Peter and Vicki's Travel Blog

Saturday, March 12, 2011

Mission Bay Magic.....a beautiful and interesting part of San Diego

Another glorious day here in San Diego, California. Today was exploring day in the Mission Bay and beach areas to the north of downtown San Diego. It is a beautiful area waterways, beaches, parks, gardens, walkways and bike paths - an area fantastic for relaxation and leisure activities. We can see why many people flock here in the American winter! It is also home to the famous San Diego Seaworld.

Walking and cycling was our agenda this morning - exercise while we did our sightseeing! The Oceanfront walk goes for miles along the coast and we enjoyed the sunshine and people watching (some very interesting characters roam these parts!) as we took in the sights. We watched the dolphins and seabirds feeding on a school of fish from the Crystal Pier at Pacific Beach, then we hit the boardwalk on the bikes and enjoyed the sights from Pacific Beach down to Mission Beach. It is such a beautiful part of San Diego and has lots of character and a great beachside atmosphere. Great cafes, restaurants and a fantastic nightlife (apparently - us jet lagged Aussies didn't experience that!)

Off for the cycle along the boardwalk

Mission Bay

Picnic in the Park at Mission Point

Belmont Park

The accommodation cottages on Crystal Pier at Pacific Beach-
very popular and fantastic views up and down the coast.

View from the pier.

Blue sky, sun, surf, boardwalk at Pacific Beach - and it is still their winter.
Crystal Pier in background .

Thursday, March 10, 2011

A long day but a goodie!

After a rather bumpy 12 hour flight we landed at 7am (1am Oz) in LA and what a beautiful day it was -clear blue skies, sunshine and no humidity!

(if you want a more detailed pic double click on the pic to enlarge it)

Coastline and coast road north of LA as we came into land.

The crazy Hwy 405

The Hollywood sign welcomed us!

The sprawling city of LA

We busied ourselves doing some necessary chores in LA regarding our travels here in the US and then we headed off down the coast to the lovely San Diego - one of our favourite cities. Once at San Clemente we got off the crazy 405 - must say Pete did well in the LA traffic and on the Freeway! - and we had a leisurely trip down the coast road which offers great scenery, interesting places, and quaint towns overlooking the ocean -San Clemente, Oceanside, Carlsbad, Encinitas, Cardiff-By-The-Sea, Solana Beach, Del Mar, Torrey Pines Golf Course, La Jolla, Pacific Beach, and Mission Beach are all worth a visit and an explore on the way to San Diego.

Watching the sunset topped off a great day.

Wednesday, March 9, 2011

Leaving on a jet plane......

....But we do know we will be back in 3 months!

Excited! Today's the day! We farewell our Aussie shores at midday. Looking forward to flying VAustralia to LA - hear it is very good. Pete's looking forward to the 24 hour snack bar! lol

Really enjoyable day yesterday with the family.

Good luck to Luke this weekend in his race in Abu Dhabi!

Next post from the USA!

Tuesday, March 8, 2011

READY TO GO!

Countdown time! We are packed and ready to go to live some of our dreams!

Tomorrow we fly out from Brisbane for the USA to embark on our 3 month road trip adventure in Luke and Amanda's Turtle 2 (the Jimmy and Memphis Special! - our home for the next 3 months!) - we are so looking forward to it!

Since we became homeless here in Oz (free!) on the 18th Feb we have had a wonderful few weeks visiting with family and friends - quality time which has been so special. We had a great time with special friends Graham and Di, a terrific family week holidaying at Boambee Bay, Sawtell, and now in Brisbane with Jacque and Glenn, who have been spoiling us! - and we like it!!! lol It has been lovely to have the time and freedom that retirement brings to do this over the last few weeks.

BOAMBEE BAY FAMILY HOLIDAY

Lots of tales and stories shared after a walk and swim at Boambee Creek -
good family times!
L to R : Jack, Ray, Julie, Melva, Peter, Jean and Ken

Enjoying the prawns at our BBQ.
L-R: Ray, Melva, Julie, Ken,Peter, Peter, Jack and Jean

Dinner celebrations after a great week! and a very special time!
L-R: Jack and Jean Geldart; Jacque,Vicki and Peter McKenzie, and Ray and Melva McKenzie

Today Luke and Amanda fly out from Brisbane to Abu Dhabi - the beginning of their training and racing season overseas. We are looking forward to meeting up with them and watching and cheering them on in three of their races in the USA - something we've longed to do but have always been tied up with work.

We are having a family lunch at a Japanese Restaurant today before they fly out tonight. So nice to be with our kids!

So, USA here we come!

Friday, February 11, 2011

Moving, moving,moving........

We are very excited, as a well as a bit sad, at the moment. For the past week we have been packing up our life here on the Gold Coast and preparing for our life on the road - becoming "grey nomads" for a while!
The Gold Coast has been our wonderful home for the past 16 years but it is time to see more of Australia and the world. We move out of out townhouse in Tugun next week and our adventures begin! Stay tuned!

The Geldarts hit the Gold Coast!

A family summer vacation brought my brother Graeme, his wife Sue and their terrific kids - Josh, Bethany, Jack and Poppy, to the coast early January for some fun in the sun! The weather wasn't all that co-operative and some of their days were marred with some inclement weather but that didn't stop them having a great time packing their week with outings - sailing on the Broadwater and doing the theme parks - Movie World, Wet and Wild and Seaworld. It was great to see them all and we had a wonderful week having lots of of fun!

SEAWORLD

SAILING ON THE BROADWATER

On the move.......

Now that Pete and I are retired how quickly time goes by! It is already February, 2011 - one month of the year gone and nearly half way through month two! Couldn't believe Easter buns and eggs were out in the supermarkets Feb 1 - lets not wish the year away!!!

We've been enjoying our retirement - all five months of it so far, and have been busily planning our travel schedule and readying to get on the move. But more about that shortly.

Just back- tracking a bit. We had a really nice Christmas - very different from the usual - no Secret Santa and Christmas stockings with the kids this year! We were on the move instead- us visiting the kids. We breakfasted with Jacque, who had to work Chrissy afternoon and Boxing day, and then we headed up to Noosa to Luke and Amanda's. The delicious Christmas meal was celebrated with much cheer at Les and Carol Smith's - Belinda Granger's lovely mum and dad, and what wonderful hosts they were. A big thank you!! A great afternoon and evening was had by all the extended Noosa triathlon family!