We went to Balboa Park today. It was the site of the Panama California Exposition of 1915-16 and the California pacific International Exposition in 1935-36. It is billed as the cultural centre of San Diego since it has museums, theatres and galleries. It is fun just walking around and looking at the buildings constructed in Spanish Colonial architecture. The San Diego Zoo is also in Balboa Park.

We have a pass that will last for seven consecutive days and today was day one. We went to the Model Railroad Museum and the Museum of Man. Of course Bernie is interested in trains so we had to go to that one first. It was interesting. The Museum of Man was good too, in fact I really enjoyed the mummies and shrunken heads. Now that is fascinating. We will go back and see the rest in the next six days.

Yesterday we took a drive to Mount Soledad where there is a memorial to war veterans. The view was fantastic - mountains to the east, ocean to the west, and everything else in between.
The picture at the top of this entry is the memorial.

The sun is shining this morning. We had four days of rainy, windy, stormy weather so I think that's enough now. The campground maintenance people are out and about sweeping and raking up all the leaves and debris laying around. It is still pretty soggy but at least it is not raining, at the moment.

We drove up to LaJolla on Wednesday before the rain came. We watched the surf, it was incredible. The waves were 25-30 feet high is what we were told. I was mesmerized and I took about a hundred pictures! The sound was thunderous and it sure makes you respect nature for what it is.

It is Friday already. We finally have some sunshine. I am about to reveal one of my latest weaknesses, so brace yourself. .......... I play Mario Kart every day! LOL I think I am hooked.

When our boys were growing up they had all the video game systems known to man and a host of computer games. I think it went like this: Atari, Turbo Grafix, Nintendo, and then blah blah blah, I lost track. It was a Play Station or something like that. The boys left home and then I really lost track. All I know is that I played the game "Gorf" on the Vic 20 and I had to wait until the kids were either sleeping or out of the house. After that I was pretty much out of it. I was busy cooking, and cleaning and baking and making lunches, doing laundry, chauffeuring, working and trying to be a wife and mother. I totally missed the eighties on account of all of the above.

We played Wii games at the local library over a year ago and one day Bernie went shopping in Stettler and came home with the game system. We golfed, bowled, played tennis and baseball. I got the Wii Fit and managed to exercise, step dance, hoola hoop and box my way to losing 27 pounds. Oh my god, I still don't believe that one. (I did the Weight Watchers thing as well and I think not eating as much had a lot to do with it.) In any event I "Wiied" every day.

When we got Mario Kart my routine changed forever. Instead of sitting on the computer checking my Facebook status, uploading photos to my albums and playing Scramble I was now trying to win crazy races driving a race car or motorbike. Nuts!! We have a nice big t.v. so the two of us would race against each other on a split screen. Talk about crazy. If my son could see me now. He is still totally stupid when it comes to video games, he never grew out of it.

One day coming home from Stettler I was driving around a curve and I had this image of me drifting (something you do in Mario Kart). I couldn't believe I did that so I tapered off a bit. I can see now why kids get their brains tuned in to these games and they can't tune out. I totally understand.

That is my confession for the day. We have a smaller t.v. in the trailer but we took our Wii with us and I Mario Kart every day...

We are in day four of the Western Wallop. That is what the Weather Network has been calling this very nasty weather system that has struck Southern California. Apparently it is caused by El Nino.........the warmer than average water temperatures in the Pacific Ocean, way west of here, are causing low pressure areas that are driven by an extremely fast jet stream. This extreme weather is bringing high winds and torrential rains. As you can tell I have been listening to the weather man!!

On Monday the rains started and we had some terrific winds. We are sheltered in our campsite by the monolithic motorhomes and fifth wheels. Our little unit is in no danger! We sat here and watched the storm roll in and just as the winds picked up we decided we had better roll the canopy in to safety. There was a lot of commotion at the neighbour's site since he wasn't there and some other people decided they should take matters in their own hands and take his canopy down and put things away. He arrived just as they were starting their mission so then he just took over.

Speaking of the neighbour......he is a very interesting guy who likes to talk loud enough so that everyone can hear his conversations whether we want to or not. It has provided us with lots of entertainment so I am not really complaining. The day that we got here, two weeks ago today, he introduced himself and apologized profusely due to the fact that his daughter's car was parked partially in our site. Then for the rest of the weekend he was preoccupied with the girlfriend who came to visit along with her dog.

After the weekend we listened to his phone conversations with the girlfriend. Apparently she puts the dog before him and he just can't go on like that anymore. It took three days but he finally broke up with her - on the phone!! Well, that is our take on it because we just heard one side of the conversation. It was better than t.v.

I was successful in uploading my photos to my Facebook page. I was pretty excited when I saw the good shots I got of the whales. It really is just hit and miss because first you have to see it, then you have to point the camera in the right direction and then it is just rapid shooting to catch all the action. We bought a new telephoto lens at a Target store in National City about ten days ago. It sure makes a difference in getting a good shot. However, sometimes I am so busy taking pictures that I forget to take in the sights.

There is bad weather on the way. The forecast is for rain, rain and more rain. I think it is to start tonight and end on Thursday. Apparently the storm is supposed to bring eight inches to the coastal areas and up to thirty inches in the mountains. That is hard to even imagine. We don't even get eight inches of rain all year! I am not looking forward to it but I guess it is still better than thirty below, blizzards and ice.

In preparation for the rain we moved the picnic table under the canopy so we can at least have some place dry to use the barbecue, etc. I try not to cook too much inside because it just stinks the trailer up and it is not really necessary. We don't use the shower either, there are good showers here. It saves on propane. When I wash dishes I just heat water in the kettle and we don't even bother firing up the hot water heater. Our sensors are not working that great in our holding tanks. Bernie emptied everything and the black tank still said it was 2/3 full. So we bought some stuff to put in the holding tank to dissolve everything and I hope that helps to clean the sensors as well. I told him that it was because he put his well-chewed tobacco down the toilet a few times. Who knows. That made him mad.

The big football game is on today and I am sure most of the campers are watching the Chargers play the Jets. As I write this San Diego is winning 7-0. Bernie is watching - sleeping on the couch.

People have different set ups and we walk around the camp ground checking everything out getting some ideas. We are probably going to get a screened in "porch" to set up under the canopy. It actually gives you another room, and we can use the room. Without the extra length and without a slide we are kind of cramped in here. So we will be looking for something like that to set up for future camping. A lot of people also have t.v.s outside. Some are actually on brackets on the side of their trailers. I am not so sure I would go that far, but you never know. If we had a screened in area we could set the t.v. up on the stand and watch it out there. Apparently this is especially important for football games. One of our neighbours has a clothes horse outside which I think is a very good idea. Most campgrounds discourage clotheslines. They say that they are unsightly. So we end up throwing towels over the chairs, or on the canopy support or over the table. I don't know what looks worse - clothes on a line or the current method. So a clothes horse would be a good investment as well. We also need a better rug for the ground. We are currently using one that I used to have in the back of the van. It is all right, but I think it will rot over time since it is not really supposed to be for outdoor use. Bernie wants to get better chairs as well. We are looking for some that are like recliners. We saw some in the campground in Outlook, Sask. this summer but we haven't been able to find them in any stores yet. I should have asked them where they bought them. Too late now.