More Pictures Of The Kayak Adventure In San Diego Bay

OK, more pics.  I only am responsible for the first one (the aerial/map) and the last one (the feet).  The rest of the pics are courtesy of she-who-shall-remain-nameless.  The larger images were emailed to me, the smaller ones I snagged off of a website.  I have resized all the images she sent to me, they were kinda huge!


So there's the route we took, more or less, some parts were left out or moved slightly because it's a kind of puzzle, you have to figure out where to go next.

And there we are paddling along.  I am in front.  It looks like we are just about to enter the bay.

Looks like we (meaning I) are just about to get an assist from our Group Leader and Kayak Provider.

Looks like we are waiting for someone to figure out where to go next.

The wooden ship San Salvador in its "launching cradle".  It was launched that afternoon, maybe even while we were there, or soon after.

Wooden ship HMS Surprise (Master And Commander movie)  in the middle, San Salvador in background.

HMS Surprise a bit closer.  I really liked the Master And Commander books!

Well, she can't get enough of the HMS Surprise, I guess, but it IS a good-looking ship!

Here are the kayaks beached somewhere.  It was so shallow we had to walk them in quite a ways.

At one of the few places we had to land to get a clue.  The guy on the left I had met in MTRP a couple of years ago, I had beat him to a new cache for a first-to-find by about a minute.  He, on the other hand, has geocached all over the world.

Well, there we got the downtown of San Diego, and the bay Bridge, from a distance.

And we shall finish with the feet.  I only had three sunburned spots.  One on each foot, shown here, and a little one on my upper lip under my nose.

You got any questions or concerns, you just let me know.  Thanks for reading!

Yesterday, Which Was What, Wednesday?

I went down to the Big Bay yesterday morning to partake of a terrain level 5 rated geocache. A fellow geocacher supplied kayaks and there were five of us in four boats.  I was paired up with someone.

We started out at Pepper Park and headed south.  Along the way there were various waypoints where we had to observe something and derive a number for to eventually calculate the final coordinates.   I was so out of my element that I didn't even keep track of the numbers, I was just trying to keep up and survive.  I didn't realize how WET it was going to be, and I did not EVEN want to take my phone out of the drysack it was thankfully in! 

I had one attack of feeling sick and weak, so I ate a granola bar.  I complained a lot, but I felt better after a while and we continued on our way.  My poor boat-mate had to listen to me, though!

Eventually we ended up down by the little shipyard (Marine Group Boat Works) where it turned out the San Salvador was being launched.  I think the launch happened while we were in the area, but didn't see it happen.  We saw the ship, though, and near it was another sailing ship, I think it was HMS Surprise.

So here is the picture at one of the spots we beached at.  

Low tide was probably not the best time to be out here, it was very shallow.  Quite a number of times my boat-mate hopped out and pushed the kayak along, as it was easier than paddling, he said.  He saw rays sometimes.  He kept saying "There's a skate!" and I didn't even realize what he was talking about until later!

I'm sure glad I didn't step on any!.  NOTE: I just looked it up.  Skates are harmless to humans, they don't have "stingers".  Not being able to identify which is which, though, I think I shall avoid both!

Somewhere along the way back the others figured out where the final location was and we waded ashore to sign the log, then headed back to the park. 

I'm glad I went on this adventure, but I WAY over estimated my capabilities.  I was so tired and uncomfortable, and I felt bad about being so whiny.  On the other hand, I found out that I'm not terrified to be on a kayak (discounting the moments when the tide was pushing us towards a large car-carrier ship that was berthed near the park!) and I think I could handle short distances, Four hours on the water was just too much for me, though!

I only had three sunburned spots, one little on under my nose (but above the mustache) and one on each foot, in the same spot, where possibly the water shoe rubbed off the sun screen.  I wore long SPF pants and a long sleeve SPF shirt, with sun screen underneath.  I also brought gloves, but they both turned out to be right hand gloves, so one hand was in the sun.  But it doesn't seem to have burned.  I think the generic Albertson's water-resistant sun screen did a pretty good job!

Thanks for reading!

A View Of The Sea From The Table?

I went up to the Miramar and Mira Mesa areas yet again today, Sunday, to find some geocaches that I didn't get the previous two days.

But what you are gonna get here is a hodge podge of images from the last few days, with little narrative.  'Cause it's eleven at night here, man!

