Living the retirement dream

We are sharing our ideal retirement experiences.

San Diego, Barrio Logan and the Botanical Garden

We love our house guests, but we also love our down time by ourselves when we tend to explore less touristy parts of cities and find our off the beaten path treasures. We have only two days to ourselves after Jenn and Rob but we make the most of them.

After dropping off Jenn and Rob at the airport we went to check out the bar where they filmed scenes from Top Gun.
The most famous scene at this bar was the character Goose playing Great Balls of Fire at the piano.
Sandy not playing Great Balls of Fire.
The last scene of Tom Cruise and Kelly McGillis was also filmed here. The bar has a lot of photos and memorabilia of the filming.
We can see the planes coming in for landing from our living room windows. It is a bit unnerving as they are so low and look like they are going to crash into the buildings.
We went to see this movie. Sandy rowed “sweep” in an 8 crew boat on the Charles River; same kind of boat as in the movie (one oar per rower) and we took Scull (two oars per rower) lessons in a double while we were in Tel Aviv.
Here we are rowing in the very muddy Yarkon River, Tel Aviv Israel.
Not exactly fast but at least somewhat together sometimes🫤
We took a walk to see murals in the nearby Barrio Logan neighborhood.
This is an artistic, industrial area with Mexican roots.
Artists at work.
They call these condominiums the ketchup and mustard buildings.
Our friends Gary and Eugenea Bailey came to visit us. They live in Menifee California just an hour away. Gary and Jim were middle school classmates in Asheville NC. We first met up with them in Newport California in 2019 on the way to Melbourne. They have also come to stay with us in San Miguel de Allende.
We went to the San Diego Botanical Garden’s holiday light show, Lightscape. It is produced in partnership with Sony Music.
The show features light installations created by lighting artists from around the world.
It was a magical experience.
This appeared to be a giant fern.
Lightscape features a one mile walking path lined with more than 1 million twinkling lights.
The lights combined with sunset above and below.
Gary and Eugenea have perfected the art of jumping. Like us they are avid travelers and have jumped around the world.
It was so cool to have many of the lightings be accompanied by music appropriate to the display.
The last lightscape display was spectacular with an eerie fog.
The following day we drove to Cabrillo Point and Fort Rosecrans National Cemetery which is located on the grounds of the former Army Coastal artillery station. It is named after a Union General in the Civil War.
It is spread over 77.5 acres.
It overlooks San Diego Bay on one side and the Pacific Ocean on the other.
We did a short 2.5 mile hike with great views of the ocean, Ballast Point, downtown San Diego and Tijuana.
Original Point Loma Lighthouse now a museum. Its architectural style was of Cape Cod design.
We thought this spot was perfect for some zen yoga poses and jumps.
Eugenea jumping for joy.
Friends are the family you choose.
We celebrated the end of a memorable jam packed 24 hours together with Margaritas at Coasterra Restaurant.

Living our retirement dream

4 responses to “San Diego, Barrio Logan and the Botanical Garden”

  1. baileyggf4aeb0a098 Avatar
    baileyggf4aeb0a098

    It’s always great following your adventures and then getting to catch up in person.

    Reply
  2. Gary Avatar
    Gary

    Great blog

    Reply
  3. Eugenea Avatar
    Eugenea

    Such lovely time catching up since we last saw you both in San Miguel de Allende. Yes, indeed “friends are the family you choose”, thank you 🙏 for allowing us to be part of your family🥰

    Reply
  4. Sylvia Ahn Avatar
    Sylvia Ahn

    I am enjoying your visit to San Diego. I think Uncle Bob is buried at that cemetery. I remember going to the gravesite and handsome military men playing taps, I think it was. I don’t have his burial site listed in “Reunion” but maybe someone else has that detail. Tried to email but it didn’t like either of the emails I have had for the 2 of you.

    Reply

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