Crib and Friends

Ed and Ron have been enjoying some crib games. Glen and Leah arrived with our mail and we went to the Aqua Caliente for their Shrimp night. I thought the prawns Glen brought us from Haida Gwai were something but these were huge!

Christmas Dinner

We went to Aqua Caliente, a local casino for a lovely Christmas buffet dinner, including complimentary champagne. Here's Mike, Michel, Sandy, me, Ed, Ron and Maureen. We all did some gambling and I worked my earnings up to $100.00 on a 2 cent machine.

Christmas Eve Party

16 of us gathered for a Appy party and gift exchange tonight. If someone likes your gift better than the one they get, they can trade it. Lots of fun.

Happy Hour for Christmas

We had a great visit with Don and Lila, Mike and Willy and Jo.

Cabot Yerxa's Pueblo Museum

We went to this attraction today on Miracle Hill in Desert Hot Springs. It is so named because of 2 wells Cabot dug out, about 600 yards from each other. One produced hot water, the other, cold water. This man is known as the person who discovered this area with the hot, curative mineral waters and world famous, award winning drinking water there is. He was a merchant and adventurer and built his home after the Hopi pueblos. This 5000 sq. ft. structure was built with salvaged materials. It has 35 rooms, 150 windows and 65 doors. Unfortunately it had rained and the Museum had a leak so we couldn't tour it today. His trading Post and Gallery featured many local artists 0 very interesting.

Christmas Spirit

Well we're getting into the mood for the holiday season. I put up our little silver tree which I added Mickey Mouse ears to this year. We put the lights up outside so it is looking festive.

Torrey Pines Beach

This is actually in Del Mar, home of the famous race track, Del Mar Thoroughbred Club, opened by Bing Crosby and Pat O'Brien in 1937. The State Natural Reserve is a 1750 acre natural habitat of the rare Torrey Pine which Pacific winds often twist into unusual shapes. We played at the beach where the surf is always up before heading down to Old Town San Diego and the Gaslamp Quarter. We had lunch at Fred's Mexican Restaurant, a delight. We enjoyed the swimming pool and hot tub before we went to the Fish Market for a delicious dinnner. We toured the Del Mar Track for their Light Festival on our way home.

Sea World

This is an amazing place. We started with touching and feeding the bat rays (like a sting ray). They feel like slimy rough rubber. The kids overcame their fears and then held little fish between their fingers so the rays could come by and eat out of their hands. We saw the dolphins, then the Shamu whale show. It was just delightful and the whales have even been trained to splash the first 12 rows which gave everyone a laugh. We loved the shark house where you see them in the water and then walk through a glass tunnel through the middle of all the sharks. The penguins were delightful and puffins next door - walking, swimming and everything else. The dolphin show was incredible with acrobats, aerial artists, divers, staff swimming with the dolphins and birds flying in unison.

Birch Aquarium at Scripps

Institution of Oceanography was our outing today. Walking up the sidewalk to enter was an experience - it said -Stay on the walk, avoid rattlesnakes.
This world renowned research center is amazing. You could actually see these hooded jellies gathering the plankton into their mouths. We saw the Kelp Forest Tank where these 'amber forests' shelter hundreds of marine life species. The different fish and coral from all over the world hare beautiful colours. We saw seahorses and the different species are 1/2" to 12" in size. We saw their Nursery where the Males get pregnant, the only animal that does this. They have outdoor tidal pools similar to ours in B.C.

San Diego Zoo

We had a great day here, one of the largest zoos in the world with more than 4,000 animals representing 800 species. We started with the narrated bus touring the whole park. Next we took the aerial tramway over the Gorilla Tropics, the rain forest canopy for 1/3 mile where there are over 700,000 plants representing more the 6,500 species. We landed at the Elephant Odyssey, and saw many animals including the rhinoceros, the most dangerous animal. The polar bears were playing in the water when we looked down on them from the 2 storey bus and were sunning, eating carrots when we toured Polar Bear Plunge. This is a re-creation of their summer tundra habitat complete with pool with underwater viewing. We loved the giraffes with the 1 year old baby which was 6' tall when born, the pink flamingos which are pink from eating pink shrimp ( the lady said if they were fading, they topped them up with pink cotton candy - just kidding). The Giant Panda Research Station was my favourite. They can grow to 330 lbs and eat 80 lbs of bamboo a day. We had a wonderful day.

A Train Ride

We caught the Amtrak today down to San Diego. It was about a 2 hour ride and we cruised right along the ocean the latter part. It was cool seeing surfers and the waves. We met Opa at the gate to the Del Mar Beach Club where we are staying in a ocean view 2 storey condo. We drove up 101 to have a wonderful dinner at The Beachhouse overlooking the ocean. We carefully watched the sun set and ron, Hana and I even glimpsed the green flash as it sunk into the ocean.

More of the Magic Kingdom

Disneyland truly is. We loved seeing Nemo from the submarine and a giant oyster with a pearl inside, the teacups at the Tea Party, sailing through the whale's mouth into Storyland, and the Mark Twain river boat cruise. The girls designed their own Mickey Mouse hats and they are great.

Disneyland Today

We were first in the gate again and what a pleasure - no lineups for rides. Suzanne had signed us up for Fastpasses ( just like Nexus) and what a treat. James, our runner, would get these passes and we were assigned a time to come back, bypass the lineup, just like comps at Vegas and on we'd go. We started with the Matterhorn which I hoped the Engineers had checked the mechanism lately, very fast and sharp turns. Flying dumbo was a hit for Trey, Autopia, driving cars for Lexi, the Jungle Cruise and Suzanne and Hana were invited to sing with the strolling band. We loved Mainstreet and the 90' Christmas Tree with Christmas balls as big as our heads. We stayed for the parade and then fireworks -they were beautiful, choreographed like a ballet.