Tuesday 5/2

The warmer weather came inland today and it was in the 90's so we headed west toward the coast where it was 10-15 degrees cooler. We drove through the older part of Lake Elsinore to the Ortega Highway and over the Cleveland National Forest. The Ortega is a route many locals use for the 30-35 mile journey from Riverside County to Orange County.  The summit is only 2700 feet approximately, but it's a dangerous windy two lane road on the Riverside County side.  Once in Orange County, the road is still 2 lanes for many miles, but much straighter. The Ortega drops you directly into San Juan Capistrano...the former home of my grandparents who were near and dear to my heart and my grandma was one of the reasons for me living in Southern California. We were great buddies!

We drove through the simple, yet beautiful area they used to live and then through the city viewing the Mission in Capistrano and the architecture, some of it hasn't changed in over 100 years. 

When asked, dad said let's go a different way home so we drove the 261 toll road through some of the still uninhabited rolling hills of Orange County until the world came to a screeching halt at the 91 Freeway.  This is one of the top ten worst traffic freeways in the country...maybe even the top five.  However, it was only about 3:00 pm so we missed the worst of rush hour. It was still about double the time as the Ortega Highway by the time we landed in Murrieta.  We convened on the back patio with cocktails in hand and and after a simple grilled cheese sandwich dinner, we are all ready for sleep earlier than usual (dad hit the pillow 30 minutes ago and is out for the night). He had a good day and said he feels the antibiotics prescribed over the weekend are helping. Whew!

Take a look...we even saw the president!