This one was from July 21st when I went to Balboa Park.  The oak trees down there are part of the Bennington Memorial Oak Grove.  Here is a tiny bit of information. Parking is difficult. As far as I can see you have to park at the top of the hill (south of the grove) and walk down.

By the way, have you ever heard of LA PUNTA DE LOS MUERTOS? Neither had I!  It is a historical landmark in San Diego, though!

Found this fun little guy!  Link to video. MOV format, 24 MB file size!!

On Friday the 24 I went to Miramar again, doing my labs AND doing some geocaching. One palce I went to was here, some sort of "dock" that had a marvelous view of the valley below.

A valley that had trains going through!

So I just HAD to do a selfie!!

That evening, Friday, I was baking frozen pizza and managed to touch the oven-hot pan.  Woah, that hurt!  Hurt for three hours!  Except when I had it in a glass of water/ice cubes.  There is only one long white spot, and one teeny tiny white spot, that seem to be actual blisters.  But the WHOLE end of the thumb hurt so much I was tempted to go to the ER!  But I did not.

It was very difficult taking the picture.  Focus and lighting and twisting my hand around.  I took a tripod outside to the sun and shot the pic bracing against a saw horse I made from plans in Mother Earth News (he says modestly). 

The tree rings on the wood were interesting so I tried to take a picture of them, too.  I don't quite have the hang of macro mode, which is what I used for both of these pics.

OK, we are up to today, Sunday the 26th.  Here is a rather steep hill I was on, right at the GZ for the cache, actually.  The camera somehow makes the hill look less steep than it is.  It was possible to slide down the hill if one wasn't careful.  I was careful.  THIS time!

When I got to the bottom I had to walk along the rocky stream bed for some distance.  Interesting, but tricky.

Later on I drove to a cache name Cemetery View.  It was only fifty feet down the hill from the parking spot, but it was a STEEP and BUSHY fifty feet!

On the way back to the vehicle I found someone's cell phone!  Ain't that cool, an iPhone 5c, blue in color, with a leather case.  Just like miiinnneeee...oh....

The last cache I did required a bit of walking.  Here is the view of Sorrento Valley about a quarter mile in.  I had to backtrack a bit and head down a road into a deep canyon.

At the bottom of the canyon was a very long drainage ditch.  There was even a little bit of water in it.  Lots of tagging indicates that skateboarders like to come here.  I can imagine!

It was pretty warm down in the canyon, so it was nice to get back out into the breezes!  I called my son and we met up for lunch.  I  had an enchilada, a burrito, and refried beans. Maybe ate too much, my eyes must have been bigger than my stomach.  Next, either one should suffice.  At least I didn't eat the rice!



And lastly, I want to announce that I completed this week's Reader crossword without looking up anything.  After finishing I checked the ones I was not sure of, and had only two errors.  So, I am just busting my buttons here!

Thanks for reading!

Out And About

I got up early, before dawn, even, made oatmeal and tea, loaded it all, with pills, into the vehicle and headed down to the Big Bay area.  Found the cache I was after (FIFTH time there), then I went over to another cache (this is in the NTC area) and found that one.  Then I ate my pills and my breakfast (finally cooled down enough!) and drank some tea.  Next was a cache that was wet and rusty and surrounded by ants, ants, and more ants.  Found that one, but now some of them ants is in the cache...

Now it was time for one behind the Loma Theater, where Bob and I saw Rosemary's Baby, back in the day. Using the hint that one was a quick find, and no coffee drinkers hanging around like last time.  I went for another cache behind a nearby shopping center and found that one, too. 

Next was Harbor Island.  There is one cache there that I haven't been able to spot in many visits.  This time was no different.  It must be REALLY good?

I headed up Laurel St. and turned left on 1st, a misteak, so I continued to Thorn, then came back south on 4th, to the Quince St. bridge.  I found the cache there (THIRD times a charm!) then headed over to Balboa Park west.  I noticed I Did Not Find (DNF) this one two years ago in 2013.  Well, using the excellent hint, I found it this time.  Also took some pictures.

Most of the pictures were out of focus.  This one is OK, though.  Yup, that can was just sitting there. It's probably sitting there still.

This leaf was prettily suspended on a spider's web

I kept hearing an odd noise from above, and finally spotted this muggle peering around the branch at me, then hiding, then peering around the other side of the branch.  Mighty funny!

