February 14 - 18th, 2012

Tuesday – Today we headed out for a hike to the Marshal & Tanya South old home site. It is located in Blair Valley on the top of Yoquitepic (Ghost) Mountain. Marshal South was an eccentric who moved to this location during the depression and lived there with his wife and children for 16 years. All supplies had to be carried up a steep 1 mile rocky trail. The home was built out of surrounding granite rocks covered in an adobe like plaster. From the top of this mountain there is a panoramic view of the area.





We next went on a very short hike to Moteros. This is the site of grinding stones used seasonally by the Kuneyaay Tribe for over 1,000 years.



Wednesday – We heard rain last night but today is sunny with only a slight breeze. This is our last day here so we stayed at the springs and took another local hike to an overlook of the RV park. It is easy to understand why we have no phone or WiFi in this huge expanse of desert.



We came across some tiny desert flowers that sprouted as a result of the recent rain.



We then went to the hot spring spa. The maximum capacity is 30 and there were 25 in the pool. Getting a little too cozy with a lot of strangers.

Thursday – It rained again all night and this morning there was a dusting of snow on the surrounding mountains including the one we hiked two days ago. We headed to San Diego and went through four 4,000 ft passes that all had snow on the ground. When we arrived in South Carlsbad State Beach we found the camp site was too small for our RV. Fortunately the nice young ranger figured out a way for us to stay ocean front in a much nicer spot.




Friday – Today was really exciting – Laundry Day. We then visited the Oceanside Pier which is the longest wooden pier on the west coast. We had lunch at a cute café right at the end.



All along the pier huge pelicans were sitting on the rail people watching. At first I did not think they were real until one flapped its huge wings.




Our day ended with an emergency trip to Camping World for new RV batteries. It seems there is always something to keep us tap dancing!

Saturday - Today we headed to the San Diego Airport to pick up Jacob & Jackson. This was their first experience flying on their own. We had lunch next to the Midway ship.