TravelStream™ news feed for member wheretheydrive on TravelPod's free travel blogs service http://www.travelpod.com/syndication/rss/wheretheydrive en-us Copyright ©2009 TravelPod.com Thu, 20 Aug 2009 11:54:54 -0400 http://www.travelpod.com http://www.travelpod.com/travel-blog-entries/wheretheydrive/2/1250780737/tpod.html http://www.travelpod.com/travel-blog-entries/wheretheydrive/2/1250780737/tpod.html#comments Travel Blogs http://www.travelpod.com/travel-blog-entries/wheretheydrive/2/1250780737/tpod.html Thu, 20 Aug 2009 11:54:54 -0400 Building Our Teardrop Trailer

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Asseteague Island, Maryland, United States

We departed Greenbelt Park near Washington DC on Thursday, August 13. It took us about 3 hours to get there. We arrived in the early afternoon at Asseteague State Park which is on an island connected to the mainland by a bridge along the coast of Maryland. When we booked the park we read about the generations of wild horses that have been roaming free on the island for hundreds of years. We thought we might see a few while we were there. If you read about our encounters with the buffalo last year this was a similar experience. The horses were in the parking lot when we arrived and they frequently visited the beach and campsites. You didn't dare leave any food out! The park also has a species of small Asian elk that have been introduced in the last few years and they also roam freely and are quite tame. Our site was a very short walk to the beach. The beach at Asseteague is beautiful-white sand and very clean.
As for the resort area of Ocean City, we went there once and walked the boardwalk. It's about a 10 minute drive from the State Park. If you read between the lines and notice we only went once you will get the idea. The beach itself is beautiful. The boardwalk itself is very tacky-filled with many many beach stores, restaurants, places to get your palm read and of course an amusement park.
The beach at our campsite was just as nice and never crowded. There were two ends open to the public but the rest was just campers.
This part of the vacation was much more relaxing. We spent a lot of time at the beach as the weather was very hot the whole time we were there.
On one of the days we were there we drove to Deleware which is less than a one hour drive. The girls were thrilled. They have tax free shopping there and three big outlet malls! We also drove to Virginia one day and spent the afternoon at a beautiful beach area not far from Virginia Beach. Albert also spent his birthday at Asseteague. We took him mini-golfing in Ocean City and out for Mexican food.
We departed Asseteague for home on Wednesday, August 19. From Asseteague, it's about a 900 km drive so it took just over 10 hours. We had a super time!

]]> http://www.travelpod.com/travel-blog-entries/wheretheydrive/2/1250249543/tpod.html http://www.travelpod.com/travel-blog-entries/wheretheydrive/2/1250249543/tpod.html#comments Travel Blogs http://www.travelpod.com/travel-blog-entries/wheretheydrive/2/1250249543/tpod.html Fri, 14 Aug 2009 08:06:27 -0400 Building Our Teardrop Trailer

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Washington DC, District of Columbia, United States

We're a little behind on our entries due to lack of WiFi availability. We left home on Friday August 7 and spent the night in Scranton PA. We arrived at Greenbelt State Park on Saturday around 1PM. Greenbelt State Park is located in Greenbelt, Maryland, approximately 10 miles from the White House. The location for getting to and from the city was excellent. The very efficient, clean, reliable Metro Station was located two miles from our campsite. We travelled to the city everyday exploring many of the Smithsonian Museums and the many sites to see in Washington. We took a Hop-on, Hop off tour pass for two of the days which really made it easy to get around. It's a beautiful city-very green, lots of trees, wide streets etc. We also visisted thw Woodley Zoo and of course the girls did some shopping at the Pentagon Mall! We departed Greenbelt for the coast of Maryland on Wednesday August 13. By the way, the Teardrop is very comfortable!


]]> http://www.travelpod.com/travel-blog-entries/wheretheydrive/2/1249667901/tpod.html http://www.travelpod.com/travel-blog-entries/wheretheydrive/2/1249667901/tpod.html#comments Travel Blogs http://www.travelpod.com/travel-blog-entries/wheretheydrive/2/1249667901/tpod.html Sat, 08 Aug 2009 08:21:52 -0400 Building Our Teardrop Trailer

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Ottawa, Ontario, Canada

After many late nights and a few challenges along the way, we are heading out on our first trip with the Teardrop! We are departing this afternoon (Aug. 7) at 3pm and will stop somewhere in Pennsylvania tonight so we'll have a short drive to Washington DC in the morning. We will be posting some photos along the way.

