18.05.14: My heart is in San Francisco

One day while I was staying with Pat and Tom, I took a personal-day side trip and drove the Jeep up to San Francisco with the bike and took a trip down memory lane.

I started at the ocean by the Cliff House - a famous landmark restaurant built on the cliffs at the very beginning of the south west entrance into the San Francisco Bay. 

When we moved to SF in 1982 from Michigan, we would often run from our apartment to the Cliff House and look at Sutro Baths

then stop to look at the ocean and the seals who lived on those three big rocks - appropriately named Seal Rocks.  The seals have since found more pleasant living quarters inside the bay on the docks surrounding Pier 39.

I visited Sutro Park above the Cliff House where we planted Mike’s brother Fritz (who worked at and loved the Cliff House) after he passed in 1992.  

I continued on via bike through the Golden Gate National Recreation Area - public land all along the north and south side of the entrance to the San Francisco Bay from the ocean to the bridge and stopped for a while at Lands End  
which was in our immediate neighborhood while we lived at 33rd and Geary Blvd. This place is very dear to us (and many others who live in and visit the area).  This is the view from the public benches at the top of the cliffs - a short 1/3 mile from our apartment where we would also often walk to enjoy the sights and smells of the Golden Gate.  

                     
There were other people enjoying the view when I arrived but divine intervention was at work this afternoon to send the other walkers away long enough that I could share it alone with Mike for a few minutes. Once the people started walking by again, I asked someone to take my picture.  Mike is happy to be here, too.  

                   

Continuing on, I rode down into Baker Beach where we could go to lay in the sun if we could catch it at a non-foggy time.
         

and then up the waterfront road to the bridge deck anchor on the south side.

on my way to Fort Point - a favorite place to get as close to the water and the bridge as possible.

We were here two summers ago with Eric and Claudia on a foggy day.

Next stop on my waterfront bike tour was Crissy Field - the flat land between the bridge and Fisherman's Wharf area.  The city has restored the area from the US army airfield it was during WWII and made it even more accessible to the public than it was when we lived there during 1982-85.  Here we are again two years ago enjoying the view of Alcatraz in the distance.

Continuing on past the Marina Green I climbed the hill above Fort Mason for a closer look at Alcatraz 

before dropping down into the Fisherman's Wharf area 

and riding long the Embarcadero - the busy commuter road that was underneath the "Highway to Nowhere" when we lived there.  The city tore down the double-deck highway after the 1989 earthquake and now it is a beautiful thoroughfare.

Here is a view of the financial district and the tippy top of the Transamerica Pyramid building behind the Clay Building where Mike and I worked when we lived there.  

This is the waterfront area between the ferry building in the financial district and where I worked on Pier 28 for three years at Southwest Marine a ship repair company.

And finally AT&T Park where as luck would have it, a crowd was gathering for an evening game.  I rode all the way around the park before the crowds got too big to ride through.

                
Finally, I rode to the Transbay Bus Terminal, put my bike on the front of the city commuter bus and took it all the way across the peninsula back to the Cliff House and my car.  I went in to the Cliff House for a cup off Clam Chowder to watch a bit of the Giants on TV before driving back to San Jose.

After winning games Tony Bennett sings his song in the ball park, but win or lose, I know my heart will always be in San Francisco!

18.05.09 - 17 Slow road north to home base

Roger and Michal are friends from our Lake of the Pines days. We have been keeping in touch since they moved south to Camarillo to be closer to their daughter and her family, and to explore a new area.  I'm happy to visit with them, and I really enjoy their new neighborhood. I would drop in to visit regardless of their location,  but it is fortunate for me that Camarillo is on the101 south route from San Jose to San Diego, and a perfect one day driving distance from Carlsbad - 150 miles and four hours driving time through the belly of LA.

We took an evening stroll around their community on the first night to enjoy the sunset after dinner.  There is a comfortable place for MT to sit on the street while I am in town. 

..

I went with Michal and her friend Shirley to their book club meeting 

and to tea after. Very nice!

The next 150 mile, four hour driving time destination on my way north

 is the Elks Lodge RV parking in Atascadero. 

This is the third time I've stopped at this Elks Lodge and the first time there has been no near disaster.  See the "Not in Neutral" post from Jan 2018. This time I checked in and headed off to the local Starbucks for a lengthy and satisfying blog writing session. Then home for a good night sleep before my last leg of the journey .....

Morgan Hill Thousand Trails RV Resort. 

Conveniently located a few miles off Hwy 101.