Next I drove over to Park Ave. and parked.  I walked down to Florida Canyon and found a cache there, in a VERY wet area.  Has it rained recently?  I came back by a different way and found this flashlight in the grass near the curb.  I was very excited until I got home a Googled it.  It is just an inexpensive light, I just confused the name with another company.

I found eight caches today, and DNFed only one.  Not bad!  Thanks for reading!

A Bit Of Friday, But Mostly Saturday

FRIDAY

A bumper sticker I saw yesterday on the way to the lab.  Paranoid much?

Crummy picture I posted on the FB showing my arm/bandage after doing labs.

SATURDAY

 After getting gassed this morning I saw this little (I hope) accident at El Cajon and Baltimore.

On a trust walk geocache in Harbison Canyon.  Photo by Navalav8tor.  It was very disorienting to take walk a dirt path blindfolded, let me tell you!

It started raining really hard while I was driving on the freeway.  Trying to get the phone/camera in position I managed to take a picture of my floor mat.

Well, it was not THAT blinding, no, not at all.  But traffic was down to fifty on the freeway with all the thunder-rain!

On El Cajon Blvd. the streets are wet.  They are all dry now, though.  More rain, more rain!

Fourteen more caches found today, mostly while walking Dehesa Road.

On the way back to the vehicle a light rain started.  A lady in an SUV coming out of the casino offered me a lift, but I declined.  A little rain never hurt anyone! But thanks, I said!

Thanks for reading!

Wednesday, Feels Like Saturday

 I burned some incense in the burner I got from my mother.  Now the apartment smells like hippies.

Is this politically correct?

I went to the doctor this morning.  I do NOT have thrombosis, nor do I have lactic acidosis. Good to know.  I got a prescription for a shampoo that may stop the red patches I get in hairy areas on my head.  Too much information?

AFTER the doctor I stopped by the book store and BOUGHT, actually PURCHASED WITH MONEY (well, credit) a copy of Crashed, by Timothy Hallinan. It goes on the To Read pile, below Seveneves, by Neal Stephenson. But above Gödel, Escher, Bach: An Eternal Golden Braid, by Douglas Hofstadter, which I shall never finish.  But I SHALL finish Cryptonomicon, again by Neal Stephenson, I vow it!  I am half-way through it!

Then I went out to Blossom Valley for a little geocaching, loading two caches into the phone app.  A semi-steep trail leads down to the old flume trail.  I headed west for one cache, the other is east.  After 2/10s of a mile I found the spot, but I couldn't find the cache.  I looked all over,  and after expanding my search, as we say, I located it in plain sight.  It has a bad case of sun-rot (decomposition of the plastic container) and is actually held together by a strip of cloth someone fashioned.  I let the cache owner know when I logged it.  I continued west on the trail for a bit, thinking I would see where it ends, then I decided that at wearing shorts, being in the sun, and lots of stickers were not a good combination, so I headed back for the other cache.

On the way back I noticed lots of bugs on the bushes I had passed.  Are these ticks?  I took a picture, but it is out of focus and useless.  Here it is, none the less:

At least the ground is in focus.

Bugs bugs bugs, it was bugs on bushes all the way to the next cache, and all the way back.  The bugs didn't seem to like sticker bushes or rosemary, but they liked this kind, I think it is mustard.

I found this Altoids tin cache container, it looks rather like a paint roller tray, does it not?

 Cute, ain't it!

I did a careful bug check when I got back to the vehicle, and another outside while de-stickering my socks and shoes, and another, more thorough, in the bathroom.  Starkers. Again, TMO.

Oh, I forgot the panorama I made!  You get two, the pretty-big-but-still-smaller-than-the-original, and the full size moby 12 meg one with full detail, such as it is.

File Size: 500KB

And the moby one:

LINK TO MOBY ONE--FILE SIZE 13MB

I found a few more caches on the way back to the freeway.  This one had the log jammed in, and so I have taken it upon myself to create this information graphic, for geocachers every where, showing How To Replace A Log Sheet Into A Bison-Type Container:

I also did NOT find a certain cache that had a dead possum nearby.  Said dead possum had LARGE green beetles on it, or maybe they were MUTANT flies, I don't know, I didn't look very closely at it.  The smell was annoying.  I didn't find the cache because the cache is gone, though, not because of the dead possum.

