City Hike - San Diego

Our 52 hike challenge is tough to keep up with lately because of the extreme heat wave going on right now.  So, my daughter and I decided to bend the rules a little this week and hike in the city...a cool city...San Diego!

I love San Diego and I'm always so excited to go there.  It's only about an hour south of where we live.  There are so many things to see and do in the city and the surrounding areas.  It wasn't difficult filling our day!  And, the temps were much better!  It was about 105f at home but 69-75f throughout the day in San Diego.

We started with cappuccinos at Lofty Coffee in Little Italy.  Yum!  Afterward, we walked around a bit.  We found an awesome art supply store named, "Blick".  They had so much cool stuff!  I bought a couple of Tombow brush pens to play around with.  My daughter bought a really cool map/poster of California to frame.

Next, we headed over to Old Town San Diego for lunch.  We tried a new-to-us restaurant, Miguel's.  It was delicious and the service was very good.  After lunch, we walked around Old Town.  I've been there many times but I always seem to see things I things I've never noticed before.  It's a fun place to visit.

Heritage Park is nearby and we made sure to walk around the beautiful old Victorian homes.  I think this one is my favorite...

We did a little shopping after that and then we went to find the famous Spruce Street suspension bridge.  It's a walk bridge in a residential area that spans a deep ravine.  It was a little nerve racking to walk across because of the movement.  I didn't think it would bug me but it did...a little.  It was cool to see though.  It's amazing they'd go to this much work and expense to make a way to walk to the neighborhood across the ravine!

In a neighborhood on one side of the bridge, there was a tiny library.  So cool! 

One of the things we'd planned to do was to go to an African drumming class at World Beat in Balboa Park.  Unfortunately, it was cancelled.  But, that was ok because it just gave us more time to walk around Balboa Park.  Even though the museums were all closed, there was a lot going on.  There were concerts ending, being set up, a big one about to start, and various musicians performing throughout the park.  And, the weather was absolutely perfect!  It was a perfect evening!

I love Balboa Park so much!  It's a gorgeous and magical place!  Here's sample of the amazing architecture...

We sat down and listened to this concert for a while.  It was 50's 60's and 70's music.  This is the organ pavilion.  They regularly have pipe organ concerts here.

I took a stroll around the fountain before we headed to the car to go home.

I have no idea how many miles we walked on our city hike but my step counter said we did over 21,000 steps that day!   And, we had a wonderful time!  We're actually thinking of doing another city hike but this time we'll head to downtown Los Angeles.  Stay tuned!

Have a wonderful weekend!

Taos Wool Festival

I miss blogging but I don't miss the large amount it takes to post and the very low amount of response compared to Instagram.  But, I do miss it enough that I've been wanting to do it again.  In fact, I've been feeling that way for a while.  For example....this set of pics has been sitting in draft mode since October!  I think it's about time I add some words to it and get it out there.  Here it goes...

I was lucky to finally go to the Taos Wool Festival in Taos, New Mexico this last October.  I was so excited that I made a special project just to wear to the event.  It's a huge, colorful vest that was perfect for the event.  So perfect, in fact, that I was stopped by people all day long at the festival and in town to take photos, ask questions, and give me compliments.  Wow!  I certainly didn't expect that response.  In fact, I almost chickened out on wearing it that day for fear that it was a little too far out there and definitely more out there than I would normally wear.  It ended up adding more fun to my day because of all the wonderful people I met.

The festival was so much fun!

I finally got to see Navajo Churro sheep.  They were beautiful!  Especially the jet black ones.  I've never seen a sheep that black.  Gorgeous!

There were cute little pygora goats...

There were also bunnies, alpacca, and more!

Of course, there were gorgeous yarns!  Here's a set I bought...it reminds me of the southwest that I love.  I haven't found the perfect project for it yet.

Besides the festival in the park that's right in town, the town itself has several yarn shops!  How cool is that?!!  I bought stuff there too!  Mooncat Fiber is my favorite!  They have so many gorgeous indie dyed yarns that I felt my heart racing just standing in the store amongst all the the beauty.  I bought these two skeins or gorgeousness...

I also bought this beautiful roving (much, much prettier in person).  And, I met the dyer...she is super cool!  Can't wait to see how this spins up.  I just got my broken wheel fixed.  Time to get started!