]]> http://www.travelpod.com/travel-blog-entries/wheretheydrive/2/1248460141/tpod.html http://www.travelpod.com/travel-blog-entries/wheretheydrive/2/1248460141/tpod.html#comments Travel Blogs http://www.travelpod.com/travel-blog-entries/wheretheydrive/2/1248460141/tpod.html Fri, 24 Jul 2009 20:03:30 -0400 Building Our Teardrop Trailer

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Ottawa, Ontario, Canada

Well here we are. One year after our big adventure through the United States from Ottawa, Ontario to Cailfornia and back. This summer our travels plans have been scaled back. We'll be travelling to Washington DC and Maryland for our 11 day vacation this year. We look forward to this adventure and look forward to pulling the Teardrop with us.

About the Teardrop:The Teardrop trailer is a design we became familiar with on our trip last summer. We saw our first on in South Dakota and it was actually being pulled by a Harley Davidson! We thought it looked pretty cool. Later on the trip we saw a whole fleet of Teardrops-all part of a Teardrop Convention in the Redwoods in Northern California. We must have seen at least 20 being pulled by a variety of vehicles within a short time frame. Yes, this is when the words came out of Albert's mouth-"I think I can build one". After our return, we researched the design and Albert found a place to order a plan.

The Teardrop is a popular design from the 1930's to 40'.s There are many different types of Teardrops. We settled on the modified Benroy design. After much research and lots of emails and gathering of information as to where to order parts etc. the building began on Easter Weekend.
It's now in the final stages. Keep checking the photo updates.

]]> http://www.travelpod.com/travel-blog-entries/wheretheydrive/1/1218983460/tpod.html http://www.travelpod.com/travel-blog-entries/wheretheydrive/1/1218983460/tpod.html#comments Travel Blogs http://www.travelpod.com/travel-blog-entries/wheretheydrive/1/1218983460/tpod.html Mon, 18 Aug 2008 05:05:43 -0400 California Survival Series-only 10,000 km return with two teenagers!!!

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Ottawa, Ontario, Canada



August 16, 2008
We spent the night in Greenfield which is just East of Indianapolis.
This was it, our final day of travel before returning home. We set a mileage record today-drove close to 800 miles. We departed our hotel by 7AM and drove through Indiana and entered Ohio around 9:30. We are back in our own time zone now. From Ohio, we crossed into Pennsylvania. We only drove through Pennsylvania for a short time and then we entered our final state, New York State. By this point we were all looking forward to sleeping in our own beds. Jenn was a little sore and weak today but the meds helped her sleep for much of the drive home. She wanted nothing to do with stopping tonight-just get me home to my own bed! That worked for the rest of us. Erin passed the time watching 6 hours of episodes of One Tree Hill! We arrived home at 10:30 Saturday night after a very long day.

When we look back on this trip we are amazed at how much we have been able to see and do in just over a month. We began planning this trip over 2 yrs ago and really can't believe we've actually completed it. There are a few things we couldn't have done without- the GPS, Sirius Satellite, DVD player, several movies including 3 seasons of One Tree Hill, the laptop and access to the Internet. Except for Jenn's surgery glitch we saw and did everything we planned and were able to see many unexpected sites along the way. We added up the number of states we had been through on this trip - total 18. The only states we drove through twice were Illinois, Indiana and Nevada. This made the trip even more interesting as it provided us with new scenery on a daily basis.



Some Closing Comments:
Erin
Erin is grateful for the experience and is so glad she had the opportunity to "try" to improve upon her singing!
Highlights: Having to take a detour around a herd of Buffalo, The LA tour, Redwood Trees, Hills in San Francisco and the excitement of Las Vegas.
Erin's quote: This was an amazing experience and I'd love to do it again someday.

Jennifer: Jennifer is grateful she got her cellular service straightened out by San Diego!
Highlights: warm weather and beaches in Malibu, shopping in San Francisco, the pool in Vegas. She is also most grateful to have received top quality care in Cox Hospital in Springfield, Missouri.
Jennifer's quote: Amazing experience-Mom, Dad you're great and you too, Erin! I had so much fun.

Albert: Albert is grateful that he didn't have to go to a mall in Missouri!
Highlights: Going to Alcatraz, Seeing the Badlands for the first time, hanging out with his family for a whole month and of course, The Cadillac Ranch.
Albert's quote: To sum up my trip it would be many changes in scenery, many great campfires, thousands of miles and smiles! This was one incredible experience.

