The family took a nice road trip to the back country. We started heading east on the 78, through Escondido and its numerous lights and through the San Pasqual Valley into Ramona. We took a quick stop at the Santa Ysabel Open Preserve West to stretch our legs. This somewhat new trail is something we will surely want to come back to. Back on the road, we turned north at Santa Ysabel and took the 79 past Lake Henshaw.
The meadows here were spectacular with flowers and green grass. A right on S2 and S22 took us down the curvy road into Borrego Springs.
We stopped in at the Anza Borrego Park headquarters and checked out the nature center. It was very educational for us. We then headed up a bit to do the Palm Canyon hike. However, the rangers at the site informed us that dogs are not permitted on park land. With nowhere to hike, we drove around a bit to see if we could some wildflowers from the road.
Along Borrego Springs Rd., a landowner has installed life size sculptures of pre-historic creatures. The statues are made of steel and very impressive. We caw sloths, camels, turtles, smilodons, pigs and even velociraptors. Thanks to the Galleta Meadows people for displaying these. We tried heading up a dirt road, but thought the better of it and heading out of Borrego Springs.
We headed south to catch the 78 into Julian. I love going to Julian and it very nice weather there and not crowded at all. The dog got a walk through the old cemetery and the kids got ice cream at the soda fountain on the main corner. On the way out of Julian, we stopped at the Inaja Memorial Park and did a dusk hike on the nature trail there. Wonderful views!
We then headed home the way we came.

It is hard to get in the Christmas mood in 80 degree weather.

* Spent half of Saturday biking.
* Attended our third consecutive Dogs Days of Summer festival in Cardiff. Sophie hates it more each year.
* Went to the Ruben Fleet Science Center with the kids. We checked out all the exhibits before taking in the IMAX Wild California film. I got sick watching the movie; no more IMAX for me :(
* Took Sophie to the Lagoon to chase lizards and rabbits to make up for Dog Days.

I attended tonight's SOHO's Third Thursday Author Series lecture on Consolidated Aircraft/Convair. Both authors were at the Adobe Chapel to present their work, "Consolidated Aircraft Corporation". I am interested in Convair both from an aviation enthusiast standpoint and the from the fact I work on one of their former factories. The authors, from the Air and Space Museum library, were true experts in their field and very passionate about the subject. The audience was as well, most of them being former employees or children of employees.

A while back, we visited the UCSD Library. They seems to have some staffing cutbacks and aren't able to put the books back.

* Attended two science lectures at Cabrillo National Monument
* Jaya had her sleep-over birthday party

On Saturday afternoon, we all went down to Old Town to see the sites and visit some of the museums.

* First, we went through the McCoy House Interpretive Center. This is a very nice museum with each room representing a different period of Old Town's history. Unfortunately, the docent said this house is the first to be cut when the money gets tights so is closed often.




* In the Robinson-Rose House, we saw the wonderful model of Old Town from 1872.




* We did the tour through the Estudillo House. I enjoy the period costumes that the park employees and volunteers wear.



* The kids dipped candles at the candle and soap shop.



* We ate dinner at The Alamo Mexican Food, which is the only fast food Mexican food we could find within walking distance.

* Sophie dug a big hole in the garden.


* We went up to Palomar Mountain State Park to see the snow. I went a slightly different route up there that took us past Lake Wohlford, which I have never seen. At the park, the sun was out and the weather great.


The kids made snowmen...


threw snowballs and tried sledding without sleds...




The dog loved it as well, especially when a squirrel scampered across the snow.

* Took my parents to see Dr. Suess' How The Grinch Stole Christmas! as the Old Globe theater. The acting and music were great but the stage was the best part of the show. The scenery people outdid themselves on this one. The only negative was the heat in the theater, too hot for me.

All the national news outlets should impose a moratorium on the following topics:
* Gas prices going up - everyone knows what gas prices are doing
* Fire danger in Southern California - everyone knows that fires are a problem in a desert-like climate with lots of brush
* Anything about the economy - the government can't predict the economy, economists can't predict the economy, you can't predict the economy. That is part of the gig when you have a free-market system; sometimes it goes up, sometimes it goes down. If you want stable, move to Cuba where it never goes up.

