We left Phoenix and went to San Diego. We had never been there and our friends the Nodlands were there working on a house. They highly recommended San Diego due to its wonderful weather and a great campground.

On the way we stopped at these way cool Imperial Sand Dunes (BLM) in eastern California near Yuma. It was very dirty.

We were tempted to take the VW off on the dunes but didn’t think we had time and also would’ve had to round up a flag so others can see you coming over the dunes.

That’s our dream bus – a Prevost conversion. Someday. But we are pretty happy with our Winnebago. Holds its own next to the Prevost don’t you think?

Practically burned up the brakes to get this picture in the desert. Just miles before this we were actually seven feet below sea level near El Centro, CA.

Campland on the Bay

Here we are having Dinner with the Nodlands at Campland on the Bay. This is easily one of the coolest campgrounds we have been to. It’s also the first campground that we have paid for a whole month – all others have been daily or weekly because we weren’t sure how long we’d want to stay. Another reason we paid monthly here is because it’s cheaper than two weeks on the weekly rate. Funny thing is – to ‘qualify’ for a monthly rate you have to ‘pass’ orientation. They require you to have current registration and insurance on all your vehicles and check out your site to make sure you have followed all the rules (they gave us a book of rules). We were pretty nervous until talking with others at the park. We’re pretty sure they leave lots of room to run troublemakers off and who wants sewage lines open anyway!

The activities for the kids at the park are phenomenal! They have a calendar that has something on it everyday and entertainment coordinators to keep things going. The weekdays are only slightly quieter than weekends. Above is a Dance Dance Revolution contest (video game).

There are lots of kids at the park – it’s gonna be hard to get ours outta there when we are ready to move on.

Rian is between the girls here and is the Nodlands granddaughter. She was very fun to hang out with. She has her own page of her stay on the Nodlands website.

We gave up our roller blades to this sports resale shop and found Kesley trying out some hockey – kudos to the clerk that checked her (she’s okay now). We’ve purchased scooters and that seems to work best. We scoot, the kids ride bikes about the same speed. We took the dogs on a scoot/ride around the bay and Timon couldn’t walk afterwards. He’s not in great shape and we think his pads even wore down. He’s better now.

Glad we filled up the RV before California – also glad we drive an old VW…

Old Town

One of our first excursions out in San Diego was to Old Town. We found some of the best Mexican food and had a great view.

This lady hand makes and grills tortillas right on the patio facing the street. This is primarily why we went into the restaurant and were very glad we did.

Here’s the girls with Rian. They were given the flowers from a fella on the street.

Skating – Kesley wanted to go skating on her eighth birthday on Feb 6.

So we did. It’s hard to take pictures in a skating rink… The rest aren’t that good.

Balboa Park – The Nodlands took us to Balboa Park. Cheryl Nodland grew up in San Diego so they’ve really clued us in on the area.

Austin rarely wants to leave the campground because all his friends are there. He’s developed an attitude.

The pictures above are from a small community in Balboa Park that has representations from several countries in their huts.

An enormous outdoor organ.

Awesome architecture.

This carousel is historic – there is a prize given out to the person who snatches a gold coin as it spins around.

View of San Diego and bay.

One of two aircraft carriers that recently took off for the Iraq thingie…

We’d rather be on this. Lovers, not fighters thing.

There was a guy that took a picture of the kids in the restaurant – thanks for the pic!

La Jolla, CA – A short drive north of the campground.

The surf was huge due to an approaching storm.

What’s hard to see is the 10 foot drop on the other side.

Some bystanders said – ‘little risky don’t ya think?’

Just in time…

This was on a cove just down the way from the rocks.

This beach was recently opened up for the seals. Apparently the wall was built to shelter this part of the beach for swimming. Now there’s a huge controversy about relocating the seals so the beach can b re-opened for swimming. The seals are protected and pollute the water making it unsafe to swim.

Reminds us of our dog Timon in the face.

Slightly farther north is a launching pad for paragliders and sailers.

That’s probably a 200ft drop-off he just glided off. These guys in the parasails just sit down and kinda walk off the edge. The guys with the gliders walk to the edge and make a leap of faith.

Scripps Institute – Has an aquarium that is open to the public and we’re told it’s one of San Diego’s best kept secret.

Hard to tell – but this is a 10 foot fish.

And Austin is actually 40 feet tall.

Sunny went for a swim in the tank.

This is in front of the house that the Nodlands are re-building as a home school project for their kids.

We bought season passes to Sea World because it’s right around the corner from the campground and we’re gonna stay  awhile!