Our second full day in southern California we went on a long walk in Oceanside all around the harbor. This was my favorite Monday morning walk.
Our Mondays were the days Glen spent reading and answering all the missionaries' letters, so those days we took extra long walks before he settled in for his long day at the computer.
This pavilion, surrounded by five palm trees, always catches my eye. It looks like a little oasis on the sandy beach.
The lighthouse restaurant is another focal point at the harbor.
For entertainment, we would watch the sea lions sunning themselves on the docks or barking out sounds to other sea lions. Sometimes we could even see them frolicking in the water with each other.
We were eager to drive by the mission home and see if it still looked the same knowing it had been sold and was no longer in the Church's possession.
Well were we shocked to see the house now!!!!
Here's how it looked when we lived there (minus the green awnings that we were happy to have removed when the house got tented for termites a few months after our arrival).
As we turned onto Celinda Drive, we were laughing as we remembered how it took us the longest time to figure out which house was ours when we first moved there. We would always drive right by and have to turn around and figure out which exact house we were looking for.
Then, just like in the beginning, we drove right past the house once again!! The reason is its appearance had changed so drastically!!
I loved the big magnolia tree by the front door and the tall, purple flower plants that welcomed us when we first arrived.
Glen loved the small palm tree in the planter on the sidewalk leading to the house. We learned it takes many years to grow that particular palm tree and they are quite valuable.
I loved this row of bushes and palm trees lining the driveway as it made for a great backdrop for taking photos of any visitors who came to see us.
I was happy to see they had left the trees, but they got rid of the bushes and the two bird of paradise plants on both ends. Those flowers would bloom nearly year-round and were so unique to the area.
That walk down memory lane made us sad!! So we opted for another memory when we ate at Panera Bread for lunch. We would pick up salads for the restricted-diet missionaries before each zone conference.
The restaurant was part of the Carlsbad Mall, so we went for a walk through that mall for old time's sake. We never really went there. My memory of that mall was when our house got tented (over my birthday weekend!!), and I was so anxious to get back in the home to get all our stuff put away.
When I went to the house, I discovered men had just arrived to start taking down the tent. I had several hours before I could get into the house and decided to spend that time at the mall when I was wishing I could use that precious time to get the house back in order.
As per Glen's voiced desire before we ever went to California--we ate at Carlsbad Coyote Grill a second time to enjoy our favorite ribs while we were in town those few days.
We got there shortly before that evening's musical entertainment began and got to enjoy our meal while listening to a live band.
There weren't so many of the regulars that we had seen on karaoke night, but the group that was there this night sure enjoyed dancing to the music. It was so relaxing and entertaining to be there once again.
We started our day with a walk at Oceanside harbor and ended our walk in Oceanside. We saw the house where some of the scenes from the first Top Gun movie were filmed. It has been refurbished and is now a dessert restaurant where homemade hand-held pies are served.
We finished out the evening by going to the Oceanside pier to watch the surfers, the fishermen and the sunset. What a beautiful way to end our last day in southern California.
Glen and I both continue to have this sentiment about the place we lived for three years.
In the morning we headed toward Utah making a stop for two days in St. George. We picked Magleby's for our dinner before heading to Tuacahn for our first play.
We were having a new experience by going to a play in the indoor theater. We saw Buddy Holly and learned so much about that up-and-coming singer whose life was so tragically cut short at the age of 22 when he died in a plane crash.
We were so happy we had schedule to be indoors that evening because it rained during the show--which didn't affect us at all. We later learned that the outdoor play had to be canceled because of the rain. HOW SAD for those people who didn't get to see Joseph that night.
I thought the play was so interesting and very entertaining. All the performers were extremely talented musically. They all sang and they all played various instruments. The two women were amazing on the pianos.
The bass player really hammed it up by getting in all sorts of different positions moving his bass all around and upside down while he was playing it. So funny!!
We met our missionary Bret Wilson and his wife Kassidy for lunch at Black Bear Diner. It was fun to hear their love story and learn what they are doing at this point in their lives.
For dinner that evening we chose to pig in while we pigged out eating our barbecue dinner.
It looks like Glen didn't get enough ribs while in Carlsbad--he ordered them again at this restaurant. He did report that he had to work to get the meat off the bones at this place. At the Carlsbad Coyote Grill the meat easily comes off to leave clean bones.
We went for ice cream at Handel's because we heard it was a hotspot in town. It was delicious and was a great cool down for us before we went to the play.
Off to Tuacahn we went to see the outdoor play of David Archuletta starring in Joseph and the Amazing Technicolor Dreamcoat. Boy were we happy to see blue skies overhead!!
It was a fun play to see. We have seen it several times in other theaters. The changing sets were so colorful and beautiful with the ending being very theatrical as Joseph climbs a long staircase with each step lighting up in a different color until he was standing at the top displaying his coat of many colors. Loved it!!
I had to laugh when we were walking through Costco that afternoon in St. George. Glen saw this BYU blanket, put it in the cart and told me he was buying himself a retirement gift!!
He mentioned how the quilt he has been using for warmth when he is in the basement sitting in his recliner is getting very worn out. Now he can cover himself in BYU blue and stay cozy with this.
Speaking of the basement... Glen had gone down there for a while after we had gotten home from St. George. We had a massive torrential downpour when we were eating dinner.
When Glen was leaving the basement to go up to sleep, he noticed our basement had flooded. YIKES!!!!!
Right outside the basement door is a drain which apparently could not handle so much water all at once. We thought it might have been clogged, but Glen has since poured 10 gallons of water down there all at once and it had no trouble with that much water.
Thankfully we own a carpet cleaner, so Glen used that to suck up gallon after gallon after gallon of water into the wee hours of the morning. UGH!! It did make a big difference, but we still had wetness to deal with.
We only have one fan, so we got that blowing over the carpet. We also got two space heaters set up down there and were hoping for the best.
On Sunday, I was asking our fellow prison leaders if any of them have an industrial-size fan for drying carpets and thankfully our friends the Kopenhefers have one that they were able to loan us.
Don pulled up the carpet in the corner and placed that thing there and it literally raised the carpet up all through that part of the room. What a relief!!
It has been working so well, we are feeling good about giving it back to him right before we go out of town on our next adventure.
PRISON UPDATE
We were given the okay to be able to go into the new prison the week we were out of town. It was killing Glen to not be there for the first week. It was all new and interesting as our leaders were trying to figure things out and learn what the new protocols are now while we are inside the prison.
Of course our team did a great job without us because each one of them are wonderfully, capable leaders. They shared with us what they learned as we planned what should happen this week.
The Kopenhefers and the Briscoes were not able to go in last week as well because the prison did not have their new badges ready. So we three couples were like deer in the headlights on Sunday.
It turned out to be a blessing that only half the men inmates were allowed to attend worship service and Sunday School. The other half are on Covid restriction still.
The reason it was a blessing is because the chapel is so small that it gets filled with only half the men--probably we only had a third of the amount of men who usually attend. It is a real quandary for us as we are scratching our heads wondering why the chapel is so very tiny in this facility in this brand new prison.
At the old Draper prison, this group of men had a nice-sized, free-standing chapel they could go to for religious activities and meetings.
It seems inevitable that we are going to have to have multiple meetings for these men. That will make for long Sundays for us leaders.
Glen is frustrated that we will be missing two more Sundays while we are in this trial-and-error phase of trying to see what will work the best. I think only time will tell. We sure don't want men not coming because there is no room for them. It is CRAZY!!!!
And I won't even go into how much room the wheelchairs take up. Why in the world was no consideration put into that when the plans were made for the new prison??!!??
More to come on how this all turns out.
