• CWBuff
January 2025

Escondido CA

A chance to get away in January to the North County of California.
We'll be staying just outside Escondido and hope to explore the surrounding area as well as visit San Diego
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  • Trip start
    January 4, 2025

    Chillin at PHL

    January 4 in the United States ⋅ ☀️ 27 °F

    Absolutely no issues getting here, Thank God!
    No problem finding our parking place, fast turnaround service there with the shuttle and nonexistent line at TSA-PREV.
    Been chilling at our gate since about 7:00 a.m., and all is on time.
    See ya on the West Coast 😊
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  • Hyatt Lawrence Welk Villas Resort

    January 4 in the United States ⋅ ☁️ 61 °F

    The flight was pretty much uneventful, but as we noted previously, it's getting harder to be a sardine for over 6 hours and then with no real nourishment to boot. ( On our flight, there were not even sandwiches for sale, just snack platters).
    In any case, we made it to our resort in Escondido after picking up our rental car and about 40 minutes drive...
    Our unit was not ready yet, so we hit the resort brasserie- The Canyon Grille.
    We started with nice California Greene salads, then moved on to the Fiery Shrimp app (shared)... but then we were sooooo hungry that I forgot to take photos of Laurie's double Wagyu burger and my SoCal chicken wrap 😐
    You have to take my word for it that they looked and tasted pretty darn good.

    A bit of history. Yes, it was founded by television bandleader Lawrence Welk. In 1964, Welk purchased 900 acres of mostly undeveloped land near Escondido, California, 20 miles north of San Diego. The property included a golf course, motel, and mobile home community. After the entertainer staged one of his shows at the site, it gained in popularity for tourism, eventually growing to include a theater, more golf, and vacation homes. As the initial property expanded, Larry Welk, a record company executive and Lawrence Welk's son, became the group's first CEO and guided the company into the timeshare business in the 1980s.
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  • Cascades Villa 3932

    January 4 in the United States ⋅ ☁️ 57 °F

    This is our humble abode for the upcoming week.
    Open floor main area with a mountain view (you can spot my red rental Sentra) and master bedroom separated by a foier hallway with a balcony with another beautiful view.
    We did our unpacking and took stock of whatever supplies we may need, but we both are quite tired being up on our feet for close to 16 hours, and Laurie is still somewhat under the weather...
    So we are calling it a day and turning in
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  • Glorious morning

    January 5 in the United States ⋅ 🌙 45 °F

    First morning after fitful sleep.

    • Laurie's pictures of the dawn
    (Dawn is a feeling, a beautiful ceiling,
    The smell of grass just makes you pass into a dream.
    You're here today, no future fears,
    This day will last a thousand years.
    If you want it to.)
    • My feeble selfie
    • and (of course) Pastor Mandy's Serene Morning Video of the day 😀

    We're still mending a little and will spend the morning inside going through planning. The week is supposed to be very pleasant (Insh'Allah) in upper 60s-low 70s with little to no precipitation
    Looking forward to it 😀
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  • Venturing out

    January 5 in the United States ⋅ ☀️ 68 °F

    Earlier in the morning, I took a fast drive to Albertsons Supermarket and got our breakfast provisions for the week as well as more cold meds.
    We then did some preliminary planning, pretty much agreeing that any serious hiking again, unfortunately, will have to be scrapped (that makes it 2nd trip in a row 😒).
    For now, we decided to stay reasonably local, do a little outing, then finish off food chores and finalize the week planning.
    Here we are ready to face the world
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  • Alta Vista Botanical Gardens

    January 5 in the United States ⋅ ☀️ 70 °F

    The Alta Vista Botanical Gardens are designated ecological landscapes containing collections of plants native to areas around the globe.
    They are designed to both educate and inspire visitors.
    They consist of roughly 14 acres of various garden sections.
    Started in 1999, Alta Vista Botanical Gardens (AVBG) is located inside of the old Smitgen property, which once occupied a 16-acre site in the heart of Brengle Terrace Park in Vista.