 Mike and I stayed here together for the first time in 2015 on our way south after Christmas.  He was an enthusiastic walker, and left alone on a late afternoon walk.  The resort is very big and has lots of park roads for lots of RV's, so when it started getting dark I went looking for him in the car. He was lost and we were very glad to see each other!

I left MT at at RV resort and drove 20 miles north to San Jose to stay with Tom and Pat for three nights.

Kelly and I went to church with her mom, and then 

cooked lunch at home to celebrate Mothers Day.  The men, Tom and Jim were helpful and appreciative, too!

18.05.01-09 Comp time in Carlsbad

When my camp host duties were complete at the end of April, I moved out of site 127 so the new hosts, Randy and Lois could move in for their upcoming 4 months of host duty.

and I moved to a complementary Admin spot for one week - another benefit of camp hosting in the San Diego state park district. Now I am literally "at the beach" rather than on the inland side of the park road.

 My beach walks continued

and I enjoyed the last full moon of the season here for me.  The deck at the top of the bluff is right across from my site, and the bushes below contain some of Mike's ashes - every time I walk by this spot along the beach on my walks, I am drawn to look up at the deck and smile.

 The moonrise tonight illuminated the 107 steps from beach level to bluff top

and I often made 5 or 10 round trip laps (once I did 20 laps) on these same steps during the daytime for exercise.

I spent an enjoyable afternoon with our friend Mary (from Michigan who now lives in San Diego) on a hike in the Torrey Pines State Reserve.  We had follow-up refreshments at a bar in Del Mar where we watched the Kentucky Derby.  My mom was a big fan of sports in general, and she gave me the understanding that the first Saturday afternoon in May was reserved for enjoying this annual spectacle on TV.

There was a mega street fair in Carlsbad on Sunday afternoon. I went with Roger and Jeannie.  It was so big we did not make it down all the aisles, but we did find the food court.  Jeannie acted as my personal shopper guide - pointing out several nice options for me to purchase  - I was looking for stud earrings and hostess gifts for my upcoming travels.

On Monday I went for bike ride with Tim - one of the park aids I worked with all season.  He recently bought a battery assisted bicycle and has been enjoying the bike ride experience.  We decided it wold be fun to take the bike trail north out of San Diego toward San Clemente. We stopped at San Onofre State Beach Campground along the way

 

and made it all the was to San Clemente State Park where we stopped to talk to the ark aid.

 

Get away day arrived after a week of fun and saying good-bye

 to those I will not see for a while.  

The camper neighbor next door was watching me hook up the Jeep because he was new to motor home travel and had not crossed over the tow vehicle hurdle yet.  Asking questions.  Offering help.  When I was all hooked up and ready to drive away,  I let him help me check the lights connection from MT to the Jeep.  

Believe it or not, I had no brake lights! 

 We tried several adjustments to no avail.  I knew I could not drive with no brake lights.  

Luckily, a fellow camp host, Tooky, a retired auto mechanic with a career of experience working at dealerships was on duty, in the park.  It took him a short while to diagnose the issue ( I think I gave him good clues, because I had brake light issues a couple years ago) and after he returned to his rig to get proper tool, he fixed me up and I was road ready.

 Only 2.5 hours and final golf cart circle of the park to accompany him 

on the noon check-out run.  Another break for me.  

 Thanks Tooky!  Until we meet again!

 

18.03.01 - 4.30 - Off duty time at South Carlsbad State Beach campground

In March I started coming out of my solitary R&R and planning mindset

 in favor of connectivity with others.  

I drove to Palm Desert to visit with nephew Jimmy, Monique and Monique's local family for a couple nights  

We celebrated the life of my brother Jim on the anniversary of his passing in 2011 with good food, good music, and good photos.

I returned to the Monday morning Spanish classes at the Carlsbad Senior Center.  I met other classmates who were interested in meeting on Friday mornings for "cafe y hablando en espanol"

                           
By the end of April, there were six of us in our group and three to five gathered each week for an hour of getting to know each other in Spanish.  Por exemplo.... Hay seis mujeres en nuestro grupo y cada viernes nos reunimos para el cafe y conversacion en espanol.

I continued to enjoy almost daily beach walks

where I sometimes found unusual treasures in the sand.

I bet this mermaid was made by an artistic young girl, 

and it survived the rising tide long enough for me to get a photo

I think this is a dolphin embryo.  

I also found fully grown jellyfish which beach-goers report are not fun to step on.

A Sunday evening in late March highlight was a trip to San Juan Capistrano to The Coach House, a dinner club music venue where Mike and I first saw Martin Sexton perform.  

