Santee: Our Second Home

Monday, March 3 through Wednesday, March 5

Staying Put In Santee

It is nice once again to pull in to a campground and know we will not be going anywhere for a while. Last night, after the post-drive nap upon arriving, we met Skip and Susan at Soup Plantation for a simple dinner of salad and soup. It's one of our favorite places to eat, a sister restaurant to Fresh Tomatoes in Tucson and elsewhere in Arizona.

Morning broke hesitantly, with gray skies, but the promise of sun in the afternoon held true. Here in Santee the temperatures rose to the high 60s/low 70s. Nice!

Our plan to make this an “administrative” day catching up with tax returns needing filing, laundry needing laundering and drying, and a trailer needing cleaning from all the debris carried in from the storms over the past few days, and a bike ride for Duffy, once again in training for this year's STP – well, almost did not happen. Initially, we were slow to rise and it was nearly lunch time by the clock before we left to buy quarters for the laundromat (situated, happily, within the RV Park). Duffy oversaw the washing machines and start of the dryers while I hurried back to the trailer to give the bathroom a shower with the shower hose, and sweep, vacuum and sponge mop the floors. Running out of steam, I hurried back to the laundry to relieve Duffy so he could nap, while I finished the drying and folding.

Such activity is not newsworthy of itself, however, It was a race against the clock, because earlier in the day my brother, Skip, called to say our cousin John and his wife Elaine had returned to San Diego after a driving trip up the coast and back, and wanted to gather for dinner out by the beach. I don't think I ever cleaned the trailer, folded clothes and readied myself for a nice meal out so quickly. Even though we both were tired (Duffy's nap was much shorter than he needed), we revived enough to enjoy a wonderful meal and visit at a long-time San Diego restaurant called World Famous. It may indeed be – the food was absolutely scrumptious. Cousin John and Elaine Peterson live In Kalispell, Montana, and this was the second time in about four years that I have seen them. Duffy and I passed through an earlier time and met Elaine, and found John had gone hunting. Such a pleasant two hours spent. Hopefully, Duffy and I will see them again when we take a fall vacation across the northern tier of the U.S., hopefully this year.

Tuesday, March 4th dawned foggy before I became aware that I had forgotten to set my alarm to call Kurt at 7:29am to ask what he was doing 42 years ago to the day. Kurt started this tradition some years ago, when he called me to ask what I was doing at that time on that day, however many years ago. :) But, I did call and leave him a message about 16 minutes into his birth day. Celebrating in his absence (or more accurately, mine) I did what seemed to highlight the day best – I treated myself to a haircut, a manicure and a pedicure. I hope Kurt enjoyed his day as much as I did. Duffy, unfortunately did not – he spent the day at Skip's fighting the filing of tax returns electronically. Back to our trailer late in the day for a nap for Duffy and birthday shopping for me (sister-in-law Susan's birthday is March 5^th), then home for microwaved frozen pizza. I hope Kurt's birthday dinner was better than ours.

Wednesday, the 5^th, Duffy and I slowly dragged ourselves out of our toasty, warm bed, realizing the day was dawning bright and sunny, and promising to rise in temperature to the high 70s here in Santee and El Cajon (east of San Diego). Again, nice! Tired of eating oatmeal day after day, we treated ourselves to breakfast out, then went to Skip's (Susan babysits their grandson, Leif on Tuesdays, Wednesdays and Fridays where Duffy helped Skip rearrange office furniture. The repairs to our trailer that Duffy planned for today will wait for tomorrow. They are not going anywhere, and neither are we. Back to our campsite for a nap (surprise), then a bike ride for Duffy, some small chores for Pam, and out to dinner for Mexican food. All this to say, ours was a lazy day. We seem to be getting used to this.

The day of repairs will wait for tomorrow. We hope to get out and walk around these lakes (Santee Lakes at Padre Dam run by the City of Santee) to see what birds we can find. We nearly always see a variety of ducks including otherwise elusive Wood Ducks, Herons Great Blue and Green, Egrets Great and Snowy, hawks and a variety of passerines (perching birds). Duffy thought he saw a White-Tailed Kite driving back into the park this afternoon, normally a rare sighting for us.

Today, March 5^th is Susan's birthday. I did get to a couple of shops to hunt for a gift. We will celebrate with her tomorrow; she has plans tonight.

Until next time...Pam and Duffy