Day 23 – February 2 – Carlsbad, CA – Day 18

This morning was down time.  John is reading a good book so I worked on puzzles and played games most of the morning. After lunch we decided to walk down to Ambrosia Lane where we could see a series of geo-caches were hidden on nearby trails.

It was a very nice day for a walk.  We took about 20 minutes to get to the first cache which we could not find.  We walked up the long hill of Ambrosia Lane and found the entrance to the Golf View Trail where there were two caches hidden.  Yea for us we found them both.  There was some pretty nice views of the golf course as well.

 At the end of Golf View Drive we crossed Ambrosia Lane to the other side and followed a hydro-line ‘trail’ to find two more caches.

 This was a clever cache container. In May of 2014 a brush fire started at the edge of the La Costa Golf Course and the Santa Ana wind quickly spread it to 100 acres.  Five homes, 18 apartments and a commercial building were destroyed.  North County, where Carlsbad is located, had four other brush fires start in the next few couple of days. The fire was called the Poinsettia Fire due to its proximity to Poinsettia Lane.  Along the trail we had walked our first week here to find geo-caches I said it looked like a fire had gone through recently; that was it. Property owners filed suit against the golf course for the damages claiming one of the staff or a golf club piece of equipment had started the fire.  No idea how that turned out.

 After we found the two caches along this section we backtracked a quarter mile or so and started down another power line trail to find three more.

 Even the hydro poles were charred bottom to top.

A varigated thistle. We started our walk beyond the far hillside.   You can see the path under the hydro pole in the distance.

  The next cache was hidden at the bottom of the hill -very cleverly inserted in a burned stump.  The last cache was also well hidden in the base of a bush enclosed in a silk spider plant.  When we got to the end of the power line we found the area fenced and gated.  John noticed that a section of fencing had been torn down so we climbed over and walked down the drive to Aviara Parkway and two miles back to the condo.

This bush seems to also have become a ground cover. When in full bloom it must look very pretty.Our walk took us outside the boundary of the Aviara section of Carlsbad.  They have lovely landscaping all over this city.

 The sun was setting as we made our way back to the condo. At the resort the Summits section where we live is lower on the hill than the Osprey Terrace.  The day after we checked in the stairway between the two was closed off for rebuilding.  They have torn out the worn and rotting wooden stairs and replaced them with cement ones.  Today they were just finishing up welding the hand rails.  We noticed this clever sign at the top of the closed stairway.

I’d say the owner takes pride in his work. And it is cleverly humorous as well.

Tomorrow we are planning to get up a bit earlier than normal and head into San Diego to go to the zoo.  I have always wanted to go to the San Diego Zoo.  It is world famous and it has pandas!  If you drive down on the number 15 freeway it takes 40 minutes.  I have examined the maps and found a route that misses all the major highways so we will take about an hour and a half to get there.  But we drive through the swanky Del Mar area and the Torrey Pines State Park so it should be a nice drive.  We are not in a hurry anyway.

Days 20, 21 & 22 – January 30, 31 and February 1 – Carlsbad, CA – Days 15, 16 & 17

Saturday, Jan 30, we spent the day visiting with our friends Bill & Lynn who we met on the World Cruise in 2009.  They live in Yorba Linda, a southeastern area of LA.  They kindly drove the one hour down to Carlsbad to have lunch with us.  I whipped up a wonderfully complicated and exotic chicken ceasar salad (well, actually John grilled the chicken, but who’s keeping tabs?) with garlic bread and chocolate ice cream and peanuts for dessert.  We were having such a good time no one noticed it was already five o’clock and they had to head home.  Right after they drove away I remembered I had wanted to take a photo and had forgotten.  Lynn, too, had specifically brought along her camera to get a pic of us and forgotten.  We have each promised to a get snap done in the next week or so and send it to each other.  So, if you want to see Bill and Lynn you will need to wait awhile.  It was wonderful to see them again.  Maybe they will come north some summer and we can show them some of our hometown sites.

Sunday we intended to go back to Christ Presbyterian Church for the 11 am service, but I hadn’t been sleeping well all week and Saturday night I slept through until 10:30 am Sunday.  It felt great to have a good sleep but with the church 20 minutes drive away and us not even up it wasn’t going to happen.  I was sorry to miss the minister’s sermon on his ‘word’ for 2016 and it would have been nice to chat again with some of the people we met last week.

