Relaxing few days & visiting a dear old friend

We got a great site on a hillside at Guajome Regional Park, a lovely large park in northern San Diego county in Oceanside.  It was strange to see a few fall colors still on the the trees in January, but then again, probably stranger to see any fall colors here!

It was a quiet, peaceful place to work for a few days, enjoy the fresh air and sunshine, and hear the birds chirping (no doubt, fellow snowbirds like me!).

My main reason for staying in the area was to meet up with my best friend from high school, Sheri, who now lives out here and teaches junior high English.  She took me out to a fabulous Mexican restaurant and we spent hours catching each other up on the 10 years since we’d seen each other last.  It was great seeing my old friend again!

At the end of the week, I left Oceanside to head east over the mountains to Anza-Borrego Desert State Park.  It was a lovely drive comparing west coast orange groves to the ones I’d seen earlier in the winter in Florida


Within a few minutes of leaving the lush green hills of San Diego county, we came to the other side of the mountain range and a spectacular view of the Borrego desert valley.

The descent into the valley was slow going though—only 10 mph down some very tight switchbacks!

I stopped at the Visitor’s Center to get some boondocking recommendations, and the expert volunteers guided me to a terrific spot south of town up on a gravel embankment.  Even though it was Friday night, there was only 1 other camper in the area so we virtually had the place to ourselves to enjoy wonderful sunset skies.