San Diego rest stop

San Diego is not a pedestrian-friendly place. We are apparently supposed to drive everywhere. Our sidewalks come and go (and when there is one, it is usually not well kept), there are hardly any trash bin around (ergo the third-world-like proliferation of trash everywhere), and only once in a while do you come upon public benches outside of the touristy waterfront. So, when I ran into one while roaming around Mission Valley area the other day, it was a welcomed respite.

It was a very friendly bench that even asked me to stop to visit. Naturally, I didn't need to be asked twice... Thanks for a good sit, benchy friend!

Rolando Passages

When San Diegans hear about 'hidden' or 'secret' staircases, we think 'Mt Nebo, La Mesa'... Having ridden by all the staircases that lead from La Mesa Village up to the top of Nebo Hill, a few of the staircases there are indeed well hidden (though most are prominently marked with neon green pedestrians crossing signs), though they are rather far from secret. Heck, the City of La Mesa even has a hiking map denoting all of them on their webpage and a weekly organized walk around La Mesa that passes through many of the stairs. It's happily the worst kept secret in town!

At the same time, just a couple of miles to the west the decidedly understated neighborhood of Rolando is quietly housing its own set of secret passages and staircases. I had the chance to scout them all out a while back in what turns out to be a rather cool neighborhood walking route.



Many of the entrances to the passages are quite tricky to spot. It sure doesn't help that there is no curb cut where most of them enter the street, and some of them prove to be prime curbside parking spots! Be sure to wear a sturdy pair of footwear if you decide to try this hike out, though. Most of the passages involve at least a few steps, some are fairly steep, even.

Just musing out loud quite topiclessly

Whew, what seriously wet (and literally electrifying) weather we had last weekend! When the local meteorologists mentioned that we might get a visit from remnant of Hurricane Dolores, I thought we might get some rain and cloud for maybe a day (or maybe just half a day). Instead, Coconut the English bulldog, and I were dodging lightning bolts during his visits to the doggies potty yard.

Took Coconut out for a walk after the first set of thunderstorms on Saturday.

Don't get me wrong, though, I'm really stoked that we got really good amount of rainfall over the weekend. We need quite a bit more just to raise the water levels in our local reservoirs to a more respectable level. As of last week, many of them were looking too much like dried up bush bowls than they did lakes.

El Capitan Reservoir a month ago. All the cars would have been submerged same time last year.

The east bit of Lake Hodges has been dry for so long it's now bush land rather than even dried lake.

In the meanwhile, I got to roll into Downtown for a bit yesterday. The place looks so different every time I drop in! There's a new park with some rather cool water features off 14th St in East Village that is still fenced off. The Callan Hotel on Island St in the Gaslamp no longer looks like an ill-maintained public toilet, and most of the restaurants along 4th and 5th are different from a year ago.

The new park off 14th at Island in East Village... looking amazingly lush and equipped with water display in the midst of the drought.

It's still there!

Guess what, that little tucked away Philippine Library and Museum on 5th Ave is still there... and mostly not-open as usual! I wonder how the place survives in such a prime location when it's closed for business most of the time...

Bancroft Rock House & Bancroft Ranch House Museums in Spring Valley

I was easy spinning home on my road bike from a group ride down in Bonita a few weekends ago on the inland route through La Presa and Spring Valley when I happened to look right into a narrow lane off Kenwood Dr and spotted a rather magnificent looking stone house that, despite there being no sign around pointing to one, had got to be some sort of a historical structure. What to do but to veer in to investigate?

Bancroft Rock House Museum.

St James Ct is a nondescript dirt lane and skirts by a fenced in park that I suddenly recognized as the spring that gave Spring Valley its name. I was on the east side of the Bancroft Ranch House museum and the stone structure that perched on the high ground above it is the Bancroft Rock House, an unmanned museum on the ground of Bancroft County Park with wide dirt parking lot and lots of information boards and even an automated voice-box curator, so to speak.

The spring that gave Spring Valley its name.

It's pretty cool in a rather impersonal way. After a while I decided to scoot around the corner to 9050 Memory Ln to see if the Bancroft Ranch House Museum was open (I had stopped by there a few times before and it was always closed). This time, I was in luck! A local couple was unlocking the gate as I rolled in. They turned out to be past presidents of the Spring Valley Historical Society, the keeper of the museum!

Bancroft Ranch House Museum.

The Bancroft Ranch House Museum doesn't get many visitors, though, so they were quite pleased that I decided to look in and made me feel quite at home while one scooted off to look for the resident groundkeeper, the walking encyclopedia of all things Spring Valley by the name of Mr Jim Van Meter. The Ranch House Museum is not affiliated with the Bancroft County Park & the Rock House Museum next door. It is a community run place manned by volunteers with a passion for local history and preservation. A wonderful place to visit between 1-4 p.m. on Fridays, Saturdays and Sundays.

It's a well preserved ranch house with lots of artifacts and stories to be told.

I even got this nice tote bag for a souvenir!

I only meant to drop in for a quick look around before scooting on home, but ended up staying for over two hours and had a lovely time chatting and hanging out with Mr Van Meter and other volunteers who dropped in to deposit stuff for the upcoming fundraiser sale.

Spring Valley Historical Society's friendly volunteers at the Bancroft Ranch House.

Thanks a bunch, guys and gals, I had the best visit and will definitely come back again!

http://svhistoricalsociety.org/

Summer evening on top of Mt Helix... Les Miserables!

A few fellow hills-crazy cycling friends and I have been riding up and down Mt Helix in La Mesa a lot lately. It is such a beautiful place with sleepy streets and friendly locals. I don't need a lot of incentive to head that way as soon as I hop on my bike in the morning. All I need is < 87F weather forecast, and I'm there!