 I had a short but enjoyable visit with camp host friends from Oregon  Kathy and Rod.  They were down from the Bend area with their kids and granddaughter for a trip to disneyland.  They parked their Airstream trailer along the beach road where we shared lunch after a beach walk.

I went to see the Giants play at Petco Park in San Diego with Christine - she is a fellow baseball fan, and rooted with me for the Giants tonight (they won 7-0) but her team is the Chicago Cubs - thanks to her Michigan roots and her father Fred.

I rode the train with Roger and Jeannie from Carlsbad to downtown San Diego to meet up with Richard and Dollie when they got off their cruise ship for a day of shore leave in San Diego.  Here we are on a walking tour of the San Diego Seaport Village

And me warming up to the WWII statues at the Bob Hope USO display

near the USS Midway docked nearby. 

I got invited to go on a hike with park aid Beth and her sister Andra 

in Andra's neighborhood - inland a short distance in the 

coastal hills where we got sweeping views of neighborhoods, watershed natural areas and the ocean. 

A seven mile loop left me feeling refreshed and tired at the same time - a feeling I used to love after hiking with Mike, but haven't experienced in quite a while.  Great day, ladies!

I took the bus north to Oceanside one evening to meet up with the MEET-UP group "Spanglish" where about 10 people interested in speaking Spanish gathered at the Barrel Republic for get-to-know-you conversation in Spanglish. 

No pictures from the inside, but it was a cool place - they gave me a wrist band and I could choose from dozens of beer, wine and kombucha selections and pour them myself from a bank of taps in the walls. They charges by the ounce.  

Very interesting place, and I enjoyed the Spanglish, but once the Karaoke started, it was hard to hear, so I took the bus home to enjoy yet another sunset at home.  I realized pretty soon into my three months in Carlsbad, that home was my favorite place.

18.02.01-28. Past, Present and Future

I enjoyed my time during the "on duty" days but I looked forward to the off duty days as well.   Bike rides and beach walks quickly became my exercise of choice

 rather than driving to the public pool to swim 

(since I did not see the need to drive away from the beach and pay for exercise

 when the options were so great right at home).

The campground is 1.5 miles from end to end, and all that distance

 plus another 1/2 mile to the south and 4 miles to the north ( at low tide)

  is accessible at beach level.  I designed several routes to walk the beach

 depending on the time of day, the time I had available and the tide situation.  

Most often during these beach walk:

• my thoughts turned first to all that occurred during my life with Mike 
• before migrating to what I should be doing now and what will I be doing in the future - my Plan B.

Here is an outline of my Walk, Remember, Plan, Take Action process...

Household Organization:  I got the kitchen up and running, made some housekeeping adjustments to the storage areas ( I am still purging unnecessary items and rearranging others to make efficient use of my space) and got caught up with personal bookkeeping.

Taking note of what I am doing now:  I created a time tracking file in EXCEL and began recording the time I spent in each 24 hour period time.  I set a time goal by day but did not look at the over/under budget totals until the end of each week.  I was particularly interested in keeping track of the activities I did not want to eliminated from my life:

• Sleeping - a goal of 8 hours per day was rarely achieved but I'm getting better
• Eating - this includes menu planning, cooking and cleaning.  The primary goal is to cook regularly to have healthy food to eat now and also provide leftovers so there is always SOMETHING good to reheat  in the refrigerator.  The secondary goal is to shop wisely so as to
•  not waste any food.  I rarely went out to eat unless it was for social reasons.
• Knitting - I usually saved this for the evening hours while watching TV or movies, but in February I recorded the Winter Olympics prime time tv programing, and watched almost the entire event in date order - I fast forwarded through commercials, but there was so much programming it still took me an extra five days to get to the closing ceremonies.   . 
• Exercise - It is a fun 4 mile walk south to Encinitas or north to Carlsbad along the beach at low tide resulting in a tour through town for rest and refreshment then a city bus ride back home.  I also enjoyed bike riding.  It is 14 miles round trip to San Elijo state park where I would go to visit with other camp host friends working there in our sister campground.  It is a short 5 minute bike ride to the shopping center where I go for groceries and mail.  I like the bike ride experience for these routine errands much better than taking the car. Added bonus - I cannot carry too many groceries on the bike, thus satisfying my goal of not buying more food than I need at any one time. 
• Spanish -  I think I have about an early elementary proficiency level now.  A little bit of study and practice every day is the goal. 
• Recreation - different than exercise, this category includes relaxation ( naps, reading doing nothing) and socialization with others
• Home chores - cleaning, improvements, utilities, etc.  This category is not my favorite, and not my strong suit, but it definitely deserves a (small) place in the weekly budget.
• Camp hosting - this is my "work" now, and I am considering whether this time can or should be replaced by work that pays.
• "other" - the category I rejected as an expense account when in the accounting business, but  necessary when documenting my personal time because I wanted the act of recording my time to be a successful project, and when thinking of 24 hours a day in 15 minute increments it is nearly impossible to identify every 15 minute period. (note as of this writing in May:  I am still maintaining this time sheet file, and I really like the information it gives me).