Sunday was also a lousy weather day.  There were 60 mph winds predicted with rain – lots of rain, and snow in the high mountains. The wind blew steadily all day with a constant howl outside.  There was heavy rainfall all afternoon so the plants and ground will be happy.  Everything is very dry here, they really need rain.  It did not appear to be a deluge, at least not at our place, so hopefully the water will sink in and not just run off into floods such as they had earlier.

Monday was supposed to be a cloudy day but it was really quite a nice one.  Since the sun was shining when we finished breakfast, dishes, email, etc. we decided to drive south to Encinitas and see the San Diego Botanic Garden.  

Last night’s wind blew leaves and twigs all over. The maintenance staff at the resort will be very busy cleaning it all up over the next few days.

We spent most of the afternoon wandering the pathways of the botanical garden.  So what follows from here is pretty much a hundred or so photos of cacti, trees, flowers, and landscapes.  Skip to the end if you want.

 A ‘living’ roof and plants on the walls of the entrance ticket booth.    The garden covers 37 acres and has sections for international plants that are suitable for this climactic zone.  We had a really nice wander.

 Dragon Tree.  The sap is red and is used to dye violins.

Giant Timber Bamboo.  Bamboo comes in clumping-root or runner-root types.  Most of the varieties in the garden are clumping root. Runner roots can grow 30′ in a season so it is very hard to contain or get rid of if unwanted.  There are several thousand species of bamboo and some of them are hard to classify because they only bloom once every 10, 15, or 20 years – or as some do, 150 years.  Many species will die off after blooming.
 Honey Mandarin. Produces very flavorful and sweet fruit but also produces many seeds so is not popular commercially. There was also a Mamey Sapote tree. The sign under it said the taste was similar to pumpkin, sweet potato and marachino cherries with the texture of an avocado.  Why on earth would anyone want to eat something that tasted like that???

This Mariachi band was in the Mexican Garden

 This guy might look nice and fuzzy but notice the spines.  Ouch!

There was an avenue of these cork trees in this area and more throughout the garden.

You could buy this sculpture for $11,000+ if you wanted to put it in your garden.  Sculptures by different artists were placed in the various gardens with the title, artist, and price to purchase on a placard. The most expensive was $50,000 and was just a shaped block of metal.  I much preferred this Matador.                                                                                This is an Orange Clock Vine 

Rosalind Hibiscus – it was a huge flower We saw hanging air plants like these in Ecuador. As we were walking past a huge Agave plant a couple pointed out this tiny hummingbird that was flitting around.  I couldn’t get a really good picture of it; it wouldn’t stay still long enough that  my camera could lock on a focus.  As we were leaving the garden the couple called us over to their vehicle. They had a bird book and had looked it up.  It was a Rufus Hummingbird, which is the smallest of the hummingbird species. This is called a strawberry tree, obviously for the blossoms. Hummingbirds really like the nectar in them.

The Hamilton’s Children’s Garden contained a “Spell and Smell” Garden where they had a plant for every letter of the alphabet.

They also had an amazing tree house!  

This is the blossom of an Island Mallow. 

 Well, if you made it to the end:  Good for you.  I believe I mentioned in a prior blog that I like to photograph flowers. This is the proof.  We had a good afternoon anyway.

Day 19 – January 29 – Carlsbad, CA – Day 14

Because we had gone out THREE DAYS IN A ROW! we didn’t do much today.   It was our son’s birthday so we were up early – for us – and had a one hour face-to-face talk via Skype with him in Muscat, Oman.  At his house it was 8 pm so his birthday was almost over and yet it was just beginning for us.  Time zones are interesting.

We have friends coming for lunch and a visit tomorrow so I needed to get a few groceries.  Mid-afternoon we decided to go down to the beach and take a stroll, see if we could find a couple of caches, and get our groceries on the way home.

We had no luck finding the caches.  One was supposed to be hidden in a brush/tree ‘bower’ but we couldn’t find it.  We still had over 200 meters to walk along the shore to get to the second one and the tide was coming in quite quickly so we decided to turn back while there was still beach to walk on.

I like the fine foam left on the sand when the wave receded. This clump of black rocks had steaks of black on the sand deposited by the incoming waves.  

Right after I snapped the above photo a wave came in and buried my feet in water.

Motto: Don’t turn your back on the ocean. 