    Here you can see the main entrance, my stubborn, yet still unsuccessful attempts at macro shots, a cotton horse, Puff (if Magic Dragon fame) and a little Zen Garden where I built my humble cairn. (It wouldn't balance for quite a while, reckon my life is still unbalanced 😐🤨)
    Laurie - the bell ringer
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  • Botanical Gardens 2

    January 5 in the United States ⋅ ☀️ 72 °F

    Zen river of colored stones
    Better luck with portrait zoom
    Local cacti species
    Scorpion sculpture
    Little turtles pond
    My run-in with the Bocca della Verità
    Bird of Paradise

  • Belching Beaver Brewery

    January 5 in the United States ⋅ ☀️ 72 °F

    Yes I DID take a special notation of the name during the morning planning session and YES (!) I was absolutely determined to eat there 👍🫵
    So here we are having our linner (unfortunately no Belching beavers materialized)
    Still staying true to SoCal cuisine.
    Laurie is having a SouthWest salad nicely washing it down with BBB's (of course, they brew their own) version of Deutsche Lager while YT opted for Pear and Apple salad with salmon and avo thrown in for a good measure, nicely paired with Deutsche Pilsner.
    This is the place (i.e. SoCal) where the very close proximity to Mexico DOES pay off. Avos are awesome and produce crazy fresh 😋
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  • Visiting Vista

    January 5 in the United States ⋅ ☀️ 72 °F

    Vista (Spanish for "view") is a medium-sized city in San Diego County, within the San Diego-Carlsbad, CA metropolitan statistical area. As of the 2020 census, Vista had a population of 98,381. Current data estimates a 2023 population of 99,835
    Much of Vista's current territory was once part of the Mexican land grants Rancho Buena Vista and Rancho Guajome.
    Inhibited by the lack of water, Vista grew slowly through the early 1910s to less than 1,000 people. With a 1923, however, the Vista Irrigation District had the necessary funding to construct a new water supply from Lake Henshaw.Agriculture began to flourish in the area, including citrus fruits, tomatoes, celery, and most prominently avocados. Vista became home to multiple avocado packing facilities, and by the late 1940s, was promoted as "the avocado capital of the world."
    So after linner, we took a leisurely stroll in the central shopping area along Main St. and onto Alley Art Man Way.
    Lots of cool murals, incl The Fab Four themed one with Yellow Submarine (where we all live beneath the waves)
    while observing Octopuses Gardens being Strawberry Fields (Forever!)
    We duly took notice of some RE transactions but decided against buying the most cheapest property at slightly over $500K.

    We then made our final Albertsons run and stopped at the strawberries farm on our way in, but just missed the closing time.

    ...returned back to resort and completed our planning for the week.
    It did get quite dark at 5:39 p.m., which I didn't expect thinking that being on the West Coast would get me at least 1 hour more before sunset. So we forgo evening stroll and stayed in

    Goodnight Irene
    GOODNIGHT John-boy
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  • Oh what a beautiful morning

    January 6 in the United States ⋅ ☀️ 48 °F

    Oh, what a beautiful day
    (Apparently not as good as it is home 😕 - hope everyone out there stays safe)

    Another leisurely relaxed morning with in-house breakfast (we do those 99% of the time on our vacation) and we'll be off to visit the SD Safari in couple of hoursRead more

  • San Diego Safari Park

    January 6 in the United States ⋅ ☁️ 61 °F

    We spent pretty much the whole day in San Diego Safari.
    It was somewhat a tough choice to either come here or go to The Zoo (given that we heard so much about it). In the end the locals told us that The Zoo is much more crowded and the animals are farther so that settled it. Plus, The Safari is closer to the Resort. (We'll be spending 2 days in San Diego anyways, be it that we got a 3-events City Pass and the Safari was the 1st one of them)

    We saw some cool birds and Laurie got friendly with gorillas.... well.. not really not as much as she'd like to
    The 1st video is (if you can make it out) mommy feeding her chick - the chick;s head is in mommy's beak
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  • Zoo 2

    January 6 in the United States ⋅ ☁️ 68 °F

    Lions and cheetahs and Giraffes.. OH MY!

    Of course (as I have lamented on previously) it is pointless to come to a place like this with a phone camera. 0.00000000000000000000001 of a second delay between engaging the shutter and it actually clicking makes all the difference when animals constantly move and you are trying for "that one shot". So mea culpa - pardonez moi.

