Friday 4/28

What a gorgeous day it was today!  The sun shined all day and the temperature hovered in the low to mid 80's. We did got to French Valley airport cafe for breakfast before taking a drive down the back roads to Pechanga and then another 5 miles to Pala Casino Resort and Spa...where I used to work. We didn't go in either casino, but both have new RV parks that are very nice. I saw a former co-worker, Felicia, who helps to manage the RV park at Pechanga. I haven't seen her, except on Facebook, for 15 years or so.  

We then took the nice drive to Oceanside and saw a very active ocean with a rip tide and no swimming allowed in the area we were. Dad was mesmerized by the sea and he loved just sitting in the car facing the warm sun watching a few novice surfers attempting to fight the sideways moving tide. After about an hour of gazing, we drove through Carlsbad and to Encinitas where we stopped for a few minutes at Moonlight Beach.  We then drove through Encinitas and Ranch Santa Fe, up the Del Dios Highway by Lake Hodges and connected to the 15 Freeway North in Escondido to head back to Jeanne's. When we got back into Temecula and stuck in traffic, we drove by a house on a hill that had a batting cage and dad remembered that he and mom had a former neighbor in Aurora who moved to the Temecula area.  This guy, Dan, used to be a pilot for UPS but was also a baseball pitching coach. Well, we stopped and yes, it was Dan's house but he was at a high school baseball game where he's the pitching coach for one of the teams. Dad hopes to connect with Dan while we're here even though he hasn't seen him since the mid 1980's. It's a small world sometimes!  The adventure continues...