California Bound

The truck is packed and Lynn is ready to go.  We made the decision to drive to his national conference this year which was being held in San Diego.  After a 3 drive down, then 5 nights there, we are going to meander up the coast, then cut inland and cruise through the Napa Valley to see if it looks like an area that we could live in. 
I packed some picnic type stuff in a cooler so that we could do our daytime meals at rest stops, which worked out really great.

We got into San Diego right on time.  I sure do love the GPS feature of my phone.  Gas prices were right around the $4 a gallon mark.  We tried to hit Costco's along the way, also nice to use the GPS for that. 

When Lynn is busy in his meetings, I get out and about in whatever city we are in.  San Diego, it turns out has a wonderful light rail system.  Right across the street from our hotel was a station.  This is a photo I took from inside the train.  It is a great way to check out the city. 

I love checking out new flora in different areas.  Here is a nice shot of some of the native greenery, again, taken from the train window.

While stopped for a few minutes, I happened to glance down at the rails, and had a bit of a giggle to think that those two little metal strips were holding
the ties together....

One day I took the train, and a bus out to a wonderful little knit shop.  Found a great project and bought some yarn to make a gift for Krista.  I wish I had gotten some photos of this shop to share. 

Once back in the city, I kept my trusty camera with me.  This was an amazing PURPLE tree!!   

I haven't yet found anyone to tell me what kind of tree this is....

This is how the malls work in southern California.  Outdoors. 







And I thought this was a FABULOUS idea.  People really were playing checkers and chess together with this big painted boards, and large pieces. 





Can you see these orange flowers on this cool tree???



And the trunk and branches were amazing too.




I did get a close up of the flowers, just love it!

I caught just the last moment of this beautiful sunset, from our hotel window on the last night of our stay in San Diego. 

Tomorrow, I'll post some photos of the trip heading back up the coast.