This trip from January 22, 2025 to February 09, 2005 took us from San Diego, CA, to Joshua Tree, CA and Palm Springs, CA. It involved lots of walking, eating, sight seeing, and playing games in bars. It was a welcome break from the single digit temperatures in Green Bay, WI.

Wed – Jan 22, 2025 We were picked up at 5:00am by Ed Tucker to take us to the airport. The flight left on time to Minneapolis where we spent a relaxing 4 hours waiting for the flight to San Diego. That flight departed and arrived on-time, as well. We took an Uber from the airport to our hotel and were able to check in early (around 2:00pm). We found a seafood restaurant (The Fish Market) in walking distance to our downtown motel so we decided to walk there for happy hour and eat happy hour food for supper. Walking to The Fish Market took us right by the USS Midway. We played Qwirkle and Cribbage while enjoying a Lobster and Crab roll, a raw Tuna roll, and a Cobb salad. Walked back to the hotel before dark to relax in the room and get to bed early. STAY:  San Diego, Hampton Inn- Downtown

Thur – Jan 23, 2025 We spent the morning in the room before leaving at 10:15 to walk about a mile to the San Diego Walking Food Tour with Secret Food Tours at 11:00 (our tour guide was Doug). The tour was in the Gaslamp area and took us to six different and varied restaurants in the area. We started at Gaslamp Lumpia where we sampled 3 different types of Filipino lumpia before heading to The Melt and their ½ Waugu and ½ Angus beef with Cheddar cheese (this was Carl’s favorite place on the tour). We then headed to Centro Taco for Baja Fish Tacos with corn tortillas made in the store that day. Now it was time for a drink so they took us to Tiger Cafe for their signature drink, Tiger Eye. It was made with Espresso, Coconut, and Matcha (which is a tea) and was an excellent drink. Our next stop was Taqueria Los Chuchys where we were served an enormous California Burrito. What makes it a California Burrito, you ask? The addition of french fries and cheese (which neither Lori nor Carl enjoyed). We did, however, save most of it cause we were getting full and bring it to the room to eat later. Our last stop (Lori’s favorite) was Cali Cream where we had ice cream. The tour ended around 2:00 and since we were close we walked to Petco Field, the home of the San Diego Padres. Along the way we stopped at Ghirardelli Chocolate and a Doc Suess art gallery. Spent the evening relaxing in the hotel room – not eating anything – still full from the food tour. STAY:  San Diego, Hampton Inn – Downtown

Fri, Jan 24 Plan for the day is to walk to Balboa Park and the San Diego Zoo. The walk from our hotel to Balboa Park was a bit over 2 miles with a good part of it being uphill. Headed to the visitor’s center to figure out what there was to do in Balboa Park along with the zoo. The docent at the visitor’s center told us about a 11:00 free, docent-led walk that explored the history of the Park. Since it was 10:15 we decided to do that and then the free museums (4 of them) that the docent pointed out to us. We decided to save the Zoo for another day. The docent walk was informative and lasted till 12:15. After that we visited the Spanish Village Art Center, The Timken Museum of Art and Museum of Photographic Arts (which was unfortunately under development and had no photos). We timed our visits to arrive at the Museum of Us so we could do the Tower Tour at 2:00. Museum of Us was just OK but the Tower was interesting. On our walk back we headed through Little Italy and decided to stop at Ristorante Illando for Cribbage, wine, and dinner. All was excellent. Spent the evening in the hotel room. STAY:  San Diego Hampton Inn – Downtown

Sat, Jan 25 We woke up to an air quality warning for San Diego (normal quality has been 50ish, now it was over 150 and in the red). Fortunately, the air quality improved to “normal” by 10:00am so we could walk to the farmer’s market in LIttle Italy (about 3 blocks from our hotel). We were blown away by the size (big) and the variety of products being offered. We bought Avocado honey (has a molasses flavor), a Cherimoya (fruit we still haven’t tasted), two packages of lentil snacks (which we plan to use on Caesar salads, and three small jars of fresh peanut butter (for Megan and Buddy). After a short rest in the hotel we headed to the waterfront for a Best of the Bay Harbor Boat tour. It was a 90 minute tour of the harbor area with the military ships being of particular interest. On the walk home we stopped at Brigatine Seafood and Oyster Bar for an early supper, Cribbage, and drinks. We spent a relaxing evening in the hotel room. STAY:  San Diego Hampton Inn – Downtown

