In August Carlos and I left Marghie and the dogs at home, piled in the car and headed to San Diego. We like to visit my parents at least once a year and this time we decided to take our time and drive down. This was Carlos’s first big road trip.
We did many things, and had great fun, but the highlight of the trip for Carlos was staying at a Courtyard Inn with a nice pool. Go figure.
How did we go? We went as God intended and drove down the 101. We headed to our hotel in SLO just to get us used to driving together.
Pretty soon we settled into a routine — we would talk until we got bored, and then Carlos would watch videos on my phone until I couldn’t take the noise anymore, and then I would listen to the radio for a while until Carlos was bored with my selections.
Once we got to the hotel we ran to the store for the few things we forgot and then goofed around the pool until dinner and bed. We stayed up far too late watching cartoons on the hotel TV.
We headed down to 
visit Uncle J. and Kim in Ontario. We spent a couple days there — pool, mini golf, etc. They were starting school so we went down the 15 into San Diego. It’s been a decade or more since I went through Temecula and the scenery has changed pretty drastically. It used to be just empty stretches down the 15 and now it’s developments with enormous house, Walmart, enormous houses, Best Buy, enormous houses, Walmart, repeat.
Lunch at Trader Joe’s and then we went to my parents’ new house. I’m so proud of them that they bought their own house. Woot! The house is pretty neat, it has this older galley kitchen with a stove that pulls out and a huge backyard. They are saying they want to keep the fake grass in the front yard though. Big mistake.
We did the normal San Diego routine of the Zoo and Sea World. My Mom couldn’t really deal with changes at Sea World. It has gone from this great non-profit to a straight-up amusement park. But with fish. Carlos and I loved it though. We’re starting to have the same schedule — only stay for a while and then go back to the pool or house and zone out for a while. After a few days of that we kissed them goodbye and headed out.
We did stop at the Point Loma national park where the Cabrillo Monument is and tide pools are. Carlos had been a real trooper through the whole trip and I gave him a Nintendo DS to play Super Mario Bros. on. I was worried that he wouldn’t be able to play it by himself, but he had absorbed enough from Allie and Adam that he played it no problem.
We still did a lot on the way back. Stayed the night in Anaheim at a hotel with a nice pool. Visited with Dean for lunch, when to that nice park in Irwindale, stayed with my brother again. Most of that is a blur. We were lucky enough to visit with Celeste and her parents and spend the night.
Back up through San Luis Obispo and then home to Marghie and the dogs. Hurray! Carlos played Mario the entire time.
