Welcome back! My apologies for the recent blogging hiatus. I realize it wasn’t clear whether the blog would continue to recount the rest of our adventures even after we have returned home. I will continue writing it for myself even if no one continues to read. But I hope you will, because there’s still about a third of our trip left to share. Now that our kiddos are semi-recovered from jet lag, it may be possible for me to string together a few coherent thoughts. Let’s see, shall we?
After our little jaunt across the border into Mexico, we found a place to camp in the San Diego area. We ended up at Sweetwater Regional Park, run by San Diego County, and we highly recommend it.
We arrived early enough that even after camp was set, there was time leftover for a bit of silliness before initiating the dinner-bedtime-evening routines. Silly pictures are always fun, right?
Why do wooden posts seem to bring out the Karate Kid in all male children of the 80’s? Or is it just the one I married? Notice Emelie in the background. The soundtrack is “Please, Mamma, please, please! Please lift me up here so I can do the same as Pappa. Please!!” Followed by splinter removal after her attempts to climb up herself.
Finally she got to stand on the post. Okay, so this isn’t a silly picture but it’s sweet and I like it.
One of my favorite pictures from the whole trip (which you might notice if you’re on our Christmas card list this year). This campsite had plenty of lush, green grass covering a nice little hill behind our site. Perfect adventure and exploration for the under 1 camper without lots of stress and life-saving interventions from mom.
Remember our pumpkins? This far they traveled but no farther. They cheerfully adorned our “doorstep” during our stay in San Diego, but the insides looked a little less happy. They received a proper burial at dumpster as we left.
Here’s a campground review of Sweetwater Regional Park:
Price: $29/night
Location: Just a few miles off of I-805 along Rt 54, yet difficult to find the first time. There are several parks in the area with similar names (like Sweetwater Summit Regional Park, just down the road) so knowing which one to go to was confusing.
Facilities: A relatively standard electric/water site. Bathrooms and showers clean and well-maintained. They advertise a splash park within walking distance, but it was closed when we were there.
Site-description: Dirt/gravel camp area bordering a grassy area. Trees provide a bit of privacy. There are street lights near the entrance and the bathroom building, but most sites are actually dark at night (which we prefer!). Several sites also offer horse corrals
Neighborhood: Populated but quiet. The only neighbor we interacted with was another family with a baby who had a camper they had built themselves. Unique, original… definitely a conversation starter.
Comments: We were excited to finally be camped somewhere where we could eat outside at the table after a long string of nights when it was too cold, too windy, or there were too many mosquitoes, bees, flies, etc. Then we woke up with a camper full of ants. They weren’t into any of our food (though most of it was in the car) but all over our water bottles, jugs, etc. Conclusion: when camping, there are always bugs.
Website: http://www.sdcounty.ca.gov/parks/Camping/sweetwater.html
We stayed two nights at Sweetwater Park and in between enjoyed the San Diego Zoo. More on that to come!
Adorable photos of Staffen and Emilie at the post and Peter in the grass. Definite keepers of Christmas card quality. Next time you need to get out from behind the camera!