Kim: Kim is grateful for seeing both LA and Tijuana and not feeling the need to ever return!
Highlights: Spending time with her family, The amazing stars and beach campfire in Santa Cruz, Driving through the Sierra-Nevada Mountains region, Beaches in Santa Monica, Morning trips to Starbucks, The buffalo and the Badlands in South Dakota and the opportunity to see so much of a beautiful country.
Kim's quote: I will have incredible memories from this great travel experience and I will always be so appreciative for having spent this time with 3 incredible people whom I love very much.

We also want to thank everyone who shared in our trip by reading the blogs.
We appreciated all the news we received from home and the great comments you shared with us along the way.
]]> http://www.travelpod.com/travel-blog-entries/wheretheydrive/1/1217654040/tpod.html http://www.travelpod.com/travel-blog-entries/wheretheydrive/1/1217654040/tpod.html#comments Travel Blogs http://www.travelpod.com/travel-blog-entries/wheretheydrive/1/1217654040/tpod.html Sun, 17 Aug 2008 20:30:26 -0400 California Survival Series-only 10,000 km return with two teenagers!!!

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Malibu, California, United States

August 2-5
Our last night in Santa Cruz was spent getting packed up and ready for an early morning departure. We departed the campsite by 7:30 and headed out for our drive to Malibu. Highway 5 took us most of the way. The highway is a most interesting route. The beginning section can be described as a sandy mountain area which led us to at least 2 hours of fruit trees and grapes. It was intensely hot and quite dry-easy to see how forest fires burn out of control here. When we got close to Bakersfield we came across the signs for "High Dust area for 40 miles"! That should explain everything. The dust was spinning like mini tornados in the fields-a first for us. It was the first temperatures over 23 that we had seen since we first arrived in California. Coming through the mountain pass it was 36 degrees. As we got close to Santa Clarita we began a steady climb. This was the biggest climb we've had so far. The signs on the road warn drivers to keep a check on temperature gauges, turn off air conditioning and stop at the various water turn-offs if necessary. We did see a few unfortunate drivers who were overheating. When we got closer to LA there were some amazing recreation areas with large lakes with surrounding mountains. These recreation areas are actually the water reservoirs used to irrigate fruit and vegetable fields. Of course, getting closer to LA the traffic increased immensely but lucky for us it was a Sunday and the traffic flowed very well. We arrived at Malibu State Park around 2:30. After a stop for groceries, we were set up, ate dinner and were at Malibu Beach at 7:00. The beaches are beautiful and the water is pretty cool. Erin did go for a swim and said it wasn't so bad. She said it was a little like her Easter swim in the Rideau. Malibu goes on for approximately 12 miles of beachfront. Malibu is Malibu-home to the rich and famous!! The homes here are unbelievable. The hills all around us are filled with multi-million dollar homes. Teenagers are driving Mercedes, BMW's and Lamborghinis! There is a residential lot for sale on the way to our campsite-one acre piece of land- not even close to the ocean-yours for only 550,000. No campfires allowed here with the fire danger so we had a quiet evening catching up on reading.
Monday
The girls slept in and with the Starbucks being oh so close Albert and I went into Calabasas (the closest city to the campsite) for our caffeine fix. We found a mega mall for the girls to do a bit of shopping in Woodland Hills. We didn't opt for the Valet Parking but it was available! Erin bought the new Miley Cyrus CD. (Lucky for us all!) Next stop after lunch was the beach. The temperature was close to 30 this afternoon. Our evening was a quiet one since we had to get up early tomorrow for our tour of LA and Hollywood.
Tuesday
We had booked a full day tour- The Grand Tour of LA and Hollywood. The tour departed from Santa Monica at 9:00am. We arrived in Santa Monica early so we had time to take a walk along the beach and boardwalk. We agreed the beaches are actually more beautiful in Santa Monica than Malibu. We saw many sites including homes of the stars, beaches, the famous Hollywood sign, Universal Studios, Rodeo Drive, Beverly Hills, downtown LA etc. etc. Erin thinks she saw Guy Ritchie pulling out of his driveway but the rest of us can't attest to this sighting. It was worthwhile as we had no desire whatsoever to drive in LA. Apparently, Chicago and LA have the worst traffic in the country. We got to witness both on this trip. The tour bus was a small one with 20 passengers so we did get to see a lot of things up close and had several stops where we could get off and spend some time. We are off to San Diego tomorrow for four nights. San Diego is a short drive for us-under 3 hours. It's hard to believe that this will be our last stop in California. It really is an exceptionally beautiful state. Everything is very expensive and we keep wondering how the average family can make a living here. There are many homeless people living in parks, on beaches, under bridges etc. This state is in a severe economic crisis and is facing a several billion dollar deficit. The sales tax is going to increase to try to cover some of the costs. There is widespread road construction everywhere but you can tell there have been years of neglect.
We talked about our favourite places so far - Erin's favourite is the Redwoods and San Francisco, Albert's said the trip to Alcatrez and the Redwoods, Jennifer-shopping malls but she also loved San Francisco, For me, San Francisco for sure and the Sierra-Nevada Mountain area. We also talked about the fact that we all still like each other and nobody has gotten voted off yet!
Talk to you from San Diego.


