Let me start off by wishing a Merry Christmas to all on Boxing Day. I hope you had a wonderful holiday and were able to connect with family and friends.
I need to catch up on the happenings this week as I haven’t posted since Tuesday. After publishing Tuesday’s post, I headed to the beach on my mountain bike. I wanted to check out the surf, which was supposed to be big during the King Tide.
I rode into a light wind along Mission Bay. The bay seemed unusually calm. The sun was shining, the skies were blue and people were enjoying time on and around the water. I saw a strange looking boat. It had a low, flat deck and a small outboard motor. From my viewpoint, I couldn’t tell if it was a pontoon boat. In any case, it wasn’t what I’m accustomed to seeing on the bay. I snapped a quick photo.
Unusual boat on the bay
I made my way to Pacific Beach. By the time I got there, it was after 1pm and the tide was receding. The biggest swells came earlier in the day on the rising tide. City workers made huge berms in the sand around the main Pacific Beach lifeguard station to prevent it from being flooded by the high tide and big surf.
Sand piled high in front of the lifeguard station
I took a photo of the big waves crashing into Crystal Pier, but I accidentally deleted the file this morning. Doh!
Later, I took a photo of De Anza Cove at low tide. The King Tide creates very high tides and extreme low tides. The dock in the photo is usually floating with very little angle on the walkway. At this time, the dock is grounded and the walkway drops steeply.
Extreme low tide at De Anza
On Christmas Eve last year, we joined my daughter, Shauna, for a sushi dinner downtown at Ra Sushi. We continued the tradition this year, but instead of going to Ra, we made a reservation at Sushi Ota on Mission Bay Drive. Donna and I enjoy Japanese lager with our sushi. She always orders Asahi beer while I prefer Kirin Ichiban. The sushi at Sushi Ota is superior – they serve some of the best I’ve ever had. If you’re a sushi lover, you must try Sushi Ota next time you’re in San Diego. The yellowtail (hamachi) was the freshest, best-tasting nigiri ever!
Sushi platter at Sushi Ota
A toast with Japanese lager
After dinner, Donna went to work in our kitchen preparing the side dishes for Christmas dinner. On Thursday morning, she was up early and had the spiral cut ham in the oven. Shauna picked us up at 10:30am and we drove up to my step-dad’s house in Menifee. Donna and Shauna finished the meal preparations there and we were seated at the table at 1:30pm with our first course. It was curry-butternut squash soup that Donna made from scratch. We had homemade corn muffins with it.
First course – curry-butternut squash soup
The main course was the glazed spiral cut ham served with mashed sweet potatoes and brussel sprouts with marjoram and walnuts. Yummy!
Donna, Ken and Shauna ready for Christmas dinner
We sat in the living room and talked for a while after dinner, then it was pie time. We had apple pie from the Julian Bakery, a local San Diego favorite. We lingered at the table after dessert and told stories. Well, I think I was the main story teller.
Eventually the time came to head back home. We really enjoyed the day together and look forward to spending time with Ken and Shauna again in the spring.
Our drive up to Menifee and back had a couple of moments of craziness on the road. On the way up, once we were north of Temecula, the wind picked up. It was blowing out of the north, I would guess at 20-25mph with higher gusts. On I-215, the traffic was moving along at 75mph when all of sudden everyone ahead of us was braking hard. We were almost stopped when I saw what caused the panic stops. The driver of a Chevy Silverado pick-up truck in the left lane slammed on his brakes and came to a stop on the interstate because a tumbleweed blew into his lane! This was one of the dumbest moves I’ve ever seen. Tumbleweeds are dry and light – that’s why they’re tumbling along. Hitting one with a car at speed blows it into a million pieces. There’s no reason to stop and endanger everyone else on the interstate.
After we left Ken’s place and were driving south on I-215, once again traffic went from a smooth 75mph to a screeching halt. This time it was really necessary to stop. A car was driving northbound in the left southbound lane of the interstate! Luckily, everyone was able to stop without a head-on collision. Like all interstate highways, the lanes for each direction of travel on I-215 are divided and completely separate from each other. I have no idea how this guy was driving north in the southbound lanes. Shauna immediately dialed 911 and I reported the location of the wrong way driver.
After we returned home, Donna took Shauna’s car to visit her sister, Sheila. Shauna and I hung out and had a cocktail while we collaborated on a couple of crossword puzzles from the San Diego Reader. We completed two puzzles. All in all, it a very enjoyable holiday.
Now, for today’s holiday trivia question – do you know where the title Tumbleweed Connection comes from?