 There is an additional incentive to dropping in on Mt Helix this week, though. The Christian Community Theater is putting on a run of Les Miserables at the Nature Theater.

Even if you don't like musicals, it's still a super cool place to be. Usually you are ushered off the mountain withing 1/2 hr after sunset, but during the shows, of course, you can stay longer. Check out http://christiancommunitytheater.com/ for tickets. The show goes on at 8 pm on July 23, 24, 25, 26, 27, 30, 31, Aug 1, 2.



I'm afraid there's no parking up at the theater for this (there's a lot, but it's way too small). You'll have to park off Vivera opposite from the fire station near the base of the hill and take the shuttle bus up.

Around Town: Nebo

I was messing about Nebo Hill in La Mesa the other day, rediscovering the area's hidden staircases when I spotted this...

'Beware: Pickpockets and Loose Women'

It lies! I swear I looked everywhere for the loose women. They were all in hiding or something!

Oh, I did find the staircases, too, of course.

It's a dog's town!

I'm reluctant to say it's a San Diego thing. For all I know it might be a California or even a West Coast thing... this taking your dogs out for a ride thingy. There are lots of pet dogs in Missouri, but they generally don't get to go out joy riding in a car or on a bike very often. Here in sunny San Diego, though, sometimes it seems like there's a dog or two sticking their head out of the window of every three or four car that pass you on the street... among other places:

This was a really discipline dog. He wasn't tied down or anything, but just stood there in the pickup enjoying Mission Trails and my weird looking cycling gang.

This pooch wasn't as discipline, I guess. His owner had a good grip on him as he fought to get more of him over the ledge.

 

Coconut the English bulldog usually rides in the passenger seat, tho when his mom is away he keeps her driver's seat nice and warm.

Some dogs get to enjoy good view without even leaving his pad!

Though leaving the pad seems like a nice idea to some...

People here even like to take their dog out for a walk on their bike.

Now this last one wasn't working out very well. So many things wrong with this picture!

Even with that many obviously bike-acquainted dogs in town, many of my fellow cyclists are still quite deadly afraid of running into dogs on some deserted roads in the country side, however. I understand some dogs are friendlier than others. I have been lucky and haven't been really chased by a leashless dog yet... mostly because I spot them early and don't really give them the chance. I actually love it when a dog comes over to say hello while I'm on a bike. They usually are just curious and want someone to play with... so the best thing to do is to stop and dismount with the bike in between you and the dog... and let him sniff a bit. Unless you're on a fast downhill chances are you won't be able to outrun the dog anyhow, so better not try to take of 'cause 9 out of 10 dogs will give chase if you do.

This pooch saw me coming, but he was having too much fun swimming after the elusive blue heron to come over.

This gang of three at the Red Gate Rd corner on Hwy 76 on the way to Palomar Mtn did come over for a bit, though. They were quite cool.

But not as cool as these four dogs from one of the houses on lower Mother Grundy Truck Trail in Jamul. They not only came over, but actually escorted me for 2 miles - nearly to the end of the road - and I ended up having to turn around rather than going on my own way in order to take them home. They just flat refused to go home on their own!

This handsome old dog from the house near the top of Camino del Aguilar also tried to escort me and my friends to the top of Starvation Mountain.

And this lovely little pitbull knew a dog-petter when she saw one! She was roaming around Bullard Rd near Alpine as I tried to find my way across the mountain to Crest.

Wildlife From Bike Trips Around San Diego County

A wild peacock near Dehesa Rd.

A boat-tailed grackle at Lake Murray. A handsome fellow, isn't he?

I was rolling thru Liberty Station one afternoon when I noticed a bunch of European starlings perching on a tree, chirping something silly.

These white-tailed deers on Mesa Grande Reservation weren't chirping, though.

Of the many sheep grazing along Dehesa Rd, this ram was the most magnificent.

You never know what you'll see along rural San Diego roads. These camels were at Oasis Camel Dairy in Ramona.

I tell you, kestrels are the cutest of birds!

I really can't get enough of them!

A Western horned meadowlark hiding in the dry grass by SD Velodrome.

This cute bunny rabbit hopped over to the fence to say hi to me as I rolled though Spring Valley.

One of the kamikaze barn swallows that buzzed me near J St Pier in Chula Vista.

A pair of cormorants was too busy grooming to look at the camera...

This Grace's warbler wasn't grooming, though. He was just being pensive.

A western tanager lass hopping along a side street in Alpine.

We sure do have many yellow birds around here. This is an American goldfinch.

I'll confess to liking the blue birds better, tho. This cute western bluebird male seemed quite fascinate by my camera!

His girlfriend, the female western bluebird here was too busy feeding to notice any camera at all, tho.

But the gray hawk that occasionally visits my alley notices everything!

And so does this cool dog!

This cat also noticed me, but was too much of a cat to show much interest...

Blackjack, Lyons Valley's cutest donkey, wanted to know if I had any celery hidden away in my jersey pocket.

At least that's what this chatty little acorn woodpecker told him...

Spooky the squirrel says otherwise. He was convinced that the thing I had hidden in my pockets were actually acorns!

Alas, I only had a camera in the pocket, and when I pulled it out this roadrunner did a runner on me...

Btw, if you've ever cycled up to the spine of Pt Loma (Catalina Blvd) you might have noticed the quacking palm trees. I managed to catch one of their vocal chords one morning. It wasn't easy... these guys really blend in very well!

This beautiful wild turkey was a part of a group roaming around the eastern slope of Starvation Mountain a few months ago.

A steller's jay in Pine Valley.

For a while I thought he was a peregrine falcon, but I think he's really a young red-shouldered hawk. From below he doesn't seem to have the mask.

The three acorn-woodpeckers on Cuyamaca Mtn.

Can you believe that these...

...grow up to be these? American coots!