A perfect footprint in the sand.We had a nice walk up and down the beach, got our groceries, BBQ’d some steaks for dinner and are now settled in for a quiet evening.

Day 18 – January 28 – Carlsbad, CA – Day 13

WARNING: LONG BLOG, LOTS OF PHOTOS.

When I checked out things to see and do in the Carlsbad area one of the places was the historic Mission San Luis Rey de Francia about a half hour north in Oceanside.  I had heard of the Mission but I couldn’t remember when or where or whether it was from history class, cowboy books, or movies or what.

The Missson probably featured prominently in American history class and I am sure it was also mentioned in many books and movies but in the last room of the museum there were two painted wooden doors attached to the wall and above them was a poster promoting the 1957 Disney-produced television series “Zorro.”  Disney used the Mission for a regular set in the series; the helpful Friar Felipe was a member of the Franciscan Monks who lived and worked at Mission San Luis Rey.  The Disney studio used the doors for the TV series and they also put a skull and crossbones above the entrance to the cemetery, which is still there today.  I loved Zorro – well I really loved his black horse, but he was good too. Childhood memories Chapter 2!

Although the series was the most popular show on its Thursday night time slot it was pulled after only two years (1957-1959) due to legal wranglings between Disney Studios and the ABC Network.

Mission San Luis Rey de Francia (named after French King Louis IX) was nicknamed the King of Missions and was the 18th of 21 missions constructed along the Alta California coast to claim land for Spain and establish a presence in the New World to thwart the threat of Russian encroachment.  Of the original 21 missions 18 are still standing.  The missions stretched along the coast from the Mexican border to north of San Francisco; each one built the distance a horse could travel in a day from the next.  The first was built in 1769 and the last in 1823.  San Luis Rey was dedicated June 13, 1798.

When Spain decided to protect it’s interest in Alto California by building the missions it was a three-pronged venture.  The missions were homes to soldiers who could provide security, the various orders of monks could spread Catholicism to the native Indians of the area (there were not many Spaniards in the New World so Spain decided to colonize with the indigenous people), and the Indians could be taught new skills so they could become productive citizens for Spain.

During the 34 years, from the day of dedication until he left in January 1832, Father Antonio Peyri was in charge of the Mission.  In that time it became home to 3,000 Indians and the Mission cared for more than 50,000 head of livestock.  Vast areas of land surrounding the Mission were brought under cultivation; producing grapes, oranges, olives, wheat and corn.  The Indians and monks made all kinds of goods and products that were needed for the work at the Mission and could be traded for things they needed.

Small basket made of pine needles.  

I love the way the posts in the room were chiseled a bit to make a decorative feature.

When we were in Spain in 2012 on the Grand Mediterranean Cruise we took a tour up the mountain to Caravacas, a medieval monastery where we heard the  story of the miracles attributed over the centuries to the original Caravaca cross.  It was interesting to see a small version that had been brought by the Franciscan monks.

During the heyday of the Mission there were shops for blacksmiths, locksmiths, ironworkers, tailors, leather workers, shoemakers, saddlers and harness makers, carpenters and joiners, coopers (barrel makers), and rooms for carding, looms and weaving.  There was a pharmacy, infirmaries for men, ladies and children, a school, a school of music, and a wine cellar,

After California was ceded to Mexico the Mission was abandoned in 1846, it’s lands given to settlers, it’s buildings looted of any goods and useable building materials.  Over the years there were several restorations and subsequent abandonment.  When California became part of the United States in 1850 the Catholic Bishop of California petitioned to have all the Missions returned to the Church.  March 18, 1865 after twelve years of lobbying President Abraham Lincoln signed the proclamation – only a month before his assasination.  The original document is in the Mission museum.

There has been ongoing restoration and archaeological work at the site ever since.  There are still Franciscan Monks living and working at the Mission and the property is used as a retreat center.  The local Luiseno Indians hold their annual pow wow on the grounds.

A sign on the wall in the museum mentioned that there is still an active cemetery here.  I chuckled a bit at that; most cemeteries are not all that active.  But people are still being buried at San Luis Rey.  There is a large cemetery with family crypts, walls for cremated remains and grave plots.  We explored the church as soon as we arrived and then went to the museum.  When we came out of the museum we saw a hearse parked in front of the church and mourners in black wheeling a flag-draped coffin inside for a funeral service.  When we went to look at the cemetery there were more than a dozen US Marines preparing to provide military honours.