Sun, Jan 26 Rode the train to Old San Diego where there were a number of stores and a State Park. The first thing we did was an olive oil tasting and got a recommendation to visit the olive ranch that also does wine tasting. After walking through several stores we came upon a store doing beer, wine, and mimosa tastings. I did a wine tasting and Lori did the mimosas. Played a game a Quirkle. By now the light rain had ended so we walked through the shops in the State Park. There was an excellent blacksmith demo and he explained how he made a “snake” from a farrier’s file. Rode the train back (excellent both ways) and relaxed for an hour in our room before heading to Puerto La Boca, an Argentinian restaurant, in Little Italy – about 5 blocks from our hotel. Excellent food. Came back to the hotel and relaxed for the evening. STAY:  San Diego Hampton Inn – Downtown

Mon, Jan 27 Our main activity for the day was planned to be a private tour of the USS Midway Aircraft carrier beginning at 10:00am. After the short walk to the USS Midway we met our tour guide and, to our surprise, we were the only ones on the tour. We were able to skip the line, however, that is where the value of the guide ended. Our guide basically added no additional info, very disappointed. After 1.5 hours with her we were on our own. We did the tower tour, the “launch” talk, and the “recover” talk by docents. All were excellent. All in all we spent 4 hours on the aircraft carrier. Afterwards we walked to the Seaport Village, nothing special, and then returned to The Fish Market where we had dinner our first night. We were attracted to the Cobb salad. Played cribbage before heading to the room to relax. STAY: San Diego Hampton Inn – Downtown

Tues, Jan 28 Walked a short distance to catch a bus ($1.25 for old people) to the San Diego Zoo. Zoo was everything we had been told – a very good zoo. We sat in for the noon, 1:00, and 2:00 shows. Caught the bus back to where we caught it. Both rides were excellent in clean, efficient buses. While walking back to the hotel we decided to stop at King and Queen Cantina for Tuesday Tacos. Excellent food, excellent service. Lori won cribbage and Hive. Relaxed in the room for the evening. STAY:  San Diego Hampton Inn – Downtown

Wed, Jan 29 We walked (about a block) to the Budget car rental store to pick up our compact car. None available so we were given a Chevy Pacifica van. Drove to the Temecula Olive Oil Farm outside of Temecula where we did a quick olive oil tasting, purchased a glass of wine, and played a game of Cribbage. Checked into the hotel and then walked to the restaurant, Goat and Wine, which had been recommended by the owner at Temecula Olive Oil Farm. Food was excellent and we got in another game of Cribbage. The hot tub in the hotel is not working! STAY:  Temecula, Hampton Inn and Suites

Thur, Jan 30 We took the “long” way to Joshua Tree National Park. The “long” way took us up and over the San Jacinto Mountains on a windy road with nice views. We headed to the Cottonwood Visitor Center. Not much in this area but we did learn about a ranger led hike at 3:00pm so we headed to Cap Rock where the hike began. The hike was short (¼ mile) but we did learn some interesting facts about the Joshua Tree (it’s not a tree, rather a Yucca plant). After the hike, we left the park and went to Walmart for food before heading to our VRBO, right outside the North entrance to the park. Finally, we have a hot tub which we made good use of. STAY:  Desert Sage -VRBO in Twentynine Palms

Fri, Jan 31 Hiked the Fortynine Palms Oasis trail in the AM. It is a 3.3 mile round trip hike to a small oasis with numerous barrel cacti. Weather was great. Carl lost the USB plug-in for his mouse (later to be found) so we decided to go to the nearby marine base exchange and buy a new one. Nice experience. Before heading back to the VRBO we went to The Glass Outhouse Art Gallery, an unique collection (?) of outdoor art (?). We enjoyed walking through it and it was free. Came back to the VRBO to relax, bake a pizza, and take a nap. Changed our plan and instead of doing the night program we decided to do the Arch and Heart Rock trail which ended up being 1.8 miles out and back. We came back to the VRBO to enjoy the hot tub, the Black Box wine and salad we bought yesterday. STAY:  Desert Sage-VRBO in Twentynine Palms