And, Taos!  I LOVE Taos!  Such a charming, pretty, fun, and interesting town!  There's so much to see in every direction and everywhere you look.  Here are a few examples...

Decorated posts outside shops....so cute!

I love these strung marigolds outside of another shop.  I think they're used to keep bugs away.  They sure are pretty!

Taos was one of the first stops on a two week trip hubby and I took with our RV.  We went to Kingman, Flagstaff, Taos, a couple stops in Kansas (including the famous Yarn Barn!) on our way to Missouri to see family, Colorado Springs, back to Flagstaff because it was so gorgeous in it's fall color, and ending in Sedona, Arizona.  I cozied up our trailer with a little lamp on the table and some fall decorations.  It's our little home away from home!

There was a lot of time on the road...aka knitting time.  I got really good at knitting without looking as I worked on a hat project.  I started it on the trip and had it almost finished by the time I got home.

My sweet Penelope was a great little traveler and I loved having her with us, as always.  She even helped us catch a mouse that got in our trailer in Missouri!  Good Penelope!

Salsa was a good girl too.  Although, she had some intestinal issue going on that wasn't fun for her or us but she's better now.

It's been so long since I put these photos in this draft that I'm not sure where this was taken but I'm thinking it was probably a sunset shot on our way home.

I have so many things I could post that have happened, places I've been, and things I've made.  I'm planning to try again to get back to blogging.  We'll see how it goes.  I've just been enjoying Instagram so much more for it's ease, speed,  so much more feedback.  But, blogging is great as a journal to look back on experiences and stuff.

What's Up Wednesday

I was starting to blog more regularly but it's slowed down a bit.  Ooops!

So, here's an update from the last week....

I turned my cucumber harvest from last week into a big jar of refrigerator pickles.  I made sweet pickles and they're delicious!  I'd like to figure out how to make the next batch a little less strong though.  I'm wondering if it's ok to add a little water to the vinegar?

Here's my harvest from this morning...more cucumbers, and a couple of Meyer lemons to flavor my water today.  The cucumbers are growing like crazy!  The vines are loaded with tiny ones that'll be big in no time!  I may need to learn how to do canning!

The pumpkin plants are exploding in size!  Here's what they look like this morning...

A couple of tomatoes are just about ready to pick!

We now have three baby eggplants.

It's been pretty hot lately.  But, one of my friends and I decided to go to a winery one day last week.  We found a nice spot to sit in the shade and the misters kept us comfortable....along with a cold glass of one of their delicious white wines!  We enjoyed relaxing and knitting so much that we have another outing planned this week and more of our knit friends are going to join us.  That should be a lot of fun!

On Sunday, hubby and I took our tandem bicycle down to the Carlsbad and went for a long ride along the ocean.  It was wonderful!  The temps were in the mid 70's, the sky was clear, and the ocean was calm and gorgeous!  We stopped for breakfast at one of our favorite places in Encinitas, The Potato Shack.  It's been there for a really long time and has great food and friendly service.  They even have gluten free pancakes and French toast!  Yum!

After breakfast, we headed south a few more miles.  We stopped to take in the views and snapped a photo of our Tandem.  We've had this awesome beast since our daughter was little.  Hubby and our daughter and hubby and I have even used this in mountain bike races!  He pulled it out last week, tuned it up, we took it out for a spin, and we're in love with it yet again.

On our way back north to Carlsbad and where we parked, we stopped at a place I've been following on Instagram for a while and was anxious to try, Lofty Coffee in Encinitas.  They roast their own coffee beans and make their own almond milk and hazelnut milk!  Not only were our drinks delicious but they were also pretty.  Here's my hubby's cappuccino with hazelnut milk...

And, here's my latte with almond milk.  They treated us to a homemade goody (not sure if it was a cookie, a muffin, or ??) that was gluten free, vegan, and yummy!  Their coffee grinder was acting up and delaying our coffee.  So, they brought the treat out with an apology.  How nice is that?!

We sat outside right along Pacific Coast Highway / Highway 1 and enjoyed the cool weather and our treats.  So nice!

These beauties were in the parking lot.  Plants love it down there and grow so well in that awesome weather!

What have you been up to this last week?

How was your weekend?