    We visited the lion's Den, then after Den (is the pun inTENded?) we jumped on the Safari Tram that took us around a big area with giraffes, R(h) INOs (yeah the real ones not "those" ones!), antelopes and wildebeests (Oh yea I forgot to mention that we started in "Africa")
    The Cheetah was pretty cool but a little shy - you can see her through the wire ... I truly tried the best I could...
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  • Zoo 3

    January 6 in the United States ⋅ ☁️ 72 °F

    From Africa to Australia
    Visited African River Hog then we traversed to see the tigers but they decided that that would be too much luck for us and went on strike (we did see a "warning sign" though).
    Thats Laurie under the Victoria Falls.
    Then we hung out with Kenga, Roo and Al Bino ..and couple of more kangaroos. (no boxing was allowed).
    Then we tried to see a platypus but they're quite elusive as well but I did catch a shot of a little Australian langhoust (or maybe it was a large shrimp)
    Laurie then miraculously got transported into a land of Giant Cacti
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  • Zoo 4

    January 6 in the United States ⋅ ☁️ 75 °F

    But it turned out that we traversed again and now were in SoCal on Condor Ridge and so with El cóndor pasa (If I Could)....
    I'd rather be a sparrow than a snail
    Yes, I would
    If I could
    I surely would

    Then it all got confusing as we saw a Toucan Sam (who aske me to follow his nose), a Sand Cat (OK we want one of those - he's soooooo cuuute!) and checked out Red Foxes Bats

    We met the Batboy (straight outta Hell) on our way out. No Meatloaf
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  • Dining in

    January 6 in the United States ⋅ ☁️ 64 °F

    Today was a Farmers' Market Day at the resort so coming back "home" we stopped by and got ourselves some fresh arugula and color tomatoes (as well as some tangerines).
    We lavishly dined in on our balcony making a beautiful salad and then Laurie opting for Sesame Chicken Bowl while I was just as happy with my Garlic Chicken Pasta
    Of course tangerines provided scrumptious dessert.
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  • Evening

    January 6 in the United States ⋅ ☁️ 57 °F

    ...has come to pass
    The time of day doesn't last
    Evening, has earned its place today
    I'm tired of working away

    A beautiful ending to a busy day and now its time to work on FindPenguins :)

  • Balboa Park

    January 7 in the United States ⋅ ☁️ 63 °F

    Balboa Park is a 1,200-acre historic urban cultural park in San Diego, California. Placed in reserve in 1835, the park's site is one of the oldest in the United States dedicated to public recreational use. The park hosts various museums, theaters, restaurants, and the San Diego Zoo. It is managed and maintained by the Parks and Recreation Department of the City of San Diego.

    Balboa Park hosted the 1915–16 Panama–California Exposition and 1935–36 California Pacific International Exposition, both of which left architectural landmarks. The park and its historic exposition buildings were declared a National Historic Landmark and National Historic Landmark District in 1977, and placed on the National Register of Historic Places.

    The San Diego Museum of Art houses a broad collection with particular strength in Spanish art. It opened as the Fine Arts Gallery of San Diego on February 28, 1926, and changed to its current name in 1978. The official Balboa Park website calls it "the region's oldest and largest art museum".
    The museum building was designed by architects William Templeton Johnson and Robert W. Snyder in a plateresque style to harmonize with existing structures from the Panama–California Exposition of 1915.The dominant feature of the façade is a heavily ornamented door inspired by a doorway at the University of Salamanca.
    Of course we started with The Art of Devotion Gallery. Some works I highlighted here are
    Luini's The Conversion of Magdalena
    Catena's Holy Family w St. Anne (alway makes me mad that they paint Joseph as if he was Methuselah... but then if Mary here is say 14-15 then....)
    Criveli's Madonna & Child (both Laurie & I were not sure if we liked the kid's facial expression...bit "angry' for our taste)
    There is Master of Saint Nicholas' St John The Evangelist and The Poisoned Cup where I also detailed the little dragon of the cup

    The next gallery was Art of the Portrait focusing mainly on females (although there is this one weird "portrait")
    I included Bastida's The Three Errazuriz Sisters
    Diego Rivera's Portrait of Adalgisa Neri (his other work is here as well)
    Frank Auerbach's Head of (JYM?... I think ...)
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  • San Diego Museum of Art

    January 7 in the United States ⋅ ☁️ 64 °F

    An interesting Gallery of Foster & Partners Architectiure of Light & Space.
    Various models of buildings incl London's "The Gherkin" and Berlin's Reichstag

