leaving San Diego

we left our condo in San Diego on Friday -- here is one last picture from the city; the Horton Mall, which is downtown. Usually, I wouldn't think of posting a picture of a mall, but this one was strange - it was just like a multi-level indoor mall, but it had no roof, so it was outdoors -- it reminded me of the Rideau Centre in Ottawa, without a roof and with more colour!

our final adventure in San Diego was to go to a PGA tournament on the day before we left; yes, we saw Tiger, and Phil, and Mike in person -- it was all terribly exciting! (I imagine at least most of you know the first person in that list!) -- unfortunately, you were not allowed to take pictures.

Now we are en route to our February pad in Carpinteria, outside of Santa Barbara. We will be there tomorrow, and drove via Joshua Tree National Park and Palm Springs, where we are right now -- Tony is playing some hoity-toity golf course today (where they played the Bob Hope Classic this year, I believe), and I am blogging poolside, starting happy hour so things are all in order when he gets back.
pictures from Joshua Tree and Palm Springs soon... i have never seen so much sun in my life

hope everyone is well!

More stuff in San Diego

Hi there,
 Here are some more recent pictures. We took a ferry to Coronado one afternoon this week - Coronado is a peninsula that looks back on downtown San Diego - it is only a 15 minute ride. here's San Diego as we launch....

the beach was less busy than Mission Beach/Pacific Beach, where we had been previously, but very nice!

the waves were huge, so we did go boogie boarding, but stuck very close to shore.
We also visited the San Diego zoo in Balboa park. Here are a few animal pics from that....

the baby "takin" in this next picture was quite a big deal to the zoo - the animal is from China and is endangered due to industrial activities taking away it's habitat, so the zoo was thrilled that a baby was born in late December, and is doing well

and a human animal.....

the human animal is using a form of transportation called a "sky tram" to travel back to the beginning of the zoo (these animals often try to mimic other lifeforms, in this case, birds)

speaking of birds, tony took this picture of a blimp from our condo balcony - the blimp is for the upcoming PGA golf tournament that is being held at a course in San Diego (Torrey Pines). We are going to attend on Thursday and hobnob with Tiger and company

but now.... back to work!! (both pictures from Cafe Italia, a great place to work in Little Italy)

beach etc.

After a pretty productive work week, we took Friday afternoon off and went to the beach - Pacific Beach/Mission Beach; a lovely long long stretch of sand with a walkway along the entire stretch. On the walkway, aside from walkers, were rollerbladers and cyclists and even a skateboarding dog (he was pretty good!); he actually did push along the board with two legs and then jumped up to ride it.

and here is Carolyn checking out a beachside home that was for sale - note cool glass staircase- the place was only 8 million! Maybe if we all got together.....

we also did some boogie boarding at the beach, which was a ton of fun! Our new wetsuits worked out great (and we even remember how to put them on, Leanne!). Here is Tony afterwards....

Saturday mornings in our area of town (Little Italy) is a farmers market, where we have been picking up some of our groceries; there are some pretty good musicians playing there as well - a nice atmosphere for shopping

and I wanted to include this picture of Tony doing a handstand near the harbour (down the street from our condo) at sunset; he is working on his new act as a street performer....

san diego days 2...

We have had a chance to do a bit of exploring, especially around the harbour, which contains docking space for huge cruise ships and the midway aircraft carrier museum.   So, a few pictures of this, along with our apartment view.  Off to the beach tomorrow, wet suits and boogie boards in tow.

View from our apartment, 16th floor.

All aboard!

Carolyn believes the military looms large here

Going my way, sailor?

San Diego days....

Our san diego apartment is cool and chic with a great view of the downtown, the harbour, and the airport (those big metallic birds are something to watch in landing mode, I tell you!).   Today, we have been temporarily kicked out of our apartment because of a minor electrical upgrade, so are working in cafe and library until late afternoon.  Sunny and warm today.  -C & T   

Final Road Trip posting

the last of the pictures of our drive to San Diego -

a "classic motel" we stayed at in Yuma, Arizona, near the California and Mexico borders

The Imperial Sand Dunes; not far from El Centro California

driving through strange boulder hills in the desert of southern California

view of those boulder hills and the desert floor from the hills up above

a trailer of Aliens on the road to California - we figured they were coming back from Roswell

- that's our road trip; stay tuned for regular news from lovely San Diego
love, C & T

Road Trip, Part IV

- almost there.....

at the stunningly beautiful town of Sedona, Arizona, nestled in the canyons and red rocks; we both wanted to move here, or at least come back and stay sometime instead of just passing through

Chapel of the Holy Cross in Sedona; built into the rocks over looking the valley

as luck would have it, once we got to Pheonix, Carolyn discovered she had left her coat and wallet back in Sedona at a Cafe we stopped at for lunch (which had the most amazing sandwiches and home-made potato chips by the way); so we drove the 1.5 hours back to Sedona and stayed over night there instead - it was calling us back! We had had enough Mexican food, so went out for Thai food. At the restaurant Tony received a free Thai massage from the waitress (he was showing signs of "driving shoulder", and she immediately went to work - he doesn't look like he is enjoying it, but he is)

for Rudy; Carolyn looking for armadillos in the Arizona desert

for Rudy: Tony looking for Willie Nelson in the Arizona desert

sipping on an amazingly delicious Date Shake at Dateland, Arizona - the date grove is right behind this little strip mall and, aside from an RV park, pretty much comprises the entire town

the date grove!

Road Trip Part III

Hi again,
 some more pictures ..... starting in Santa Fe New Mexico...

sculpture garden (many of them funky windmills) at a gallery on Canyon Rd., Santa Fe, New Mexico; Canyon road is a very long stretch of gallery after gallery, alot of them with sculpture gardens as well as what they have in the gallery - Carolyn wanted to move to Santa Fe

at the Painted Desert part of Petrified Forest National Park, New Mexico

Petrified logs at Petrified Forest National Park (and Tony, who is not petrified, in any sense of the word)

Grand Canyon!!! Arizona; we were lucky that the roads were open and the weather clear (it can be touch and go in the winter)

The Grand Canyon again

Carolyn and her Mexican friend - outside mexican restaurant near Grand Canyon National Park

Road Trip pictures, part II

Hi everyone,
here are some pictures of part II of our road trip - classic route 66 pictures taken between Amarillo, Texas and Santa Fe, New Mexico; we'll post more from part III later today!
Care and Tony

broken down car with signatures at Adrian, Texas - the midway point of Route 66

The midway point at Adrian, Texas

Diner at Santa Rosa, New Mexico - great Chili Rellenos (chili peppers stuffed with cheese, deep fried, and covered in sauce - how could you go wrong!)

This man in the diner was proud of his gun and wanted it to be in the picture

We hit snow on the road to Santa Fe!