San Diego

We had a great nights sleep in Carlsbad at Steve and Melissa's.  Melissa kindly prepared pancakes for us which were quite yummy.  We also found out that Carlsbad is where the Legoland theme park is.  We should have ridden by at least, but we chose to forge on.

Our next destination was only 30 miles away, so we had a bit of time to kill along the way.  We chose to stop at the "Gliderport" just as we entered San Diego.  It is on a high cliff overlooking the ocean.  There were probably 15 or 20 paragliders in the air.  We saw them land and take off numerous times.  We also saw remote control model gliders flying amongst the paragliders.  

We then headed to our next warmshowers location:  Jerry and Barbara's

Jerry turned out to be a world traveling cyclist who has had many european cycling experiences.  I was particularly impressed with his mode of transportation.  He owns a "Bike Friday" which actually folds up and fits inside a suitcase.   The manufacturer actually makes the bike to fit your body shape.  Apparently they are made in Oregon.  I can now say that I have had my first experience on a Murphy Bed.  Jerry and Barbara have on in what is now Barbara's office.  It was really cool...and comfortable!  We quite enjoyed our stay at their home.  

The next morning, Jerry kindly gave us a scenic tour of San Diego as he guided us to the Coranado Ferry dock.  We went by some incredible beaches and parks.   San Diego is a very pretty city. 

After Jerry showed us the place to buy our ferry tickets he took us over to the "Midway Museum".  The Midway Museum is actually a decommissioned air craft carrier.  We needed a place to park our bikes so before Jerry left he got the attention of someone who looked like he was part of the museum staff.  The fellow helped us park our bikes and as we got to chatting, he told us he was actually a "docent" and a retired Naval Aviator (fighter pilot).  He said he was allowed to bring up to 3 guests into the Museum and offered to take Taran and I aboard.  We proceeded to follow him into the ship.  The tickets would have cost 25 dollars.  We felt very lucky.  The admission included an audio tour which we proceed to go through.  It was very interesting.  The docent fellow also gave us a presentation on how the planes our "catapulted" off the ship, including all the hand signals that are used.

Imperial Beach - Jack and Sally - warmshower host

I learned about a new worldwide "game" called geocaching.  Some of you may already know about it, but I was fascinated by the things Jack and Sally shared with me.  You'll have to read about it yourself at:  geocaching.com.  Jack is actually ranked very high in the world as a geocacher.  He has collected and traded many many coins, travel bugs and other things from around the world.  I am most definitely going to take a look at it when I get home.  If I had the dough now, I would buy a GPS and start collecting on this trip!!  Sally was kind enough to offer us loquat pie.  They actually have a loquat tree in their backyard where the pie contents came from.  Sally spiced the pie similar to that of an apple pie.  It was very very good.  I tried one of the loquats off the tree and although it wasn't quite ready, it was still tasty.