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Springfield, Missouri, United States


Wed.
Since we left Las Vegas later yesterday, we knew we would have a big drive ahead of us today to make it as close to St. Louis as we could. We drove through New Mexico and into Texas by 10:30 AM. We made a stop at the Cadillac Ranch in Amarillo, Texas. For those who don't know about Stanley Marsh's Cadillac Ranch it's located on the historic Route 66. Some years ago a farmer decided to row of Cadillacs on angles and buried them up to their windshields. For years, people have been visiting the site and leaving their mark by spray painting messages on the cars. We brought some sharpies along and left a few messages and enjoyed getting photos. The only drawback-it was very muddy and Jennifer took a good slide in the mud! Before assisting her, we took various photos at all angles! There were many others who had stopped to visit the site as well.
From Texas, we crossed into Oklahoma and this is the state we spent most of the day getting through. The routing took us 8 hours through the center of the state. Other than the state being famous for Garth Brooks and Sam Walton we didn't really see anything else exciting that it had to offer. Much of the state is unpopulated for miles and it appears that the bulk of the population reside in Oklahoma City and Tulsa. We crossed into Missouri at 8:30PM and drove until we reached Springfield at 10:30PM. This was one of our longest days so everyone was pretty beat. We had a 3 hour drive ahead of us to St. Louis where we planned to spend 2 nts. before returning home.
A CHANGE IN PLANS!!!




Around 1:30AM, Jennifer woke up with really bad stomach pains. By 3AM, the pain was getting worse so we decided we should take her to the Emergency. Lucky for us, the hospital was 5 minutes away. We went to a Ozark Community Hospital and there were no other patients in the Emergency when we arrived. Jenn was taken right away and had blood work x-rays and a CAT scan done within 2 hours. The service and care provided was totally unbelievable. They even offered us coffee and food and the hospitals don't charge for parking. It turned out the Jennifer needed to have her appendix removed. Being a small hospital they didn't have a surgeon available to do the surgery in the morning so they arranged for her to be transferred to one of the larger hospitals in

Springfield. Springfield has a large number of medical facilities including 3 hospitals-2 of them being very large and the city only has a population of just over 200,000. The next city, St. Louis is over 200 miles away so the city serves a wide area. The hospital made the arrangements for the surgery and transfer and after calling for a transfer the ambulance arrived within 10 minutes. Jennifer had her appendix removed and was in recovery by 1PM. The plan was to have her discharged by 5:30 but her pain was still quite bad so they asked her if she wanted to stay another night. She stayed in the Children's Ward since she is still under 16. The care there was also amazing. I was able to stay overnight with her. She had a private room and there was a pullout bed in the room. She was discharged by 10AM. She's pretty sore but has some good meds to keep her going. I guess we will be seeing St. Louis on another journey. We departed Springfield at 12:30PM and plan to take a little extra time getting home since Jennifer will need to have a few extra stretch breaks on the return. We all agree if it was going to happen it was better that it happened now and not during the middle of our trip!
Missouri is a very pretty state, much of it consisting of a scenic drive through the Ozark Mountains. From Missouri, we crossed into Illinois for a short time. We crossed into Indiana around 7PM and got off the road at 9:30 just past Indianapolis. We are now back in our own time zone so it's really 10:30 here. Jenn did fine. The pain meds work well and we made frequent stops for her to stretch. We have about 13 more hours to go so if all goes well we'll be home by tomorrow night. Good Night!
St. Louis---This will be another trip!
]]> http://www.travelpod.com/travel-blog-entries/wheretheydrive/1/1218598140/tpod.html http://www.travelpod.com/travel-blog-entries/wheretheydrive/1/1218598140/tpod.html#comments Travel Blogs http://www.travelpod.com/travel-blog-entries/wheretheydrive/1/1218598140/tpod.html Fri, 15 Aug 2008 23:33:00 -0400 California Survival Series-only 10,000 km return with two teenagers!!!