I stopped by to pick up my shampoo from the drug store, but had to waste twenty minutes as the pharmacist was at lunch.  So I bought a bunch of junk food.  Oatmeal cookies, crackers, tamales in a can, chili in a can, and something else in a can, I forget just what (EDIT: Corn beef hash. Yum!).  Also a bag of lettuce, prewashed.

When I got  home it occurred to me that I could make something nutritious.  Oatmeal is healthy, right? Peanut butter is healthy (sort of), right?  Oatmeal cookies with peanut butter, what could be better for someone with type II diabetes, right?

DISCLAIMER:  THIS MAY ACTUALLY NOT BE HEALTHY

 

Card catalog drawer for size comparison, since I am lacking a banana.

Well, that's all I can think of, thanks for reading!

Tierrasanta Tuesday

I popped over to Tierrasanta this morning, actually driving on the freeway, if you can imagine!  I found all the geocaches I looked for, technically, but I chickened out of the actual retrieval of one, opting to come back at a less conspicuous time to do the deed.

I only took one picture.  I had to go in there to get one cache.  Green Hell!

That is all for today!  Thanks for reading!

Fit To Be Tied

I no idea what I did all morning, I'm sure, but it probably had something to do with the internet.  I remember printing out some notes that I tape to the wall concerning the proper use of Lay and Lie, and Farther and Further.  I returned a call to the medical place and made an appointment for yet another CT-Scan later this month to see what my little friend is up to.  I took apart the accursed wall clock in the afternoon.  My "fix" did not last and it has been stuck on the same time for a couple weeks.  The pendulum still goes back and forth just like it always did (un-convincely), but no hand movement.  And much as I hate that clock I must admit I've gotten quite use to looking up at it when I come out in the morning.  So I went up to Michael's and bought a new clock movement.  It wasn't exactly the RIGHT movement, but I made it work.  I needed some spacers 'cause the new one is "deeper" than the old, so I found washers in the garage (after MUCH searching!) and used the old mechanism as a size tester.  I filed the hole a bit larger with the files I inherited from my grandfather, needle files, very small, and got it fitted after much filing.  And later found out that the new mechanism has a smaller diameter and I didn't need to do that at all.  I got the whole mess together with a new set of long clock hands (the included ones were WAY too short) and it works fine.  Check out the pic, you will notice the second hand is so much shorter, it is from the set of hands included with the new mechanism.  Also, it is not black.

Here is the old clock mechanism, taped together with camo tape.

I was going to stick a link in here to my previous blog post about my travails fixing that old clock mechanism, but I can't find it.

But before I came home to fix the clock I went geocaching in Santee.  Found three caches, including one with ties to trade.  I had none to trade, so I tied one on.  No, no, I mean I TRIED one on.

I better go.  Thanks for reading!

Saturday the 11th

I went geocaching the morning, not quite as early as I would have liked, but early enough to get it done.  I found eight caches and didn't find three or four.  I found this giant spider, that was VERY scary!

I took this panorama of the view from a nameless hill in Tierrasanta. It was quite pretty, more so in person!

From left to right:  The Vehicle,  Del Cerro, and, uh, I don't recognize anything more.

File size 473k, beware!

I had a meetup with a friend for breakfast, then I went home and logged the geocaching finds, then I watch a documentary about motorcycling.  And soon I think I shall take a nap!

Friday Friday

Last Sunday Matt and I went to Laguna Mountain and did some walking of the trails. Here is a picture I took,  you might be able to see the Sunrise Highway crossing that open area way out there.

On Wednesday I walked up the Dehesa Road hill towards Alpine to find some caches, thirteen or fourteen, I forget.  I heard some noise in the bushes and I thought maybe it was wolves, or maybe coyotes,  but after a while this dog came out down the road, and a couple of minutes later two more came out even further along.  A couple of bicyclists coming the other way thought the dogs were mine.  I declined responsibility.
 

Can you spot the bicyclist way down the road there!

 
I went to the oncologist today.  He pocked and prodded and sent an order for a CT scan, and some lab work.  Ought to hear about the blood work next week sometime, I guess.

I went geocaching afterwards and found/signed three, spotted one (for tomorrow, early), and didn't find three.  So that was a bit of OK, then.

Thanks for reading!