The church was the first building to be completed and the first one worked on during any resorations.  It took four years to build and all the designs on the walls, door frames, etc. are hand painted.

We wandered all over the grounds checking out the old foundations of the soldier’s barracks and the Lavanderia – the bathing and laundry area.  It was a gorgeous sunny day so I was a happy photographer.

The oldest pepper tree in California viewed through the original carriage gate.

Ruins of the soldiers barracks.

It was 1:30 when we left Mission San Luis Rey.  We had lunch and then drove back toward Carlsbad along the El Camino Real road.  One of the intersecting roads is Marron on which is the entrance to the eastern half of Hosp Grove Park.  Since it was still early we pulled in and went geo-cache hunting.  There were four caches hidden here and we found them all.  This part of the park is much larger than the side we explored before so it was after 4 pm when we got back to the truck.  We called it a day and headed back to the condo.

This large very smoothly round rock looked like an egg. We also found a small one that I picked up to bring home for our great niece who loves rocks.

Day 17 – January 27 – Carlsbad, CA – Day 12

At the end of Monday’s blog I said tomorrow would be an awesome day and that we had PLANS.   Those plans were not the visit we made to the Leo Carrillo Ranch.  Tuesdays PLAN was changed due to 30 mph off-shore winds that cancelled our hot air balloon ride.  Thankfully the weather co-operated today and we soared into the sky!

Awesome, awesome day!  I have always wanted to take a balloon ride so I guess if I actually had a bucket list I would be able to cross that item off.

There were ten guests on the flight plus one crew and the pilot.  The basket will actually hold 14 guests but that would be a bit crowded.  With only ten we were two people to a section so we all had room to turn around and gawk in all directions.

A big fan blows air into the balloon once it is stretched out on the tarps.
 

If you need to straighten cables and such just walk right in. When it is all ready the gas from the tanks in the basket are turned on and the hot air fills the balloon which causes it to rise.

And then the crew works like the dickens to make sure it doesn’t rise into the air until all the passengers get in the basket.

As our balloon was being filled another basket and guests arrived and began to prepare for their flight.  They followed several hundred yards behind and cruised to a landing just past our basket.

There is no door to enter the basket.  There are some holes in the sides where you place your feet to climb over the side and in.

We reached a maximum height of 3600′ on our ride and had great views.  The route took us over the swanky Del Mar area of the San Diego coast.  The largest house in the area is 56,000 sq. feet.  Many of those we flew over had to be 40,000 or so.  There were swimming pools and tennis courts galore, riding stables and jumping courses, putting greens and massive landscaped yards.  What a person needs all that square footage for I can’t fathom.  Unless they are entertaining they probably live in about 4 of the rooms.

The first building we flew over was this school.  All the kids yelled hello and waved.

We startled a small herd of deer.

This race track, stables and all the cleared land belongs to Bill Gates.

We are coming in for a landing and here comes our chase vehicle and crew. While the crew member that rode with us and the two from the chase vehicle gathered up the balloon and the tarps and put it all into big bags Jeff, our pilot, told us a brief history of ballooning.

Two brothers in France in the early 1780’s noticed how smoke rose into the air and drifted away.  They decided to build a balloon that utilized this hot air and become the first people to fly.  After much experimenting with small ones they made a balloon large enough to hold people.  Not sure what would happen to the human body once it became airborne they sent a rooster, a duck and a sheep aloft.

As the smoke-belching big balloon carrying unseen bleating, crowing and quacking critters flew across the countryside and descended to the ground the local peasants, thinking it was some type of new warfare or a satanic apparition, attacked it.

News of this successful venture soon made its way to the court of  King Louis XVI  and a demonstration flight was arranged.  It was witnessed by the King, Marie Antoinette and 130,000 spectators. The balloon with the animals inside flew two miles and landed safely.

It was suggested that prisoners from the Bastille would be good human guinea pigs since if they came to harm or were killed it was no loss. The king would not let Joseph-Michel and Jacques-Etienne Montgolfier (the inventors) ride so their knowledge would not be lost in the event of an accident.  On November 21, 1783 a chemisty/physics teacher and a military court officer petitioned the king to be allowed to go.  The teacher made the first flight alone and stayed aloft 4 minutes.  When the two men went they travelelled 5 1/2 miles and flew for 25 minutes.