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Albuquerque, New Mexico, United States

We departed Vegas at 10AM. We all feel that 2 days in Vegas gave us a great taste of what Vegas is all about. Our drive through Nevada took us over the Hoover Dam and Lake Mead. The Hoover Dam is an amazing example of an engineering feat which has created a beautiful eco system and recreation area. After a security check, we crossed the dam and stopped for some breathtaking views and took some photos. The Hoover Dam and Lake Mead weren't even on our list of must-sees but we're sure glad our routing took us through this area. After crossing the dam we were in Arizona. The Nevada/Arizona border area is a mountainous desert mix with an earth-like tone. Before we got to Flagstaff the area became lush and green-and we actually drove through rain. This was the first rain we have experienced since traveling through Michigan close to a month ago. We would have loved to include the Grand Canyon in this trip but it would have been another 100 miles to the canyon and therefore another full day. We did pass the turnoff for the highway that leads to the canyon. The roads in Arizona were the best we've traveled on and the rest stops were the cleanest and most modern, even air conditioned. We crossed into New Mexico around 5PM. The time zone changed so we lost an hour. We drove for approximately 70 miles with little or no population until we hit Albuquerque. The terrain in New Mexico is also very mountainous and very lush.
We drove through Albuquerque at night but were amazed by the size of the city. The city is located in a valley so it was especially neat to come over a mountain bluff and immediately had a view of the entire city. We drove for 10 hours today and with the time change we are looking forward to a good nights sleep. We are staying in Moriarty which is a suburb of Albuquerque.
]]> http://www.travelpod.com/travel-blog-entries/wheretheydrive/1/1218174900/tpod.html http://www.travelpod.com/travel-blog-entries/wheretheydrive/1/1218174900/tpod.html#comments Travel Blogs http://www.travelpod.com/travel-blog-entries/wheretheydrive/1/1218174900/tpod.html Wed, 13 Aug 2008 00:59:53 -0400 California Survival Series-only 10,000 km return with two teenagers!!!

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Las Vegas, Nevada, United States



Our drive through California to Nevada went very well. The terrain was very changeable from the time we left San Diego. We made several climbs and descents. We passed through no agricultural land along this route. We exited from San Bernardino into the Mojave Desert 3 hours into our drive. When we left San Diego the temperature was in the mid 20's. As we got closer to Las Vegas it was quite amazing to watch the temperature climb. When we arrived at our hotel at 12:30 PM, the temperature was 40! We stayed at the Excalibur which is on the South end of the strip. The location was great for us-across from the MGM Grand and between New York, New York and the Luxor. We hadn't been to Vegas before and were really unsure as to what to expect and were all quite impressed with the sheer size of the resorts and their facilities. We were all checked in by 1PM and decided to waste not time. We explored our hotel, MGM Grand, New York, New York and the Bellagio. The Bellagio is one of the most impressive and expensive hotels on the strip. Maybe next time!! (LOL) The neat thing is that no matter where you are staying you can check out any of the other hotels shops, casinos, restaurants and shows. The heat was incredible and we needed to make several water stops along the way. Many of the hotels are connected by trams and walkways so it's fairly easy to stay out of the heat. Before dinner, we spent a couple of hours at the pool. The Excalibur has 3 large pools and a large hot tub as well. We managed to find some shade in the pool area and judging from the major sunburns around us some others should have done the same. They have a live band every afternoon at the pool from 4-8. After dinner, we took off on foot and walked down the strip to check out a few shows. Many of the hotels have free shows that run at various times throughout the day. We went to the Bellagio to watch their fountain and light show. It was spectacular. It's like watching fireworks done to music with fountains of water. We proceeded to Caesar's Palace for their show which is a show with statues that come to life. Conveniently, every entrance to every hotel routes you in through the casino. The penny and nickel machines provide great value!! When we left Vegas we were down $1.82. (high rollers!) Unlike many others, we did sleep at night.
On Monday am, Albert and I got up at 5:00AM and were exploring the strip by 5:30. It's quite sad and amazing to see the number of people gambling at that time of day. The place never closes. Many of the bars and restaurants are open 24/7. You could get a steak dinner after 10 at our hotel for $8.95. The girls were up and ready by 9AM and we began a day of exploration. The temperature was again over 40 by 10AM making water a necessity at all times. We made every effort we could to stay indoors and make use of any inside connections when available. We toured several hotels and checked out some of their shops etc. Jennifer's favourite hotel is Caesar's Palace. Erin and I choose Paris Las Vegas which is complete with a ½ size replica of the Eiffel Tower. Albert's choice is the Luxor. The building continues in Vegas. They are building several new hotels including the Tahiti Hotel and there are actually several high rise condos that are being built right on the strip. By 3PM, we were ready to have a cold beverage by the pool. We had dinner at the Rainforest Café which was really neat. The whole restaurant is designed to feel like you are eating in the middle of the rainforest. They have animals that come to life and every 10 minutes a thunderstorm erupts-pretty cool. After dinner, Erin attempted to get on the roller coaster that is in the middle of New York, New York but the line-up was way too long. We took the bus down the strip to Treasure Island to see their outdoor Pirate show. It's really well done and worth the trip down. We also checked out the Venetian hotel that is complete with its own canal and gondolas. In bed by 11:30-ready to begin our return to Ottawa.
]]> http://www.travelpod.com/travel-blog-entries/wheretheydrive/1/1218031140/tpod.html http://www.travelpod.com/travel-blog-entries/wheretheydrive/1/1218031140/tpod.html#comments Travel Blogs http://www.travelpod.com/travel-blog-entries/wheretheydrive/1/1218031140/tpod.html Sat, 09 Aug 2008 10:08:29 -0400 California Survival Series-only 10,000 km return with two teenagers!!!