Sat, Feb 1 Scheduled the Key Ranch tour for 9:30 and we arrived just on time after passing a number of bikers. The tour was so-so. Afterwards we headed to Palm Springs. Stopped downtown and had a late lunch at Captain’s Table (great food), on the main drag before heading to a local art fair. Didn’t buy anything. Checked into our lodging at Ocotillo Lodge, previously owned by Gene Autry. They have a hot tub and we used it!  STAY:  Ocotillo Lodge Palm Springs booked through Booking.com

Sun, Feb 2 Our plan for the day was the Palm Springs Aerial Tramway, to go to the top of Mount San Jacinto, and the Peaks Restaurant for a late lunch – that is what we did! Between the Tramway ride up and the restaurant we hiked the Nature / Desert View trails. We got back to the Ocotillo Lodge around 3:00pm so we hit the hot tub and Carl tried out the swimming pool. We spent the evening in the room and had wine, cheese, and popcorn for supper. STAY:  Ocotillo Lodge Palm Springs

Mon, Feb 3 Decided to be “lazy” today. Went across the street to have breakfast at 10:00am at Elmer’s Restaurant where we shared a German Pancake, which was very interesting and good. Walked to the downtown Palm Springs area (about 2 miles) where we spent a couple of hours at the historical society and watched a film about Trini Lopez (very interesting) before finishing the shopping walk (Lori bought a couple of items) and we saw the famed Marlyn Monroe statue. We stopped at Rooftop Grill and Drinks to have a couple of drinks and play games. Finished walking home, changed clothes and headed to PS Air which is an airplane inside the building. Very interesting and fun. Back to the room around 8:00pm. STAY:  Ocotillo Lodge Palm Springs

Tues, Feb 4 We walked about 1 mile to the Big Wheel Tours bike shop where we rented two bikes for the day. We rode on bike only and shared use trail, Tahquitz Creek Loop, and portions of a couple other trails. We biked a total of 13.7 miles. Walked back to the lodge and spent time around the pool playing games before hitting the hot tub. We had dinner in our room with ribs we bought at the store. STAY:  Ocotillo Lodge Palm Springs

Wed, Feb 5 We walked a mile or two to do shopping and came back to the lodge before driving to Annenberg Sunnylands (about 10 miles away) before heading to the local library that had a 3:00pm observatory program. However, when we got there the place was packed with a writers conference and the library was closed. On to Plan B, we headed to the downtown area and went to Zin American Bistro for happy hour drinks and snacks. Played games as usual before coming back to the lodge and sitting in the hot tub. STAY:  Ocotillo Lodge Palm Springs

Thur, Feb 6 We hung out in the room in the morning and Carl took a walk. We departed around 1:00pm to do some “treasure” shopping at Goodwill and Revival stores. Lori found 4 nice shirts to purchase. Looked online and decided to have dinner at a Ramen restaurant. Well, it was in a mall and we came in the back way! Ramen bowl was OK but nothing we will crave. We went to Shields Date Farm to have a date shake (just OK) and watched a film about the history of the farm (interesting). Arrived at 5:00pm to Marvyn’s Magic Theater in La Quinta to see a Vaudeville Comedic Magician named Levent. The pre-show with a pianist, singer, and close up magician was excellent and so was Levent. The show got done at 7:30 so we decided to head to downtown Palm Springs for the Thursday villagefest (a street fair). About 5 blocks of city streets had been blocked off and there was music playing, food tents, and local craft vendors. Similar to Wednesday on Broadway Street in Green Bay but with no vegetables – only crafts.  STAY:  Ocotillo Lodge Palm Springs
Fri, Feb 7 Today is a travel day. We got up early (6:30am) to start packing, go across the street to Elmer’s for breakfast before heading to Torrey Pines Nature Reserve. We arrived at Torrey Pines to light drizzle, overcast skies, and limited visibility. Decided to not do the planned hike and instead headed to La Jolla Caves, 5 miles south. We arrived to the same weather at the caves. Walked a short distance to the cave, saw lots of birds, and some seals before deciding the weather sucked so we headed to Point Loma and Cabrillo National Monument where weather conditions were even worse, less visibility and more rain. Watched a film about Cabrillo, a Spanish sea captain whose was the first European to set foot in today’s San Diego. We took a short walk to the inactive lighthouse built in the last 1800’s before heading to our hotel. We walked to Darband Persian Grill (food was just OK, not real flavorful) and then to King and Queen Cantina to have a drink and play cribbage. STAY:  Hampton Inn San Diego Downtown