I DESPERATELY Need to Get Away

Do you ever have one of those days years where you just want to throw your hands up in the air and say "screw it" and drive off into the sunset and never come back?  This year has been one of those years.  I am tired and I am worn out.  And, I need to get away.  So, that's what we did.  A few days ago we just decided to take off for a couple of days.  We didn't tell anyone.  Not a single soul...well, except the neighbor in case something happened with the house.  We booked our favorite hotel, booked the kennel stay for Dog, and we were off.  We left this morning and headed out.  We headed right for the 303...

As we drove down the 303, the tension in my body quickly started to decrease.  I could feel it dissipating, slowly, but it was headed in the right direction, thank goodness.  In what seemed like an hour, but was really only about 15 minutes, we made it to the 10 and we headed off to toward San Diego.

We soon were at the Highway 85 turnoff.  What a glorious sign!  I was so happy to see it.  Just that much closer to San Diego...

We soon were coming in to Gila Bend.  As we drove in, we noticed they had changed up the road a little and either this bridge is new or they have just improved it and made it look a lot nicer.

Melon Man wanted me to take pictures of a lot of things this time as we drove, so I had him point out what he wanted pictures of.  One of them was the "Space Age Lodge" in Gila Bend.  This is a wonky motel and restaurant out in the middle of really nowhere.  I guess it helps drive business.  Maybe we'll stop some time and see what it's like inside.

We stopped at McDonalds for some breakfast and then kept on motoring on down the road.  I took pictures of signs that had the number of miles to San Diego on them.  I just could not get there fast enough.

As we were driving, we looked over to the right and we saw this solar power farm.  Thousands and thousands of solar panels everywhere.  It was here that we started discussing the thought of getting solar for our home.  It was a discussion and nothing more.  But, it really did make us think about doing it.  There are a lot of homes in our neighborhood that are getting solar.

The next few pictures are just pics along the way...miles to San Diego, more signs leading the way, and interesting things we see every time we go, but often don't capture.

Of course, there's always the picture of Melon Man forcing a scary smile...but this time, the sunroof was open.  We drove the whole way with it open.  It was lovely.  Exactly what I told the car salesman I wanted to do when we bought this car.

No, we didn't go to Mexico, but at this point in the journey, we are only about 2 miles from Mexico right here, so there is a sign pointing to the turn off.

We saw this old bus with farm workers and port-a-potties cruising on down the road.  Love the curtain...wonder why they have that...

As we were getting ready to head into the mountains, we noticed these windmills.  They were brand new - they weren't there the last time we went to San Diego!

We headed into the mountains and Melon Man had me take this picture of this bridge, especially for my cousin, Cindy, because he knows she fears bridges.  After hearing about all the bridges that have collapsed in the last couple years, yeah, I fear them too.

This is the sign he'd been waiting for...the Kumeyaay Highway sign.  It's pronounced Koom - ee - yay.  Funny...once I took a picture of this sign, he didn't tell me to take anymore pictures of anything!

Only 76 more miles!  That's only another hour to rest and relaxation. 

How did this rock get on top of this other rock?  And, when is it going to roll off?
I wonder that every time I see it.

Finally!  The traffic wasn't too bad and the marine layer was just about finished burning off.  It was going to be a beautiful day. 

We drove to our favorite hotel - the Hyatt on Mission Bay.  Our room was on the opposite side of the hotel but on the left side.  I had specifically asked for a room on the ocean side far away from the lobby area.  We ended up bring right above the pool which was really noisy since it was spring break.  Oh well.  The views made up for it.

We got checked in, relaxed for a bit, and then we went to Phil's BBQ for lunch.  He ate ALL of his ribs.  I SO BADLY wanted to eat just a bite or two, but I resisted.  I now know what red meat does to me and even though I had said I couldn't go to Phil's and NOT eat ribs, I decided I didn't want to hurt while I was in San Diego, so I didn't have even a bite.  Instead, I ate vegetables.  Next time, bring my own food - their vegetarian sides - other than the onion rings and coleslaw - aren't all that great.  I did mix in some BBQ sauce with my coleslaw though and that gave me a little bit of sensation of enjoyment.

Look how tired his eyes are...he just worked all night and then drove 6 hours to bring me here to help me relax.  I love this old geezer.

He was so tired, but he wanted to go to La Jolla first and get some ice cream and sit on our bench.  So, that's what we did.  Look at the colors in that ice cream!  Now....that hat though...that really IS geezer-ville.

There were quite a number of squirrels running around.  I happened to catch this one sitting there on top of an ice plant mound.  He had his little arms hanging there.  I looked and guess who else did...Melon Man.  What a crack-up!

Remember this picture from one of our previous trips?  It's amazing how the squirrels mock him without him even knowing!

We tried taking pictures of the two of us on our bench.  Either I looked awful or he had his eyes closed.  It is hard taking a picture of just us.  I think I need to buy one of Noah Rasheta's iStabilizer monopods! 

Melon Man and I love this house.  It sits right by our bench and looks out over the ocean.  I think it's adorable.  When we got back in the car, we looked it up on the internet and found out it's $30,000 a month to rent!  Uh, yeah, not gonna happen, babe...unless we win the lottery...which that will never happen either.

We headed back to the hotel so Melon Man could sleep for a bit.  I actually fell asleep too, but I woke up to capture this AWESOME sunset.  Still no green flash...maybe some day though...

It's funny how you can take a picture one direction - into the sun - and it looks like those above, but when you turn just a few degrees to the right, there is absolutely a huge difference in color, like the next couple!

Okay, back to the sunset... 

I spent the rest of the evening working on Prom tickets and just resting and relaxing.  I watched some TV while Melon Man slept.  I went to bed fairly early and just enjoyed listening to the water outside after everyone at the pool quieted down.  I feel such peace here.  I think it's that I lived here early in my life and the water draws me back.  Too bad it's so expensive to live here...I think we'd move here in a heartbeat if it weren't....but then so would everyone else.