I hope ya'll had a wonderful weekend!  We sure did!  We decided to head to Arizona for a long weekend of camping and visiting with our daughter who moved there last year for grad school.

We packed our camping trailer and brought our furry kiddos with us for a weekend of fun!

Salsa always loves to go bye-bye!  And, she loves her boots!  They protect her feet from hot pavement and keep stickers from getting stuck in the fur and between her toes.  That makes it so we don't have to spend long amounts of time picking stickers out with tweezers!  We've done that!  It's not fun for her or us!  Here she is happily resting by the trailer after a walk...with her boots on.  Such a cutie!

Our daughter spent the entire weekend with us camping.  We loved that!  And, so did Salsa!  She's always happy to have everyone together.  And, she cherishes every bit of time and attention she gets with our daughter.  Just look at that smile...

Our cat, Penelope, is becoming a great traveler!  I'm so proud of her!  And, she loved the warm weather on this trip.  She's so often cold.  So, this trip was great for her.  It was for us too.  It's been a bit chilly at home.  Especially for my hubby who works down by the beach where it's been cold, damp, and gray.  It was great to thaw out!

The campground was surprisingly uncrowded for a holiday weekend.  That was nice!  It was quiet and made it better for seeing wildlife.  And, we saw a lot of wildlife this weekend!  One of the first things we noticed when we got there was hundreds of tiny Arizona Round Tailed Ground Squirrels!  They were everywhere!  They're super tiny...about the size of a little chipmunk.  They're really cute!

We saw a couple of coyotes and we heard packs of them every night.

We were hoping to see Javelina and we were lucky to see two of them on an evening bike ride.  Unfortunately, they ran away so fast that I didn't get any pictures.  We didn't see any more of them the rest of the weekend.  But, we did hear them at night a couple of times.

We saw a mountain lion one evening.  At least, that's what it looked like.  And, the rangers said one had been spotted and reported the week before.  It was crouching down in the grasses a couple hundred feet from the road.  I only had my cell phone with me for pictures.  I snapped a couple and tried zooming in for a better look.  The pics were super blurry but the coloring and ears looked like it was a mountain lion rather than a bobcat.  I've never seen one before and figured I never would.  So, this was a little exciting.  It was a little scary.  And, it was also a little sad because being that close to people is unusual and could mean something is wrong with it or it could end up needing to be moved or something if it keeps going that close.  I'm hoping for the best...that this was just unusual and that it will stay away from now on.

There were a lot of birds....Roadrunners, doves, bright red birds, tiny birds....and lots of pretty singing.  There were lots of quail too.  They're SO plump compared to the ones near our home.  We saw this one watching out for his flock in the riverbed.  It's a little blurry because he was far away.

As always, I was on the lookout for wildflowers.  I found some beauties!  Check out the blooms on this cactus.  Gorgeous!

There were lots of these on big bushes/trees...

The weather was quite warm in the afternoons.  But, the early mornings were nice and cool and we made sure to get out to enjoy it.  We went on a couple of bike rides along part of "The Loop".  It's a series of connecting bike paths along riverbeds and roads that run through and around Tucson.  It's very impressive!  I love riding and walking on The Loop because there are no cars and the views and wildlife are a lot of fun to see along the way.  The Loop is very popular and busy.  I wish we had such a thing where we live!  This is my daughter riding onto one of the bridges that crosses over the river...

There was a little surprise along the portion of The Loop that we rode on....a little labyrinth.  Of course, we had to walk it both days that we rode by.

Our daughter has gotten into archery and had just gotten a new bow.  We went with her to a range to see her shoot.  We also tried shooting.  It's surprisingly different than my husband and I ever would have imagined!  It takes a lot of strength and it's quite complicated!  Hubby loved it.  I'm not sure yet if I like it or not.  Here's hubby shooting alongside our daughter.  I love this picture!

We ate at camp most of the time.  But, we did go out a couple of times for lunch.  We tried a new-to-us restaurant one day.  It had great reviews and their website sounded like it was great.  We drove up and it looked like a dive!  But, it's popular and we couldn't even get a parking spot the first time we tried to go there.  The next day, we went right after they opened and had no trouble getting a parking spot.  It was very good!  It's called Tacos Y Tequila.  And, that's just about all they sell is tacos and drinks.  The tacos are interesting, unique, and delicious!  Their house margaritas were quite good too!

