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DAY 1
Tuesday, September
5, 2006 
We're on our way to San
Diego! It's also my and Rick's 18th Anniversary - if I can even
believe that. We got married about 3 weeks
before April's first birthday, so if I forget how long I've
been married, I just subtract one year. LOL For financial reasons -
b'cuz we were both getting student grants at the time, we waited a
bit. Also, being 31, it wasn't like I was either 1) ashamed to not
be married, 2) practical. Anyhoo...we don't usually do anything that
special for our anniversary, though we do have a rather unofficial
one - on Sweetest Day, that we never forget - but this year -
Wow! A trip! I remember to get Rick a card, but he doesn't get me
one until we get to San Diego, later that night. LOL But I
digress... Before we get there, I steal April's window seat for
the last half-hour. Since 2004 when we flew to MR '04, then last
year in Houston, I've never had one. Then again, more convenient to
be on the aisle, but I miss the view. I'd forgotten how beautiful
the west was from the air. In fact, I'd truly forgotten how
beautiful California was in general. I'd lived in San Diego back
around 1982 for about a year and a half, but I'd really forgotten.
*sigh*
We land about 3:30pm, pick
up our luggage and rental car (a
Chevy Impala that we come to hate in quick order. It's got
blind spots that would rival a Cadillac, the shift thingy is behind
the steering wheel, and it's got a parking radius of an elephant.
The first time we leave the hotel, Rick backs into a truck at about
1 MPH, and the bumper has a dinner plate sized dent. So, for the
next two days, I'm fretting how we're going to pull it out, and the
next night, he taps this pole in the parking garage on the front of
the car. It's fine, and I go around the back, and lo & behold,
the other dent has popped out. Whew. Unbelievable. The next day, we
take back the Impala POS, and get a Grand Prix, instead.)
from Avis, find the hotel, then go and
have dinner with a friend of mine, her husband, and 13 year old
daughter I've never met. I met Teddi in San Diego when I joined the
Sierra Club back then. The last time I saw her, her and her husband
Dave were in Chicago to visit his cousin fourteen years ago, and
they drove here to visit. She was pregnant at time and April
was still in Montessori. We find their house in Ocean Beach
(unbelievable what she told me her house
is worth - man, if I could only move my house, I'd make one
hell of a bundle! Mine's larger - though only about 1500 sq. ft. and
probably a decade newer, besides.) We
have dinner at a local Mexican Restaurant, and say our goodbyes from
there, go to Rite Aid for some sunglasses (April
has forgotten hers at home) and back to the hotel. It was a
good start to the vacation.
DAY 2
Wednesday,
September 6, 2006
It's a sunny,
beautiful day in San Diego - as per usual. They don't have the
distinction of having the best weather in the United States, for
nothing. The week before, Hurricane John was whipping around near
Baja, and so in the afternoon it gets pretty hot, but nothing we
can't handle, besides, two hours later, it's back to the normal -
about 75 and dry. I don't know what it is, but from the first moment
I walked outside at the airport, I noticed that the air seemed so -
well, just lovely.
The zoo is quite large
(I'd been there only once when I lived in S.D.,
and once when I lived in AZ). We take a tour bus to acquaint
ourselves with the lay of the land, then we do our own thing for the
rest of the day. Located in beautiful Balboa Park, the San Diego Zoo
is tropical and lush...ooh, and did I mention Pandas? We
'accidentally' find them, just as we're about to go to the other
side of the zoo to look for them. For some reason, our zoo map reading abilities are non-existent here. Oh,
and meercats...or as I called it, "On the trail of the elusive
meercats..." took us about three hours. LOL
Here's a link to my zoo pics: http://www.flickr.com/photos/spikealicious/sets/72157600479098681/
My small Panda Video can be found at: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=uze6D-8zVPk
There are a lot better ones than mine there, so take a look at the
others, too. There's an adorable one of a panda and it's baby - both
up in a tree playing.
