San Diego Holidays and the weeks after were more about friends than about the place. Although the place is great, and we loved our location right on Mission Bay. Yes, we are now officially a month behind in our blogs – at least we are consistent!
We had a happy hour gathering shortly after our arrival. Our good friend Paul brought over his mom and his dad and stepmother, and friends Ian and Kate (Tales from the Scenic Route) brought over their friends Shannon and Dave (2Wander Away). Instant party!
Another friend, Patricia, was in town briefly. She is Gloria and my “hermana” from a beautiful program that we participated in years ago and the three of us had a wonderful dinner together.
Hector and I spent a lovely Christmas Eve at our friends Gloria and Michael’s home. They took care of Angel last year while we traveled to Miami, so Angel considers their home her “spa”. She was jumping up and down and running all around the house. It is so wonderful to see her so happy.
We spent Christmas Day with old and new friends. Ian and Kate rented the campground’s clubhouse, and we had a delicious potluck dinner there. Kate did a wonderful job coordinating everything and several ladies decorated the plain clubhouse and turned it into a festive and welcoming place.
Shannon and Dave were there and we met Donna and Mike (Flying the Koop), their friend Carole and Donna’s sister Sheila, and Kerensa and Brandon (Drive, Dive, Devour). It was an unexpected gathering of friends old and new. And the food was fabulous!
A few days later we joined a few folks from that same group to sample some beer at a couple of brewpubs, always a fun activity in San Diego.
A must for me while in the city was buying some of my favorite beer and tequila. San Diego has both of my favorites. Yay!
We had more fun times with our friends Michael and Gloria in Old Town San Diego. We checked out a funky old cigar shop then had dinner at a fun Mexican restaurant that just happened to have live music and dancers that evening. This was a new area for us this time around in San Diego.
On New Year’s Eve Paul came over with his dad and stepmom after dinner for champagne. We have no photos as we were busy chatting and drinking champagne. A nice, quiet end to our action-packed year.
After the New Year, we got together once again with Paul, his mom, dad and stepmom, and this time Nina was back from visiting family in Europe, yay!
Then our friends Jeannette and Dennis came down to the city and we met them at North Park. They are such fun and we seem to gab endlessly when we are with them.
More friends: LuAnn and Terry also drove down to the city and we had lunch together and hung out with them awhile. They are a lovely couple that we have only met a few times, but feel like we have known for a long time. It amazes me how many wonderful people we have met on this journey.
The finalists in the Miss Mission Beach competition
Sorta smells like BACON!
On our last week, we had one last fabulous dinner at Michael and Gloria’s. We miss them terribly already.
Then we got together with another sweet couple that we met for the first time in Homer, Alaska last summer, Chad and Lauren. They were introduced to us by friends we had met in San Diego, then saw again in Alaska, Dan and Amanda. See how that works?
The last day of our stay, Angel got to play at the Dog (and Pig?) Beach. As sick as she was last year we thought she might not make it back there. But after a quick spin to the Arctic Circle and back there she was again. Perky as ever.
And it was fitting that our last evening we got together with our dear friends and RVers extraordinaire, Nina and Paul. I can never say enough good things about Nina’s fun and informative blog, Wheeling It. We sure hope to connect with them again before they head to the east coast.
Our month in San Diego was a month rich in warmth and friendship. Priceless.
~ Brenda
So glad to see you are enjoying San Diego i heard they are having some warm weather. We are sitting out a tropical storm in Florida and heading west soon. We went to Charleston SC to deliver our granddog to our daughter.
Hope you weathered the storm. Charleston is so pretty. We did have nice weather in San Diego except for a rainstorm that caused some flooding. Have moved on to Arizona and enjoying the weather here!
San Diego seems to be the best meeting place for new and old friends. You certainly were busy:) Sounded like wonderful holiday. Angel looks great. How nice that she got to visit the beach and play in the water. Can’t wait to see her again:)
It is a great meeting place for sure. Did you see the photo of Angel sniffing the pig at the dog beach? She was going crazy smelling the pig, I was afraid he was going to get upset, but he was mellow.
I associate winter break as also socializing extravaganza. We will be in San Diego this winter and hope to hit some of the places (brewery) while there.
Angel is really a happy angel 🙂
Yes, winter is definitely social time for us. Lots of great breweries in San Diego – two of my favorites are Stone Brewery at Liberty Station – a repurposed military complex so the building is very cool – also home to my favorite stout – Xocoveza. Another favorite is Pizza Port – great pizza and home to another favorite stout – Suavecito. Did you see the photo of Angel sniffing the pig at the dog beach – she is so cute!
Sorry we didn’t go and see you this year. So happy Angel was there again.
Miss you.
I know, I’ll send you my upcoming plans to see if we can meet again.
Looks like a wonderful, rich time with friends! Definitely one of the best things about this lifestyle (among many other wonderful things!). So fun to see you with LuAnn and Nina.
Yes, it has been one of the best parts of the lifestyle for us. We love both of them!
We are so grateful to have gotten to see the three of you this winter. We too feel as if we have known you for years. I know Hector’s photography skills surpass many others but I must say that you, Brenda, are one of the more photogenic gals around…beautiful smile. Safe travels and grand adventures until we meet again!
Thanks, LuAnn and “blush”. But you would be the winner of that Miss Mission Beach contest for sure 🙂
Wow, you guys! What an awesome, warm and loving holiday! And Angel even got to make a new piggie friend!!! I’m tickled pink (pardon the pun ; ) that you’re still living the dream. You look sooo happy!!! Thank you so much for sharing your dream with me, and with all of us!!! Love you bunches!!
We sure had a lovely holiday season, and none of it planned! Love that you noticed the pig, he was quite handsome 🙂 Love you too, we are going to be in Denver in the summer sometime and hope to see you.
Bueno, chico. As we Cubans say, te la comiste! First of all, spending time with all there of you anywhere is great but in San Diego it was simply awesome. Second, thank you so so much of the amazing picture of me and my parents. It made me cry. Really! ask Nina…
Muchos besos y carinos.
One of my favorite expressions for sure. I feel our friendship has grown so much over the times we have spent together. You Cuban boys are so sentimental sometimes 🙂 Hector is very touched by your comment about the photo – yes, the photographer is good, but it’s the family that makes it. We really enjoyed meeting each one of them. It will be a while, but we will see you down the road sometime.
Brenda