The legend is that the king, when he heard about all the ruckus created by local people attacking the balloons that held the animals gave the Montgolfier brothers bottles of champagne to be carried by balloonists.  When they landed they would be able to prove they were French and friendly by offering some good French champagne to any of the people that came to see the balloon land. The tradition is carried on to this day and we were given champagne at the end of our flight as the fellows packed up.  The champagne is accompanied by the following toast:

“The winds have welcomed you with softness, the sun has blessed you with its warm hands.  You have flown so high and so well that God has joined you in your laughter and set you gently back into the loving arms of mother earth.”

The sun set as we drank our champagne.  How perfect a day was that!?

Day 16 – January 26 – Carlsbad, CA – Day 11

Every once in awhile you have a day that brings back fond childhood memories.  Today was a such a day.

This afternoon we drove to the Flying LC Ranch, once owned by Broadway/Movie actor Leo Carrillo.  The Flying LC is registered as a Designated California Historic Landmark and is on the National Register of Historic Places.

In 1937 Leo Carrillo purchased 1,700 acres of an old homestead property and began restoration work to create a place of retreat from the Hollywood hustle and bustle that also connected with the proud memories of his past and honoured the history of the land and previous owner’s lifestyle.  Two years later he bought a further 838 acres.

Over the years, after Leo and his wife passed away, their daughter sold parcels of the land for local development.  The final ten and half acres containing the hacienda and ranch buildings was gifted to the City of Carlsbad for a park.  The city subsequently purchased a further 17 acres, did extensive renovations to structurally and historically protect the buildings and opened the Leo Carillo Ranch Historic Park in 2003.

So….you ask, what does all this have to do with my childhood?

After a lengthy and successful career on Broadway and making 90 films Leo Carrillo, at the age of 70 was cast as Pancho, the sidekick to the Cisco Kid in the first children’s colour TV series.  I loved to watch the Cisco Kid.  Anything about cowboys and horses was right up my alley.  We watched a short ‘background’ film when we arrived at the ranch and on it was a clip from one of the episodes that I clearly remembered seeing on the TV.  During each episode there was always a moment when Pancho would say “Oh-h-h Cee-sco-o-o” and Cisco would respond, “Oh-h-h Pan-n-cho.”  To see the actors performing such an iconic scene was very nostalgic and heartwarming.

The ranch was called Rancho de los Quiotes (Ranch of the Spanish Daggers – a common name for the agave plant that grows extensively in the area) and the Flying C brand became known all over the state of Californina.  It became a full working ranch with over 600 head of cattle, dozens of horses, chickens, pigs, etc. and crops of corn, beans, avocado, citrus and wheat, oats and barley.  Peafowl also wandered the property and there were peacocks and peahens freely walking around even today.

We spent the afternoon wandering around checking out all the buildings and outdoor spaces.  Unfortunately the inside of the hacienda is only open on weekends but we peeked in a few windows as we were able.  The L-shaped house wasn’t all that large but Leo and Deedie held many gatherings at the ranch.  The large outdoor patios and BBQ spaces, along with the swimming pool, would have adequately met their entertainment needs.

Leo wife’s Edith (Deedie) was not as social as Leo and sometimes needed some ‘away’ time.  Leo had a small house built up on a hillside so she could retreat and work on her art projects in peace and quiet.

We had finished walking around and were heading in the general direction of the parking lot when I decided to check my phone and see if there were any geo-caches hidden at the park.  Lo and behold, yes there were.  There were four of them.  Unfortunately our phones wouldn’t download the details of the caches but our compasses worked and we were able to locate three of the four. We think we know now where the fourth one was hidden so we may just go back over that way one day and see if we can find it.

It was really fun to spend time at the favoured home of one of the remembered TV characters from my childhood.  The sun shone all day, the temperature was nicely comfortable and we walked along nice pathways with interesting visual and historic buildings.  To find some caches just iced the cake.

Day 15 – January 25 – Carlsbad, CA – Day 10

One of the things I find enjoyable about geo-caching is the unknown.  We look on the geo-cache map and if there is a series of caches in a row we go see if we can find them.  You never know what kind of terrain you will be in or what you may see along the way.

Today we decided to see how many we could find along a path that appeared to go from Poinsettia Lane down the hillside to Batiquitos Drive.  Poinsettia Lane is about two kilometers from the condo and the trail, which we found out was called Eucalyptus Grove Trail, was another two kilometers down to Batiquitos.  The entrance road to the resort complex is off Batiquitos Drive and then we had to climb a last kilometer back to our condo.  So, we got some exercise today.