Looking forward to the future:

In March I started planning what I would do when my time in Carlsbad ended this year because when I arrived here I had no specific plans beyond April. It is important for me to plan ahead, since I need to know where I am going to sleep each night.  

Camp hosting is a good option because in addition to the social community it provides, it allows me to stay put in one spot for at least a month.  Host volunteer coordinators plan months into the future to cover their work needs, so planning ahead is important - a host cannot just "show up".  I was able to get an August and September assignment at a new-to-me state park near Salem Oregon.

I did not want to fill my summer with camp host assignments is because I was waiting to see what my two sons and their wives were going to do.  

When I learned that a baby Brynne sighting (along with Curt and Sarah, of course) in the US was not in the cards this summer, I thought maybe I could make plans to visit Mexico again to give my Spanish speaking muscle some exercise.  When I learned that grandbaby number two is expected from Eric and Claudia this coming October, the date planning came in to focus and I could see my schedule all the way through to the bend of 2019.  Here the outline. lets see how it actually unfolds.....

May 2018. Home base 

June-July 2018. Mexico 

Aug-Sept 2018. Camp Hosting in Oregon

Sept-Jan 2019 being Grandma in Oregon

Feb -April 2019 camp hosting in Carlsbad

May 2019. Home base

June-July 2019 Being Grandma in England

Aug-Nov camp hosting in Oregon

18.01.29 - 04.30 Camp Host Duties at South Carlsbad State Beach camground

My "visitor service camp host" assignment at South Carlsbad State Beach campground has me working in the campground every Sunday, Monday and Tuesday (and every other Saturday), with four (or three days) off each week.  

There are three other visitor service camp hosts on duty in the park at all times, who work in teams of two.  While one team is off duty, the other team splits the day in half, working either the 6 AM-1:30 or the 1:30 - 9 PM shift.    

Basically the job revolves around riding a golf cart around the 1.5 mile long campground road at the top of the bluff, answering campers questions and monitoring vehicle and campsite registrations.  

We also help out in the kiosk during busy times and relieve the park aid employees for their lunch breaks.  On busy days, I might clock 5-6 hours total "on duty" while spending the rest of the time at home in case the kiosk needs some help with something.

There are two additional "maintenance hosts" couples who assist the maintenance staff with the 10 bathroom buildings and campsite cleaning. 

I don't consider the visitor service and maintenance host work to be work.  I think it is:

• a pleasure.  We get to work with people who are mostly happy (unless we are giving them a parking violation notice, of course) because they are on vacation, or working as park aides in the kiosk at the beach 
• a fair trade.  For the right to live at the beach for an extended period (campers can only stay one week at a time).

              

 The other hosts must feel it is a fair trade as well, 

since they keep coming back year after year like I do. 

Hosts are not allowed to stay more than four months at a time ( good rule, since some would stay forever if allowed - it is a good place to live at a fraction of the price that homeowners across the street pay to live in the area), and some stay only one month.  This is my fifth year working in this state park, and I stayed three months (Feb - April) but all the previous years Mike and I stayed four months. There is always a mini reunion at the end of each month when on duty hosts pack up and leave to make room for the incoming hosts.  

This is Jerry and Rose who I just met and hope to see again in Oregon this summer when we are both up there.

   

During February, I allowed myself lots of time for R & R.  When I was not on duty I took frequent beach walks. I had the bittersweet memory of the feelings I had here last year immediately after the loss of Mike, my life partner.  

I can tell that I am in a different place one year later.  The feelings and emotions are still powerful, but not as all consuming as they were last year.   I am looking forward to the future, but not quite ready to move out of this initial grieving period so being here at the beach has been a very healing experience again.  

Most of the photos I took in February looked something like this:

                           

                                      

                                      
and this is one from our first year camp hosting here in 2014. We were just beginning to wonder what was wrong with Mike.   

Sister Wendy was in San Diego visiting her son Dustin and they came up for a visit.  

Good memories abound.