March 10 - 13

It is cliché, but true – life is better at the beach.

Home Office: As with all of the friends I have visited on this trip, Caleb graciously allowed me to set up my temporary office in his living room, which coincidentally is Caleb’s office as well. The chatting around the coffee pot tended to involve plans to purchase large tracts of land in the desert ‘just in case.’ We also enjoyed the lunch hour to make elaborate meals – the best of which was the crockpot pork tenderloin with spaghetti squash.

Settings: San Diego is in full bloom right now – birds of paradise, geraniums, chrysanthemums, margaritas, pansies, violets, wild rosemary, the weird plant with the black leaves, and thousands of species that I don’t know the name of – all are in some state of bloom. Even driving on the highway there are areas that are pools of fragrant flowers. It is fantastic.

Dana is definitely a foodie – so each evening there was usually some good wine and excellent food. While we went to a fancy steakhouse, asian fusion bistro, sushi, Mexican – my favorite (and to me the quintessential SD cuisine) was fish tacos at South Beach Bar & Grill in Ocean Beach. Being a few hundred yards from the beach, a few inches from a pitcher of beer, you'll be in heaven.

"A good traveler has no fixed plans and is not intent on arriving."
— Lao Tzu

I run the risk of becoming a local – wearing shorts and flipflops and smile all day... and wearing out my welcome with my great hosts, so I tear myself away from San Diego Friday morning. As Gibran described; "It is not a garment I cast off this day, but a skin that I tear with my own hands. Nor is it a thought I leave behind me, but a heart made sweet with hunger and with thirst. Yet I cannot tarry longer."

Photos: a) Creepy black leaves; b) Bird of paradise; c) Love birds in paradise


Counting Sand
Time Spent in SD: 7 days / 6 nights (longest duration of trip)
Long Song - Bob Dylan’s ‘Desolation Row’: 11:25
Led Zeppelin’s ‘Stairway to Heaven’: 8:02
Allman Brothers ‘Mountain Jam’ (Live at Fillmore - March 13 second show): 33:47
Lincoln’s ‘Gettysburg Address’: 2 or 3 minutes
Address Word Count: 10 sentences / 272 words
Battle of Gettysburg: 3 days
Number of Americans Killed in Action: 7,863
Total Casualties (+ wounded or captured / missing): 46,286

Guess the number of puppies printed on the 'dog' blanket:
Dana: 777
Caleb: 294
Mack: 270
Actual: 466
Counter: Dana
Caleb’s Prize: 0 Dishes, 0 Cooking
Solution: going out to dinner