    Then The Art of XX Century with a small yet powerful presenatation of German Expressionism (didnt do well during Uncle Adolf's reign)
    Pablo's Portrait of Jaqueline w\Blue Ribbon
    Dali
    Rene Magritte's The Shadows (I like Magritte better than Dali)
    Agnes Pelton's The Primal Wing
    and couple of cool sculptures.
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  • Botanical Gardens Building

    January 7 in the United States ⋅ ☁️ 64 °F

    (First 2 photos is upon exiting the Museum onto Plaza de Panama - the fountian of the Plaza behind Laurie)

    The Botanical Building also built for 1915–16 Panama–California Exposition, remains one of the largest lath structures in the world. Alfred D. Robinson (1867–1942), founder and president of the San Diego Floral Society, suggested the construction of a lath house as a feature of the Panama–California Exposition, which was to open in the City of San Diego on January 1, 1915

    The Lily Pond, or previously known as “Lagoon,” was also built for the Panama–California Exposition. The garden was added along with the pond. The Lily Pond is located in front of the Historical Botanical Garden. It had a multitude of uses during the history of San Diego. During World War I and II, the NAVY occupied the city during the war and used the pond for sailors to take swimming lessons in. Pictures taken during the time show the occupation of Balboa and the pond being used to train sailors.
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  • Balboa Park 2

    January 7 in the United States ⋅ ☁️ 63 °F

    Timken Pavillion of Museum of Art ws regretfully closed.
    We took a walk to California Quadrangle
    The California Quadrangle, California Building, and California Tower are historic structures that were built for the 1915–16 Panama–California Exposition and served as the grand entry to the event.The buildings and courtyard were designed by architect Bertram Goodhue. They were added to the National Register of Historic Places on May 17, 1974.

    The California Building with its ornate facade and blue-and-gold dome, together with the adjoining California Tower, are among the most recognizable landmarks in San Diego. They house the Museum of Us. The design and ornamentation combine many style elements including Gothic, Plateresque, Baroque, Churrigueresque, and Rococo to create the impression of a Spanish Colonial church. The multi-tiered frontispiece is adorned with sculptures by the Piccirilli Brothers, a family of Italian marble carvers who also worked on famous monuments such as the Lincoln Memorial and the New York Public Library.
    The dome's design looked to the dome at the Church of Santa Prisca and San Sebastián in Taxco, Mexico. The great central dome is encircled with the inscription "Terram Frumenti Hordei, ac Vinarum, in qua Ficus et Malogranata et Oliveta Nascuntur, Terram Olei ac Mellis", (A land of wheat, and barley, and vines, and fig-trees, and pomegranates; a land of oil olive, and honey), (Deuteronomy 8:8 taken from the Vulgate of St. Jerome; see also the Seven Species), as well as the California motto, "Eureka".

    The California Tower is 198 feet (60 m) tall. The tower's design is Spanish while the details and color are Mexican in style. The tower is composed of three tiers that shift from a quadrangle to an octagon and then a circle.There is a Maas-Rowe carillon in the tower, first installed in 1946 and replaced in 1967. The carillon can be heard throughout the park. It plays the Westminster Chimes every quarter-hour, and a resident carillonneur plays three songs at noon every day. The tower has been described as "San Diego's Icon," the most photographed and best-known landmark in San Diego.

    Modeled after Shakespeare’s Old Globe in London, the Old Globe Theatre was built in 1935 for the presentation of abridged versions of Shakespeare’s plays as part of the California Pacific International Exposition. In March 1978, the Globe Theatre was destroyed in an arson fire but was rebuilt and reopened in 1981

    We then returned to Plaza de Panama and had a fast lunch - Ham & Cheese Croissant for me and Potato puff pastry for Laurie
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  • Art village

    January 7 in the United States ⋅ ☁️ 63 °F

    Snapping fast photo of El Cid (I swear I do have a feeling that I am in Spain... and BTW - I had to get on Camino del Norte in order to get to the Park (!) - go figure)
    We took a leisurely walk on El Prado to Bea Bevenson Fountain and then checked out the Art Village with lots of local Artisans selling their wares.Read more

  • Night Under the Lights

    January 7 in the United States ⋅ ⛅ 54 °F

    Small gathering of the guests behind Lawrence Welk Theater (I later quipped that it was "the entertainment worthy of being at the back of the theater") for the Night Under The lights
    As the band was playing Blue Moon - the moon didn't look too blue.... but then the drones appeared....Read more