Steve and Cathy's Blog

It is only 89 nautical miles from our berth in Los Angeles to San Diego.  We come into the harbor right around 8:00am and are berthed right next to the USS Midway aircraft carrier, which is now a museum.  What an honor.

We also see two active ones on our way in, the USS Carl Vinson and the USS Theodore Roosevelt. We are right in the heart of this beautiful city, right in the huge, bustling tourist area.

Cathy has been in touch with everyone about today.  Our time in San Diego is pretty limited.  We must – without fail – be back aboard Insignia by 3:30pm because we sail at 4:00. Kristen has already warned us that Saturday traffic can get as crazy as weekday traffic as everyone is out and about. So Joanne, God bless her, has agreed to pick us up at 9am.

We leave the ship around 8:40 because Cathy wants to hit an ATM.  The friendly security guy Patrick tells us where at least three of them are located.  Cathy goes to one while Steve waits just in case Joanne is early.  We spot an enormous private yacht that we think will be perfect in Casco Bay in Maine for my  brother Dave.  Must tell him about our find.

Good thing he does, because she rolls in about 8:50.  We hit the road as soon as Cathy returns after an unsuccessful venture with an ATM. Darn.  We thought that it would be a breeze now that we are back in the USA. Oh well.

Before we drive back to Joanne’s home in Rancho Santa Fe, we make an important stop.  Cathy’s cousin Gary Fiedler, Joanne’s late husband and Kristen’s father, served in the US Army during the Vietnam War period and died in 2011. His ashes have been placed in a columbarium in Fort Rosecrans National Cemetery located in the Point Loma area of the city.  We pay him a visit with Joanne.  We spend a quiet bit of time there overlooking San Diego.  It is a beautiful, peaceful and quiet place with thousands upon thousands of veterans buried here.

After we leave Fort Rosecrans National Cemetery, we get on I-5 … no, I mean the I-5 … for the 26-mile drive to Joanne’s home.  We arrive and Kristen and Kai are already there with their very active but happy, fun dog Mabel.  Apparently Mabel thinks Joanne’s home is her resort.  She loves coming there to visit.

We all sit in the living room to chat and catch up on things.  It is a very fun conversation, especially when Joanne regales us about “The Speed Bump Wars.”  Joanne lives in a very nice gated complex, and the most convenient way to reach her complex takes them through another gated community.  When her complex (let’s call it Friendly Acres) was built, the developer received an easement allowing residents automobile access over a road owned by the other complex (let’s call it Crabby Acres)

Well, some of the people in Crabby Acres complained that the people from Friendly Acres were driving too fast through this access road.  Meetings were held between the two condo associations, and a tentative agreement was reached whereby Friendly Acres would put in a monitored speed trap and authorities would issue tickets to the offenders.  Everyone thought that would take care of it, but, without any warning whatsoever, the Crabby Acres condo association installed four or five nasty, sharply angled speed bumps in what Friendly Acres is sure is a violation of the terms of the easement they have.

Friendly Acres began to remove the speed bumps.  After they disposed of one, Crabby Acres placed cars over the remaining speed bumps so they couldn’t be removed and got a court injunction that disallows Friendly Acres from proceeding with the removal of the speed bumps.

The two condo associations are now at loggerheads, and both have lawyered up.  It remains to be seen how this will be resolved, but it does make for an interesting story.  Everybody listens enthralled and all fired up.  Kristen wants to put the torch to Crabby Acres, but her mother thinks that might be going just a little too far.  On a serious note, it is a shame that one party is unwilling to settle this dispute amicably as it puts a damper on the ambience of these beautiful gated communities.

Well, after that we have now worked up an appetite.  The decision has been made to go into Carlsbad to a German market cum restaurant called Tip Top Meats and European Delicatessen.  Cathy actually found this place when we spent a week in Carlsbad about two years ago …. I think it was two years ago.  We had a wonderful meal there and have been anxious to bring Kai as he is from Germany and would love to shop at the market.

It takes about a half hour to wend our way out of the hills down into Carlsbad.  Part of the route is on the I-5, and, as Kristen predicted, it is getting packed.  Steve is starting to get nervous about making it back to the ship in time. Fortunately, everyone is very understanding and will all deliver us back to the ship on time.

The lunch is fantastic (bratwurst, corned beef, braised pork, German potato salad, sauerkraut, and once again, huge portions) even though the place is packed.

After lunch, we do some shopping in the market.  Kai is in heaven, which delights us.  Cathy buys seasoning mixes for sauerbraten and paprikash.

Then we hit the road. Thankfully, thankfully the traffic is not a nightmare.  We return to the area where the ship is docked in half an hour, and we arrive by 2:30pm.  That gives us an hour before we absolutely must be on board, and our ship is only fifty yards away.   So we go in search of an ATM.  We try one and it refuses to cough up cash, so we say To Hell With It.  We will get cash from Reception on the ship.

We walk up and down the street so Steve can take a last few photos.  We board in plenty of time, and the ship leaves at 4pm.  Steve continues to take pictures as we sail out of San Diego harbor.  A “tall ship” tourist craft fires off their cannons, and scares the heck out of Cathy.

Dinner is uneventful.  We know that for sure because neither of us can remember anything else about the day. We have a Sea Day tomorrow and have to move the clocks forward another hour.  That is exhausting, so we use that as one of our foolproof excuses to go to bed early.