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Tijuana, Baja California, Mexico

This is it, our last stop in California. We departed Malibu mid morning on Wednesday, August 6. The trip to San Diego is a 3 hr drive but with a few stops along the way and the very heavy, insane traffic getting through LA it took close to 5 hours. It was 6 lanes of traffic doing 10 miles an hour through the city for much our drive. Can you imagine rush hour? After clearing the smog in LA we made a pit stop in Santa Ana which is about half way to San Diego. Santa Ana has a sports equipment store called Sports Monkey. We'd been looking at their website and the price of goalie pads were quite a bit less than at home. Like we don't have enough packed in the trailer and van we've added a set of goalie pads and a blocker for Erin.
We arrived at the KOA around 3pm. After camping at state parks for the last couple of weeks the KOA is like heaven. They have lots of showers, a beautiful pool, a hot tub a store, Interent at our site and even a gourmet coffee bar in the morning! The campground is located in the city of Chula Vista which is about 10 minutes from downtown San Diego. We were in the pool by 6:30pm on Wednesday.
Thursday morning, we departed the campsite at 8:00 to make the trip to Tijuana, Mexico. Chula Vista is approximately 10 miles from the Mexican border. We took the city bus to the trolley station which took us to the border. Basically, you get off the trolley and you walk across the border. We crossed the walkway into Mexico and at the end of the walkway there were official looking men in yellow shirts. We assumed these were the officials that would ask us to see our passports. To our surprise, they were the taxi drivers. Our driver took us downtown for $5.00. So-no documents required to get in! Well Tijuana-How can we describe this experience only to say we went and we don't really need to return. It's a bit like a carnival with really high pressure sales people at every single store and street corner. The merchandise consists of lots of beaded jewelry, pottery, leather, baskets and knock off type shoes, purses etc. We did have a great lunch there and we all feel ok today! Erin decided that the mechanical bull ride would be a great thing to do. She lasted a couple of seconds and is a little sore today. Jennifer took her turn and lasted a little longer but not much. By 1pm, we saw all we needed and made our way back to the border. The process to leave takes a whole lot longer than when you arrive. There was a huge line-up at US customs to depart. They did have a lot of border staff checking documents. If we had driven it would have taken a couple of hours. The line-up coming into California was incredibly long. Apparently, Tijuana has the busiest border crossing in the US.
After arriving back on US soil, we took the trolley (which is actually a train) to downtown San Diego. We got off at the harbor front area and took a walk around. We proceeded to take the bus to downtown center. San Diego is a really easy city to get around and unlike LA they have an excellent public transportation system. The downtown core is very nice-with many shops, restaurants and a blend of old age and new. It has been very hot here so the pool provided a great end to the day!
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