We enjoyed lots of relaxing, reading, knitting, and, most of all, being together!  It was such an awesome weekend!

Throwback Thursday - Tombstone and Bisbee, Arizona

In my attempt to get back to blogging and to catch up a little with what I've missed posting, here's a throwback post to last December and a trip we made to Arizona...

We had gone with our RV to visit our daughter who moved to Arizona last year.  The weather turned really cold with freeze warnings at night and quite a bit of rain.  Hanging out at camp was great....lots of reading, knitting, hot foods and drinks, and I even got my Christmas cards done.  But, we eventually got cabin fever and decided to head out and do some exploring.

First, we headed to Tombstone.  It was a cute little town.  There were old buildings and horse drawn buggies and stagecoaches.  This is the courthouse.  I thought the horse going by made for a great photo opportunity.

Since it was so cold, the ghost town lived up to it's name that day and looked very empty, with very few visitors.  The wind was bitter cold and it made it hard to stick around for very long.  We quickly walked through some of the main part of town.  There are some fun little shops there.  But, overall, we were a bit disappointed.  There seems to be a charge for just about everything.  The O.K. Corral was walled in and you had to pay to see it.  There were people in the streets and on the corners talking at everyone who walked by in an attempt to get them to pay for historical information.  The stagecoaches traveled around with loud speakers inside telling about the area.  That didn't seem like a fun ride.  And, those speakers and microphones definitely didn't help with feeling like you were stepping back in time.  But, who knows, maybe it would be a lot more fun on a warmer and busier day.  The lack of crowds made it good for photos though.  Here's the main street...

Since we didn't stay long in Tombstone, we still had plenty of time left in the day.  We'd heard about the nearby town of Bisbee and decided to go see it.  It turned out to be fantastic and even magical!  The moment we caught a glimpse of it, we were gasping and ooohing and aahhhing over how adorable it is.  The weather that day added to the charm.  It made the town less crowded and we often felt like we almost had it all to ourselves.

Many of the homes are built into the side of the hill, they're old, and the narrow winding road made me think of photos I've seen of old European towns.  It was charming!  This photo almost looks like an old painting.  I love it!  That's hubby and Salsa standing on the sidewalk...

There were surprises everywhere we looked....even down on the sidewalk...

Beautiful stone or glass tiles had been set into the concrete and it looked as if they had once been lit from underneath.  That must have been beautiful to see!

Even some of the manhole covers were ornate and beautiful...

The sun was shining when we arrived in Bisbee.  I took a photo of this old church shortly after we pulled into town...

We walked in a building to see a weaving guild that was meeting that day and when we came out the sun was gone and the sky was completely cloudy.  We went into a cozy little restaurant for lunch and it soon started to snow.  That's something we rarely see.  So, we were in awe!  It was magical for us!  The waitress told us that it rarely snows in Bisbee.  She said it only happens once every few years or so.  We were lucky to be there to see it!

Here's that same church a little while later...

We enjoyed walking around some of the little shops in town.  We also stopped in for a drink at the old Copper Queen Saloon that had been there since 1906!  We sat in the back, had a drink and enjoyed watching the snow falling outside.

We headed back to camp with lots of great memories from a wonderful day of exploring.  I hope to go back someday when the weather is dry and take a LOT more photos!

It snowed again overnight in the mountains next to the campground.  Cold but beautiful!

And, to our surprise that next morning, we found that someone had decorated a tiny tree outside of our trailer the day before.  Such a fun and touching little surprise!

The ornaments were covered in frost and snow.

And, some had blown off in the high winds.

There were some sunny days while we were there though.  We bundled up one day and headed out on the "50 Year Trail" at Golder Ranch for some mountain biking.  It was a beautiful day and a fun ride.  But, I have to say that cactus along a single track trail adds a whole new dimension to mountain biking!  I kept a much closer eye on the trail and everything alongside it!  One guy parked next to us at the finish was pulling cactus thorns out of his leg!  Ouch!

That's my hubby in the photo...

Arizona is such a beautiful state with a lot to see.  We've been there a often since our daughter moved there.  We're heading back again this weekend.  I wonder what we'll see this time?!