On a different note, has there been an inordinate amount of deaths on the North County railroad tracks lately? The UT has yet another one.

The kids and I took a tour San Diego International Airport. It was very interesting and informative. We starting in the commuter terminal and took a bus to terminal 2. When then walked though terminals 2 and 1 learning the history of them as well as the planned expansion. Terminal is interesting in that it was designed from the start to be expandable to two levels both inside and outside. We then took the bus around the entire runway. We even stopped near the tower to watch some takeoffs and landings. I highly recommend it to those interested in aviation.



Looking south from the north side of the tarmac. Commuter terminal on the right, UPS cargo plane on the left.


Southwest 737 landing; shot taken from near the tower

Why does it only rain on the weekends nowadays?

Here is my only photo of the fires. This was at Camp Pendleton just south of the Border Patrol checkpoint. The flames were mainly on the east side of the freeway but there were some on the west side as well. The San Onofre campground was empty.

As everyone knows, San Diego was consumed by several spectacular wildfires over the past few days. Here is our story.

Sunday afternoon

I had read on the internet about a fire starting in Ramona but didn't give it much thought. We left for the kids piano recital in Del Mar. In the space of just a few miles, the air got very thick and smoky. The recital was canceled due the the air so we went to George's beach to walk the dog. The air there was getting bad and in fact you could see the smoke cloud starting to creep northward. Went to bed without any concern.

Monday morning

I woke up as usual and headed to the office before dawn. It was smelly but I still wasn't concerned.

Monday 1000

Jyoti calls and says the air is getting very bad. I have been watching the news all morning and now it seems the Witch Fire has started to head west. Jyoti says a neighbor got a voluntary evacuation call, but we never receive one.

Monday 1100

Jyoti packs the car and kids and heads up to my parents in Orange County (they are well away from the fires there).

Monday 1200

I decided to leave work and head up to OC as well. I first stop by the house to see what is going on. The air is almost unbearable with ash and smoke.

Monday night

I spend most of the evening checking the news for information. The following are my best resources:

• UT's Fire Blog - once they moved it to blogspot it became the best news sources


• SD County Emergency - had the best maps (better than the Google mashups IMHO)


• Cat Dirt Sez - the best blogger following the fire


• Channel 10 News - had live streaming video, covered the western edge of the Witch Fire

Tuesday morning

Things got pretty tense as the Witch Fire headed westward into the Rancho Santa Fe. If you look at the map, we live a couple miles directly west of the Bridges community. The fire looked like it would wipe out a few estates in RSF and Olivenhain and head for us. Later reports said that the fire would have most likely follow Escondido Creek to the ocean. That is about a half mile from our house. Since our area is more dense than the areas to the east, I doubted that the fire would actually get to our neighborhood.

Tuesday afternoon

The wind died down and with it, the fire's advance. The flames headed back eastward towards Del Dios. A coworker of my mom's who lives in Encinitas and stayed the entire time, says the air is already getting better.

Tuesday night

The decision is made for me to go back tomorrow morning and see how things are. If they look ok, then the family will come down as well.

Wednesday morning

I got up early anticipating getting back home. My dad, says the 5 has been closed due to fires in Camp Pendleton. I wait until the freeway is open again and cruise the near-empty highways to home. The house is dusty but looks fine. Off to the office for a few hours work.


I was here during the 2003 fires and it is interesting to compare this event to that.

• Reverse 911 - although we didn't get a call, this great idea undoubtedly saved lives


• Evacuations - it seems that people evacuated sooner and in greater numbers; this might be due to the memories of 2003


• Air Support - the criticism of air support has already started, just like in 2003. I know the high winds prevented some flights on the first couple days, but it still seems that there is still some work to do to get Federal/Military assets to the scene


• Big Government - useless as usual. Didn't anyone care that FEMA had arrived? Most of the relief effort was already organized and rolling within hours. Is anyone else sick of those worthless interviews with governors, senators and presidents?


• Firefighters - continue to amaze me in their ability to handle multiple huge fires at the same time; our friend is a Cal Fire fighter and we know he was in the Ramona area but we will have to wait for details

I wonder if the Natural History Museum will update their Cedar Fire exhibit?

First Guides trip of the year!