Borrego Springs, CA

These lovely horses greeted us as we drove into town.

Our main focus when we decided to make a side trip to Borrego Springs was to visit our cruising friends, John & Rosie of M/V Serena Ray. They sold their boat, sold their house in rainy Washington and purchased a lovely home in Borrego Springs, CA this summer. It wasn’t far off our intended track from San Diego to Tucson so we decided to make the little detour to see our friends and some new territory.

The beautiful mountains surrounding Borrego Springs.

What a nice surprise. 

The road through the mountains is very narrow and winding but after riding 12,000+ miles with Chris I have decided to stop worrying about how close we are to the edge and just enjoy the scenery. And beautiful the scenery is here. 

Scorpion and Grasshopper facing off.

I am really not much of a “desert person” but there is something really, really pretty about this area of south central California. 

Borrego Springs is a very small settlement in the middle of the Anza-Borrego Desert State Park that was, quite clearly, a big seabed a bazillion years ago. The mountains surrounding it are truly spectacular and it is California’s first Dark Sky Community which means the community has very few lights. It is a prime spot to view the night sky. This seems to be a prime location for hikers and bicyclers and, based on the number of golf courses and out of state license plates I’d guess it is a major snowbird destination. According to Rosie, most of the residents leave during the summer since the temperatures can exceed 120°. Makes perfect sense to me…especially since that is exactly why we don’t spend summers in Mexico!

Chris enjoying a cold beer. The temperature was a perfect 80-ish.

We stayed at one of the nicest RV parks we have been in to date – complete with golf course, pool and mineral spring hot tub. 

Golf course at the end of our row.

The park is beautifully laid out with almost all pull through sites and the utilities perfectly situated. The only thing we would improve on is the spaces are crushed gravel and, while they are neat, level and attractive, Abby would have appreciated a spot of grass.

Our one day stay was full to the brim. We met our friend, Rosie, in town first thing in the morning and she loaned us a map of the Ricardo Breceda statuary that is scattered throughout the desert and a book about the artist & his work. 

Chris admiring the 4-tusked elephants!

Many of these impressive metal sculptures are depictions of animals that currently exist (horses, peccary, scorpion, etc.) but others are critters that are now extinct such as

Veloceraptors in the desert!

 dinosaurs, giant sloths, etc. many of which left their bones behind in this area. 

Giant Sloths...mother & baby.

Some are mythical like the 350' Sea Serpent...or is it?

Sea Serpent

We drove from sculpture to sculpture admiring the work and taking lots of photos.

My favorite was the bird on the nest. This was the largest flight-capable bird in North America. It stood 4 ft. tall and had a wingspan of 16-17 ft. 3 of the 6 fossils found of this guy were found in Anza-Borrego with the oldest dating back 3.5 million years ago. FYI, it was a predator! 

Our next stop was the Anzo-Borrego Store to purchase a copy of the book Rosie had loaned us as well as a few other little trinkets. 

That evening we drove out to John & Rosie’s for a wonderful dinner prepared by Chef John and a few hours of wine and conversation. It was great to see them again. One of the best things about the cruising life is the wonderful friendships that are made with likeminded adventurers. 

The next morning we were off to Tucson but we loved Borrego Springs and plan to return another time for a lengthier stay.

Southbound, so far

Enjoying the sunshine in San Diego!

Up until we reached San Diego, this year’s trip south has been very pleasant.

The southbound migration has begun!

We began with a short jaunt to one of our favorite places: Pacific City, OR. It wasn’t really on the way but we hadn’t been to the beach in a while and it isn’t all that far out of the way so we went for it. It turned out to be a good choice. The weather was perfect and we were able to have lunch AND dinner at the Pelican Pub. Deee-licious!

 

Southern California beaches are the best.

The next day we made our regular stop in Sutherlin, OR to visit my daughter’s family. Grandson, Anthony, had a football game scheduled for that evening but it was cancelled at the last minute. We’d have enjoyed watching the game but it did allow us more time to visit. Anthony just turned 12 and his growth spurt over the summer has him now standing a full head above his mother.

Volleyball courts on Huntington Beach.

After an overnight stop in Red Bluff, CA (where it was warm enough to wear shorts) we were off to Pismo Beach to visit relatives and do a little beach walking. From there it was just a short run to Huntington Beach (“Surf City USA”) to see my sister who recently moved there. I’d never been to this particular beach before and it was a wonderful treat. The beach itself is long and flat and, as with several California beach towns, a pier extends quite a distance out over the water. We walked all the way to the end where we stood in the warm sunshine watching the surfers and fisherpersons for a while. Just across the street from the pier is a very cute, boutique-y shopping area and several excellent restaurants. We picked a brew pub with outdoor seating and great sandwiches and beer.  We are looking forward to making more visits here. I think we’ll stay longer next time.

Surfers waiting for the perfect wave in Huntington Beach.

Just before we arrived in San Diego one of my teeth began to let me know it was unhappy. I really prefer my teeth to be effective and q-u-i-e-t but as we got closer to San Diego this darn tooth just kept getting louder. By the time we got settled here I was pretty miserable and had no intention of leaving until the problem was diagnosed and corrected. A dentist was recommended by some friends who live here and he discovered the tooth had a crack that was apparently all the way to the nerve. He referred me to an Endodontist ($$$) for a root canal who, during the course of his exam, discovered that the tooth next to it had a problem as well. So…two root canals later I was back at the original dentist’s office for “onlays” which are kind of like mini-crowns. I must say, it was fascinating to watch as he “built” these two new teeth for me. He has a CAD program on his computer where he creates a custom fit cap for the tooth and then hits “OK” and the computer actually BUILDS the new crown while you wait. And, they are quite beautiful!

The owners have as much fun as the dogs.

San Diego's original dog beach.

In between all the dental work we’ve managed to do a few fun things. We have made several trips to the boat candy stores…we took Abby to the dog beach…we went to see the new Tom Hanks film…we visited several friends…and we got a lot of reading done. The nice thing about San Diego is that even being “stuck” here was a pleasure because the sun was shining and the temperature was warm.

Abby: "DUDE! Do you realize you are IN the water?!"

 

So…thus far it has been an “interesting” (and very expensive) trip south. Today we are off to Borrego Springs, CA to visit friends and check out all the metal sculptures in the desert. Watch for pictures in the next post!