We finished the puzzle last night.

I love how this ivy is growing like a flag banner on the wall.

We walked from the condo through the resort to the Aviara Parkway and folllowed it to Poinsettia Lane.  The first geo-cache was, according to the co-ordinates, straight down a steep embankment just off the roadway.  We walked up and down in each direction trying to find a trailhead without success.  While I was searching along the side of the road John clambered down the bank and looked for the cache.  A few minutes later he called up that he had found it.

Since I had not found an access to the trail I, too clambered down the embankment.  Once we had signed the log and logged the find we also found a trail.

 The Aviara Parkway is just beyond the trees at the top of the bank.

The caches were hidden along the trail about 150-200 meters apart.  It took us  two hours to walk all the way to Batiquitos Drive at the bottom.  We found all of them but one and we could have found it but our presence was annoying a couple of dogs in a yard below the trail so we decided to leave it.

We go down and then back up again.

We saw this interesting formation along the way.When we arrived at the bottom of the trail and Batiquitos Drive we were right across the road from the trail beside the lagoon that we had walked last week.  We decided to walk that way back as far as the Aviara Golf Club which is only a corner away from the entrance drive of the resort complex.

The sun was setting as we turned the last corner to the driveway and home again.

                                                                                                        This is a small portion of the geo-cache map for the Carlsbad area.You can see our successful finds by following the smiley faces.It was a good day.  And tomorrow will be an awesome one.  We have PLANS.

Days 13 & 14 – January 23 & 24 – Carlsbad, CA – Days 8 & 9

On Saturday the 23rd we drove north to the West Bistro restaurant, 15 minutes from our condo, and met our friends Charles and Evelyn who live in Westminster, CA in southwest LA. We met Charles and Evelyn in 2009 when they were seated at our table in the ship’s dining room for the World Cruise.

In early January 2009 we had flown to Fort Lauderdale, FL and boarded the Holland America ship MS Rotterdam to cruise through the Panama Canal and up to LA before the ship embarked on a 114-day cruise around the world.  The World Cruise that year began in Los Angeles and ended in New York City.  However, being somewhat OCD it did not compute with me to sail around the world by starting on one side of a continent and ending on the another.

The ship had been sailing a cruise route in the Caribbean and there was a ‘regular’ 14-day cruise to sail from Ft. Lauderdale, through the Panama and up to LA where the World Cruise officially started.  The second to last port of call at the end of the cruise was in Fort Lauderdale, so we added the 14-day Ft. Lauderdale to LA cruise onto our World Cruise and then got off in Ft. Lauderdale at the end and flew home again, thereby making an actual circumfrence of the globe.

Charles and Evelyn, since they live in the LA area, boarded the ship at the  beginning of the World Cruise.  We sat at the same table for almost 4 1/2 months with another couple from Florida. We all had a great time; lots of fun and laughter.  We met up with them again in 2012 when we both did the 67-day Grand Mediterranean cruise.

In January 2013  we drove down to Escondido, CA on one of our extended road trips and drove up the California coast from San Diego to LA and spent the night with Charles and Evelyn before driving over to the Grand Canyon and all the fabulous National Parks in southern Utah.

We had a two-hour lunch at the bistro and then they followed us back to the Four Seasons Aviara to check out our digs and continue our visit.

After Charles and Evelyn left to drive home John and I spent the rest of the afternoon working on the jigsaw puzzle. We only need to complete the head, legs and upper body of the Chocolate Lab whose outline forms the puzzle and it will be finished.

John had done an internet search and located Christ Presbyterian Church in the La Costa area of Carlsbad.  It was only a 15 minute drive from our resort. They have three services at Christ Presbyterian; a contemporary service at 9, a traditional service at 11 and a Korean congregation uses the building from 1-4.

CPC has an extensive child and youth program with Sunday School for all ages as well as weekday bible studies and fellowship groups. Between the contemporary and traditional services an open coffee bar is set up on the patio located between the church building and the fellowship/Sunday School building.

The minister has only been with the congregation for a year after having spent 23 years ministering in a congregation in Chicago.  Last January he challenged the members of the congregation to chose “one word” to be their spiritual focus during 2015.  In his sermon this morning he talked about how he put his word – embrace – into practice last year and shared some of the other words chosen by members and how they used their words for ministry or spiritual growth.

