American Lung Association and Farmers Market

On Saturday, I participated in a 5k walk for the American Lung Association with my office.  I wanted to meet new people and see the city.  The walk was from the Embarcadero to the USS Midway.  I did not tour the Midway because I am saving that for when the boys visit.

After my walk, I went to the farmers market that happens every Saturday downtown rain or shine (since it is San Diego it is mostly shine).  The marked was huge.  It is the only farmers market that I have been to where you can buy sea urchin!

On Sunday I checked out the First UU Church of San Diego.....

Going to work

Since my car was in the shop, I had to take the bus.  This has turned out to be fantastic.  I walk 2 blocks down the hill to the bus stop.  I take an express bus into San Diego (40 minutes) which takes about the same amount of time as driving.  Then I walk 4 blocks to the office.  I get to read, study, listen to NPR, nap, whatever I want.  This is the best way to commute ever!  I don't know why anyone drives.

Here is my walk past the museum of contemporary art.

Here is my new office building.  We are on the 5th and 6th floor.

And here is the back of the office.  They have painted an amazing mural on the back.  Of course it is going to be obscured by the huge apartment building that is going up

My new office

And the view from my window

Quite a bit different than Salt Lake City.......

My Shelf

It has been a long time since I have had to share a house with anyone besides my family.  Fortunately, I get a shelf....

San Diego Bound

Last Saturday I packed up to head out to San Diego.  I thought the kids would be sad to see me go but they were both so excited to play with their friends, Sam with Aaron and Charlie with Braham that they barely noticed that I was leaving.  Beth Ellen was still in San Diego wrapping up her training and I was all alone to finish packing.  Fortunately, Mary was there to give me a hug as I said goodby to Charlie.  I loaded the last of my things into my car and took off.

The drive south was uneventful.  I-15 goes through St George and then when you leave Utah and enter Arizona you go down through the Virgin River Gorge.  It is an amazing 15 miles of rough narrow canyon driving.  The amazing part of it is that you are dropping almost 2000 feet from the Colorado Plateau and not descending a mountain canyon.  So, that was the first time in almost 5 years that my little car had been below 4000 feet of elevation.

Then I made a quick stop in  Mesquite for dinner and onto Valley of Fire State Park in Nevada.  This was a beautiful state park that reminded me a lot of Arches.  I barely found a campsite as the sun was going down and decided to just sleep out instead of messing with a tent.  The stars were amazing and the moon was nearly full.  It was a great transition from Salt Lake City to San Diego.

The next morning was cool and I was up before anyone else in the campground.  I decided to take a short hike and found a very cool slot canyon to visit before starting driving again.

This area was also interesting because it had been the scene for a number of Hollywood movies before it became a park.

The rest of the drive, through Los Vegas, past Buffalo Bill's Wild West Show on the California border and into Poway (the city north of San Diego where I am living) was uneventful until the last 10 miles.  I got off the interstate, there was a loud BANG, lots of smoke and my car had almost no power.  I pulled over and called for a tow.  Then I called my landlord and he was fantastic.  Came right over and helped me get my stuff moved into his car, followed me to the repair shop and took me home.  They fed me a great meal and I shared with them a bottle of Malbec.  On Monday was my first day at work.