VACATION - We found the Pacific Ocean! It was waiting there for us all the while….

(this post is about Saturday, March 19, 2011)

Yes, it was time to take a day trip with the doggers.  We packed up the Tracker with a few supplies and headed off on a very picturesque route around the lower portion of the Salton Sea, then up and over the Vallecito and Santa Rosa Mountains. We drove through parts of the Anzo Borrego Desert State Park.  The views were absolutely breathtaking and it was an adventure to see what was around the next bend.   This route on Highway 78 is NOT recommended for motorhomes! 

There was a storm rolling in across the mountains… and only a splattering of rain on our windshield.

Many of the flowers were blooming in the desert and we saw just the beginning buds opening on cactus and trees along the roadsides.

Soon we were crawling along twisty turn roads among huge hills of rocks and stones at the top!

I want you to know that I snapped about 3 gazillion pictures--- and it’s very hard to only chose a FEW to put on the blog!   So please indulge me in my fanaticism????

The tiny town of Ramona was still up in the clouds!  

 

Duke and Ducky slept the whole way in the back seat, not too interested in the scenery or mountains….

 

Soon we came down into the oceanside town of Del Mar… and our route 78 took us right into town, and right up to the ocean’s shore at a dead end street!!!   Can you believe that?   

There it was:  The Pacific Ocean!

 

 

It was waiting for us, just where it was supposed to be.  Wasn’t that nice?

I got out and snapped a few pics, and then we drove along the shore a few blocks and found a beach area that allowed dogs~!   Then even north of there was an OFF leash area for doggers to run free!  Boy oh boy, did we ever luck out to find such a place on our first try. 

And yes, we did the “Tourist Thing” with getting someone else to snap our photo… tee heeeee

We strolled up the beach, hand in hand, with our doggers frisking around us.

Palm trees and beach houses lined the shores, but the wide sandy beaches were a main walkway for everyone and their dogs. 

It was cooler than most of the locals would like it, I think.  But for US it was wonderful!

The doggers sure had a GREAT  time!!!!

 

Saw these two little guys having their adventure, and just HAD to take a pic

 

Yes, we played Beach Bums for the day….

 

I dipped my toes in, and yes, I do this every time for my little brother, Umpee.   My sister Linda prints it out for him…. just to rub it in.  LOL

 

These little shore birds, I think they are grebes?  Kept running around in groups, oblivious to the dogs.

 

All too soon it was time to head back to The Slabs.  We did our very first ever Jack In The Box for lunch, which Steve ordered some kind of spicy chicken sandwich and I got the Grilled Deli Trio.  It was almost like the Mufflaletta sandwiches from New Orleans!   All it needed was a bit of ground up olives as a relish.

 

We took Interstate 8 back to the east, to see a different bit of scenery.  And WOWZER we sure did!  Suddenly it went from the normal looking mountains into piles and piles of huge boulders!  Yes, the mountains were piles of boulders with no dirt or trees or plants.  Just rocks and rocks and more and more rocks!   

 

It went on like this for miles and miles as we climbed up to over 4,000 ft above sea level. It was like someone dumped huge piles of boulders outta the sky and let them pile up in mountainous mounds!

 

When we started to come down the other side, the rocks became compacted solid rock walls, with stripes of alternation grey and red stone.  Amazing!

We made it through, finding ourselves suddenly on the flat valley floor again, with green irrigated crops as far as the eye could see.   It is so strange that in a mere 10 or 20 miles, the terrain changes so drastically.

 

We saw this being towed along the way… and stopped next to them at a stoplight and asked what year?  It’s a 1927 Chevrolet touring sedan, last licensed in 1953.

   

 

Soon the Chocolate Mountains loomed up in the distance,

and we knew we were almost home.  Home being our motorhome…at The Slabs!

 

274 miles travelled in the Tracker

no miles in the motorhome