Wrapping up our time in San Diego. We had heard of the Batiquitos Lagoon Trail located near Carlsbad, a coastal wetland and estuary, so we went there for a hike (above) and investigate whether it was good for plein air painting. It was quite windy and dry the day we hiked, and not teeming with bird life. We could see that San Diego was already in moderate drought conditions, even though it was only May.

We also visited the San Diego Botanical Garden with rare bamboo groves, subtropical and desert plants, and native plants located in Encinitas. Since San Diego was still at the Covid Orange Tier level, masks were required both indoors and outdoors. Families were enjoying the day (top row), and we got to pose with a couple of garden sculptures made from clay and living plants (bottom row). We also took a rare dual selfie… just to prove we were actually here!

Old Town San Diego was across the main road from one of our hotel stops up the coast and known as the Birthplace of California. The significance of Old Town is that it marks the site of the first Spanish settlement in the US and is the oldest neighborhood in San Diego. It is mostly some historic buildings from the 1800’s (top row), souvenir shops, and restaurants where you can get a great margarita (bottom row).

Our overall impressions were that San Diego circulates around cars and highways, is greener than Northern California but is colder than we remember. One unique aspect was the prevalent use of electric scooters and bikes in the urban areas. We even used a free electric taxi service, the Ride Circuit, in downtown San Diego. The food, for the most part, was quite good, though we encountered sticker shock, coming from Ecuador.

Our last day in San Diego found us at the beach to watch the sunset at Carlsbad Village. Several of our favorite restaurants include Dini’s Bistro for their Oysters Rockefeller and Board and Brew for pastrami sandwiches. Along our walk around the village, we saw a couple of nice murals (top-left and middle-left). While most of our three weeks in San Diego was filled with the “May Gray and June Gloom” weather, which is the coastal fog that is normal along the Southern California coast in spring, on our last night, the clouds departed, and we enjoyed our final sunset.