Meercats videos at: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PWUvo4fY9dU and:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=o_iqoiDJRss
The evening ended when we
once more met with our friends in Ocean Beach (we were staying at a
non-descript, slightly sucky hotel in Hotel Circle. The only thing
okay was the free breakfast buffet. Bed and pillows were hard as
rocks. Oh well...) for their weekly farmer's market that's held
every Wednesday night. They don't just sell veggies, let me tell
you. It's like a street party - crafts, jellies, baked goods,
musicians, freaks and geeks. Bit of everything. We ordered Sushi
from a restaurant to go eat it on the seawall - crap, that took
about an hour to get the lousy order, but it was okay once we got
it. Once again, we'd missed seeing the sun set over the ocean by
little bit, and actually, we never did see that the week we were
there.
DAY
3
Thursday, September
7, 2006 
Ah...the day we go to
Julian - a place I've been writing about for over three years to see
if memory and imagination are in sync. I haven't been there in over
twenty. First order of business that morning is going to get
rid of that Impala POS and getting a normal car - the Grand Prix.
Slightly smaller, still has a big enough trunk, shifter where it
should be (in the middle, of course) and handles nicely. Then, it's
the drive up to Julian. At a level of nearly 6000 feet, we drive
through the mountains to get there. Nothing too dramatic, but
definitely a higher elevation. Lots of bolders on the way up to
Ramona, then the scenery becomes a bit more gentle. Daughter is
bored. Would rather have gone to Sea World, but this was my
vacation, too, and I tried to impress upon her that this was an
important part of it. Not to mention, going to the San Diego
Zoo & Disneyland in one week isn't too shabby!
The town is small and
picturesque (and touristy) like I remembered it. I spent one night
at The Julian Hotel a long time ago. The other two times I was up
there, it was in the outlying areas for hiking, I think, though we
might have driven through there on the way to our destination, I'm
sure.
Following Hwy. 79, we
come to Santa Ysabel - home of Dudley's Bakery (which is
closed!) and if you've been following One Normal
Day and One Normal Life/Two Extraordinary
Lives, it's where Clem would often shop. *g* It's also where
Buffy got off the highway and started counting down the 4.2 miles to
find Spike's house when she first came back up there. Unfortunately,
we can't figure out the digital odometer thingy, so we just look at
the regular one and count to 4 miles. Um...not much there, a bit of
a road thereabouts, but there is a tree...or a bush. LOL
However, a little ways up Rick spots a sign for William's Ranch. He
goes by too fast for me to take a picture, but on the way back I
stop. More about that in a minute.
The 'downtown' area of
Julian is all of about two blocks. There's a lot more to the area,
but we spend the majority of it there. The most recognizable place
in the downtown has to be The Julian Hotel. In my story,
I actually imported The Rittenhouse Restaurant that
Edna runs from New Bluffton, IN http://our.tentativetimes.net/city/rittenhs.html that
we went through once (half-hour from Ft. Wayne, IN, but about 3
hours from here, Rick's great-grandparents lived there. It's also
where his parents and youngest sister are buried.) Still,
The Julian Hotel http://www.julianhotel.com/looks
like what I imagine to be what the hotel part of the restauant
that she and her husband Lawrence originally
opened. Anyway, we look in some of the shops, but
don't buy anything, really. They have your usual kitsch from
tourist places. We eat in the Julian Cafe, where the music is awful
- unless you like country/religious type music - the waitress is
lousy, but the food - OMG, it was great! Rick has a
mouthwatering, delicious smelling hamburger, and although I only had
a Waldorf Salad with Chicken, it was fantastic! I forgot what April
had - don't think she liked it as much as we did our choices.
Anyway, it made up for the music/waitress. LOL Oh, and the
warm apple pie ala mode was to die for. Truly.
