7/11/2026 Saturday

 We had breakfast at our Best Western Hotel in The Mission Bay area on Clairmont drive. We packed up and went to Old Town, which was very close.

We didn't make it into a 10 am tour, but we DID find free parking in their lot at the Mormon Battalion Visitors Center and got a 10:20 a.m. appointment for the guided interactive tour.

Here we are, ust waiting around on the front porch. We read and sat in comfy rocking chairs in the nice cool breeze. And posed in a small covered wagon.

Then our tour started. It was really cute and Disney-esque, I thought. There were talking pictures in frames, we moved room to room, experience to experience "with" the Battalion. It was well done. I learned at lot! It was about 40 minutes long.

Window frames in this room held the screens where the characters spoke to us or our guide. 

We learned about their conscription, the families, their route, their pay, their uniforms, , their trials and their faith and perseverance.

Then we saw some exhibits and artifacts, then moved outside to pan for gold!

Fun! It's fools gold, but still fun to do😄.

Information about brick-making, digging wells, and general info. 

Here's the old- time photo they took for us ( and emailed it, the new-timey way!).

Then it was time to go home to Utah.

Goodbye California Freeways and Traffic!!

Hello red hills of Southern Utah!

We told Rachel that she needed to practice smiling when her picture was being taken because it made her look like she was having a miserable time with Grandma and Grandpa Liebhardt on our Grandparent trip with her. I gave her lots of practice on our little trip. So much driving! 

But she was a really good sport and hung out in the back seat of Grandpa's big red truck all by herself and never complained about how long the drive was. 

And I finally captured a smile over the back of my seat! 

Thanks for being a good sport, Rachel! ❤️

Friday July 10 Dan Diego with Rachel, Con'T

Oops. We saw this flag on our way in, but missed the sign below. . .

And we waded. 

Later on, we washed up and watched the wildlife at La Jolla cove. Crazy busy there!! 

So many kayaks! Two groups here and three more groups in the distance , coming!!

Pelicans.

Ground squirrel.

Two baby seagull chicks with their Mommy. So cute.

One cove with sea lions AND swimmers! They are so close!! It's crazy. And there were pups❤️

Mike didn't get to enjoy this place with us. There was no parking anywhere near, so he dropped off me and Rachel, who quickly acclimated to the horrible smell, and he drove around in ever wider circles, looking for parking and Rachel and I walked up to Dukes to meet him there for lunch. I'd made a reservation for us for one p.m. and we got there right on time.

And yes, we ate the hula pie. It was yummy, but very over-priced. It was fun to listen to people comment on it on their was past our table, however. 

Next stop: our hotel for a nap and a rest. This traffic is EXHAUSTING. And we're old. Poor Rachel. 

Then to Belmont Park. One roller coaster ride that somehow turned into two. It must have been somebody's birthday or something. It's a rough one. And Rachel spent time in the Ropes course area. We didn't end up eating there at Belmont Park as I'd planned, because we ( Rachel and I) went swimming in some very rough ocean. We each took a tumble or two and decided that was enough. And it was crowded. So we got out. After we were on the shore, we twice heard loudspeaker warnings from lifeguards to be aware of rough surf and currents and to only swim by the lifeguard station. Which made it even more crowded. 

In this humidity, nothing ever dries out. It's crazy. We missed Mike at the showers, could not see him, walked to the far away truck. Not there. Walked BACK to the showers by the beach. Found him. Walked BACK to the truck and my wrap around sarong and swim suit was STILL dripping wet. 

To the hotel. Snacks for dinner and some good hot, cleansing showers for us all. So much sand in my suit, even after rinsing at the beach showers twice. Haha.

There are no good beach photos because I was busy jumping into waves with Rachel! 

The biggest challenge for Rachel-- a turning cylinder. She shied away from it twice before finally doing it.

Looking north. Lotsa people.

Looking South. Lots more people.

This seagull ( one one that looked just like it) strolled up to our bag and started trying to take things out of it!