(All of the words chosen by people in 2015 were incorporated into this image in the bulletin. The largest words were chosen by the most people.)Next Sunday he will reveal his ‘one word’ for 2016 and the people have again been challenged to chose a word or short phrase for themselves for the year.  The object is to write out your word and post it on your fridge, your computer, your mirror – somewhere you will see it regularly and then direct the aspects of your life to utilize the word for the Lord.  I think it is a really good concept.  Even if you are not a person who attends a church it would be a good focus point for an area or aspect of your life where you would like to have improvement .  What would be your word for 2016?

Day 12 – January 22 – Carlsbad, CA – Day 7

When one wants to sit in the sunshine and read one’s book and the deck off the livingroom is in the shade, one must move to the bedroom deck and find the unshaded space. Ya gotta’ do what ya gotta’ do.

Meanwhile I was hard at work on the Loveable Labs puzzle.An unanticpated urge for some exercise had us leaving the condo at four o’clock.  We had noticed on the geo-cache map that there were several caches in a row just off the Aviara Parkway; which is a main road that runs along the top end of the resort.  We walked up the hill to the Parkway only to discover that the caches appeared to be inside a gated community.

We decided to walk up the road  aways and see if there was another access.  Just across the street there was a steep stairway going up the bank. At the top was one of the many trails in the area. We took note of the warning sign and, remaining mostly on the main path, we set out to find the caches.

The view at the top of the first point was pretty nice even with the evening smog rolling in.

We were only able to find two of the four caches that were hidden along this trail.  For the two we were unable to find there were a lot of DNFs (Did Not Find) posted on the geo-cache log site so we think they have been muggled (picked up by non-geo-cache folks – credit to J.K. Rowling for the word) or moved, or perhaps buried under some hydro-seeding that has taken place here recently.

There had obviously been a fire in the area as there were many gnarly, blackened shrubs and bushes.

We walked to the end of the trail and used the geo-cache maps on our phones to find the route back to the condo.  We travelled a nice loop actually and had a good walk.

As is usual for me I had to take photos of some pretty flowers along the way.

 As I was taking a picture of this flower the driver of a truck that had just come out of a nearby storage yard pulled over and asked me if I knew the name of the plant.  When I said no he told me it was called a Lemonade Plant as the Indians used it to make a lemonade-like drink.  
   By the time we were almost home the sun had set and it was getting dark.  This did create some nice silhouettes of the palm trees though.

It didn’t take us long to chop some veggies, dice some chicken and make a yummy stir-fry for dinner.

Day 11 – January 21 – Carlsbad, CA – Day 6

We left the condo at 11 to allow housekeeping to come in and do their thing.  We drove over to Hosp Grove Park where, I had read, you could wander around on the many trails and have a panoramic view from the top of the hill.

When we parked the truck in the parking lot we saw a sign pointing the way to the Buena Vista Lagoon Ecological Reserve and decided to cross the road and take a look.  We wandered up and down the only pathway we could find and realized the entire small wetland was fenced to protect the birds and plants from humans.  Fair enough.

We wanted to check for some geo-caches while we were at Hosp Grove but for some reason neither of our phones would load them.  Oh well, another day I guess. We walked along several trails and never did find one leading to a place with  a nice view; there were always tall eucalyptus trees in the way.

On the way back to the truck I saw a brochure for the park lying on the ground.  Turns out there are two sections to Hosp Grove Park.  I don’t know if the view was visible from the other part or not. We may come back and explore again.

The smog from LA rolled in while we were at Hosp Grove so the stop to watch the surfers and the beachcombers on the way back to the condo was also delayed until another a day.

Hosp Grove Park, by the way, was the first park in Carlsbad to have its trails created by volunteers.  The grove was created in 1908 by a nurseryman named F. P. Hosp who, along with some investors, planned to plant 219 acres of  eucalyptus trees to harvest for railway ties for the every-expanding-westward railways.  After they had planted 40,000 trees they learned that the wood of the eucalyptus – a fast growing, drought-tolerant tree – was not suitable for railway ties. Oops.

Over the years portions of the original acreage were sold for residential development.  In 1986 the City of Carlsbad purchased the remaining 53 acres for the city park and trail system.

Thus concludeth our excursion for the day.