even ask me what 'twice-removed' means in genealogy.) I don’t care. Does this matter? Nope, He’s my uncle and a great guy to boot.

And, so we were off to see Fred at his home in Coronado for lunch. Last time we saw him, in January of 2013, he was in the hospital right after some hip surgery. Later in the year a long-standing problem with one of his feet (not connected at all to the hip problem) developed into an ulcer, and it has been extremely slow to improve. So Fred has to get around his house mostly in a motorized scooter, and also needs help getting groceries since, sitting in a grocery scooter, he cannot pick products off high shelves or inside tall freezers, let alone load everything in his car or carry it from car to his house. So today we visited Fred and had lunch,

where he admitted he could use some help with grocery shopping. Gary got to drive the cart out of the store for Fred. (He almost got a ticket for speeding.)

So we helped him shopping and, boy, did he ever stock up: 2 of everything, especially the heavy things. He knew he had help and wanted to buy the store. Then back at his house, we helped take down his Christmas tree and some other things. So, after helping both Aunt Marilyn and Uncle Fred take down Christmas, I guess that makes Gary and me sort of reverse-Christmas elves?

After being with Fred in the grocery store, I realize how difficult it is for people in those neat motorized carts to reach what they want on the shelves and, if I ever see a person in one of those motorized carts in the grocery store, I am going to help them.

So there you have it, our day with Fred. It might have begun a bit poorly but ended up great.

San Diego, CA - Chap on a Chip

We love to hike and have spent many days this fall in that pursuit, from Colorado to Utah, from Arizona to California. However, now we are in San Diego and the hiking becomes a bit harder since there are fewer mountains around here. I’m not saying that there aren’t ANY mountains, but they are further from where we are and more difficult to get to. We like our hikes to be all about the hiking rather than all about the driving. There are a few mountains in the area and we have been hiking them whenever we visit out here.

We’ve had Mt. Woodson on our list for a few years and had planned to hike it this year. Then Marilyn mentioned that she had heard of a good hike on what was called the Potato Chip Mountain. I looked it up online and found that the Potato Chip Rock was at the top of Mt. Woodson. Double incentive: good hike, neat rock at the top.

And - donuts from a new donut shop that we’ve never tried, the Donut Touch. Cute. From there we could look up into the mountains and see Mt. Woodson, the one with the plethora of antennae on top, and Gary dared to say, ‘Doesn’t look bad, maybe we’ll be down sooner than we thought.’ And, I replied, ‘Yeah, doesn’t look too tall.’ Ouch, never dis the mountain before you’ve hiked it. It will get back at you, in the worst way.

Sure enough, it was almost straight up: every time we came around a curve in the trail, I looked and saw that there was no relief from the ‘up’. Oh, sure, we might have had 8’ or so which looked level but even that little stretch angled up, just at a lesser angle. Then the straight up trail ended and we began the steps. Yep, it was so sloped that they had to put in steps for the grade. Last time we dis the trail before we start.

But, I’ll have to hand it to the trail builders - they did a great job. It must not have been easy to build the trail up this slope through the rocks but they did it. Finally, after we finished climbing and stepping and twisting and turning for miles, and were tired, we saw Potato Chip Rock. And the line which is almost always there. Everyone wants their picture taken on Potato Chip Rock. Luckily it is a weekday or the line would extend down the trail. Here it is a short line.

And here’s Big Gary, in his surfing pose.

And here he is in his ‘when are you finally going to take the picture, Nancy?’ pose.

We got a phone call while we were there. Of course, look at all the antennae up there - must be a Verizon one somewhere.

After the picture taking, we climbed to the actual top for lunch where the 360 degree view is great.

And we got to see how San Diego gets its cell phone and TV coverage. Iowa puts cell phone towers and TV antennas in corn fields while most cities out here put them on the nearest highest hill.

Here we met a woman climbing up the other side, up the road which the service trucks and vans take. Having climbed some of these antennae service roads before, I know that they are probably shorter but steeper than the hiking trails. I asked her how often she did this trail. Oh, 3 - 4 times a week. And, then there was this white PVC pole at the top where someone is carefully recording every time she or he climbs, form 2006 to 1/18/2014. Every week this person climbs but did not climb for the 3 months that it was closed off because of a fire.

Back down we decided to hike around the lake thinking it would be fun to walk across the dam which forms it. We were hiking along, crested a small hill and saw this coyote crossing the trail. He moved too fast for me to get a picture while he was visible on the trail but Gary got a picture as he climbed the slope of the hill on our right. He certainly was a healthy looking coyote, he must eat well in this valley.

By the way, we heard a story on RV recently about a coyote that climbed a 6’ wall around a yard in San Diego and attacked 3 dogs there. One small Jack Russell terrier chased off the coyote but lost its life in the process. Brave little dog and it saved the other two dogs.

At the dam, there was a sign that the dam was off-limits and that the trail went that-a-way. Oh, shucks We did note that there was a trail going along the dam, just low enough that no one could see any hiker who was taking it. Looks like a well-used trail.

Down into the valley below the dam, then up over the hills that surround it. Oh, boy, more elevation for our day. And, finally, we were back at the parking lot. Trail creep and dissing the trail will bite you in the butt every time.

8.7 2490’