We walk over
to city hall where the chamber of commerce is located. I want
to find the place I'd originally thought about staying up there in
Julian for a night (reminded me of where Buffy/Spike might live)
except the proprietress (hmmphh!) asked me if I smoked. I
said yes, but I wouldn't do it inside if that was the rule - she
says they don't rent to smokers at all. The lady at the chamber said
they also didn't like people to wear perfume or deodorant. Daughter
had some snarky ideas about that - although she thinks smoking is
icky (it is) and doesn't herself, she was indignant for me. Anyhoo -
the place or places (never did quite know which one I liked best)
were these - links on bottom of the page - http://www.artistsloft.com/artistsloft/
I just sort of liked the looks of them. However...it was easy enough
to just visit Julian for the day and a whole lot less packing and
repacking everything. Anyway, the lady at the chamber gives me
directions, and also to an outlook overlooking the Anzo-Borrego
Desert, so we take off on Hwy. 78 (79 comes in from Santa Ysable.,
meeting up w/ 79 in Julian) and never find the road the places are
on, but pull off and take some nice pictures of the desert down
below. Back through Julian, make a quick stop (or before, can't
recall) at a little general store near the intersection of 78/79 and
buy my one Julian souvenir - a light yellow T-shirt with Julian
written on it, also in yellow. Kinda had to, ya know? Wish
I could've found a Christmas ornament or something that I liked, but
oh well. I did squoosh a penny, however. LOL.
We leave Julian the way
that we came, and are on the lookout for the sign that said
William's Ranch. On the highway next to mail and newspaper boxes and
a bus stop? Huh? Doesn't look like the sort of area that would have
any public transportation - 'cept maybe Pony Express. Ha. Anyway, we
pull off onto William's Ranch Road and lo & behold, there is
this really cool sign (see above) leading up to, presumably, the
ranch itself, with another road leading off to the side -
a fork, if you will. Although, in my story, Spike
certainly didn't advertise his whereabouts, going so far as to have
a copse of trees hiding an electronic gate that hid the road up to
his home from view, If I do say so myself - this is too! fucking! cool! and I'm
just about doing the Snoopy Dance, as I'm out of the car in the
clearing and taking pictures. Rick is quite good natured about my
obssession, while April is a walking eyeroll of teenaged
indifference. I mean talk about a wonderfully serendipitious
find (okay, actually Rick spotted it - but close enough!)
it just made the whole trip worth it. In Santa Ysabel, we
stop to take a picture of Dudley's Bakery.http://www.dudleysbakery.com/breads/index.htm It's
closed, but the little grocery store next to it is opened and they
sell some of Dudley's breads, etc. We buy a loaf of Danish Apple Nut
Bread. http://www.dudleysbakery.com/breads/index.htm#Danish%20Apple%20Nut%20Bread It's
a bit dry on it's own, but at the last minute of the last day,
I shove into my suitcase and take home. It was good toasted and with
honey. Should've refrigerated it; as their ad says, it's made w/o
preservatives, so it only lasts a couple of days here. That little
loaf had an adventure. LOL We go to the Apple Country
Restaurant across the parking lot from the grocery place, and have
coffee and apple pie. It's a cute place, and the waitress is way
nicer than at the Julian Cafe, but the pie is a disappointment.
We drive back - I drive for
a while - and we get detoured around Ramona for some reason. Finally
get to the parking lot of the Comfort Inn we're staying at, and
we're hungry, so we go up the road to the Red Lion Hanalei (which I
would've stayed at only it was quite a bit more expensive and since
we were already spending way too much on the Queen Mary, doing the
Zoo, tickets for Disneyland for R & A, we got the
Comforless Inn, instead). Anyway - it's a
very cool hotel - very retro in a 1960's Hawaiian sort of way.
There's a Sushi Bar right across from the check-in
desk, so we order some and other little stuff and
that's our dinner.
Here's MY pictures from
Julian:
http://www.flickr.com/photos/spikealicious/sets/72157600479095933/
Click here to CONTINUE to PT.
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