Since having retired last October, I have on more than one occasion been chided for being on “perpetual vacation.” To that, I say, “What the heck’s wrong with a perpetual vacation??” After all, I worked long and hard to earn “time off for good behavior.” So why give it up so soon? Maybe I will get to that point eventually, but for now, I still enjoy “vacation mode.” Continue reading
It’s been over two months since my last blog post. One might think by now that I would be out of the habit of keeping the blog. And most days, they would be right. I often think I won’t update the blog again. It’s a waste of time. As Willie would sing, “You cain’t make a record if you ain’t got nuthin’ to say.” But if I am truthful with myself, I miss writing so much it hurts. Like so many things in my life, there doesn’t seem to be a middle ground. I have always preferred it that way. Anything but lukewarm mediocrity. So the mood swings from “Never again!” to “How could I possibly not? Continue reading
Defining moments…that split second in our lives when our path pivots, and we slowly begin to process that our lives have just changed forever…
I realize it seems ironic for someone with a public blog to say they are a “private person,” but I don’t typically share deeply personal matters here. However, after corresponding via this blog over the past couple of years, my followers have also become my friends. You are my community…my “tribe.”
So it is with deep heart wrenching sadness that I must tell you that my baby brother Stephen died suddenly this week. He was only 53 years young. He leaves behind a loving wife and two beautiful daughters, my only nieces. Continue reading
I have long said that San Diego has “absence of weather.” It is so damned near perfect here that I can’t even feel the air on my skin most times. When my friend Margie relocated from Manhattan to San Diego, I got annoyed with her always posting daily updates on Facebook to remind us all that the weather was “Sunny, 78 degrees, winds light and variable.” Continue reading
Long before arriving in San Diego, the emails were flying back and forth, discussing “What’s on your list while you are here?” Some of us had longer lists than others, while some had less time to hit the highlights. The intent was to stagger the activities so the hikes were left for the remaining hikers, while the bike rides were reserved for the arrival of the bikers. Continue reading
I did four hikes while in San Diego, all varying degrees of interest, scenic beauty, and difficulty. The breweries, on the other hand, were all consistently good. Continue reading
Jim and Gayle were two weeks ahead of me in San Diego. I was sitting out a hailstorm in McDowell Mountain Regional Park when Jim sent the report that “Sprouts has 88 cent blackberries, beer flows from the tap, and the streets are paved with gold here.” It was all I could do to keep from scrapping my Topo Map course and high-tailing it to San Diego two weeks earlier than planned.
But the one story they told that intrigued me more than anything was riding their bikes to a brewery! Continue reading
I am woefully behind on my blog, as usual. I am just now telling of an arrival in San Diego, while the rest of my friends and fellow bloggers have long moved on. So the next five posts will be short on prose, as I attempt to capture the essence of my two weeks in San Diego in subtitles…
First up…The Markets. And Beer! Continue reading
I bid a sad farewell to the Sonoran Desert with a lump in my throat, and drove over the hills and through the woods to meet up with my posse at the Viejas Casino in Alpine, CA, where we would overnight and descend en masse on San Diego the following day. Continue reading
It’s my last day in the Sonoran desert. I want one last beautiful scenic hike before I go, so I ask my favorite volunteer at the Visitor Center, the man who swore me in as a “Desert Ranger,” about his favorite hike. “You want scenic? Without a doubt…the Bull Pasture.” Continue reading