Tuesday was our last full day in San Diego so we made it a 'clean up day.' We did the things we missed. When we were at the zoo last week, the zoo guide at the pandas told us the baby panda would be introduced to the public the following day (of course). We had to come back to meet the 5-month-old panda! Plus, we missed other animals last time. The zoo is deserves more than one day.
Upon arrival we showed our tickets, got our hands stamped, and headed in. The gal who stamped our hands looked at Lincoln's and said, "That's called a vacation hand!" There were stamps from every museum, zoo, park, show, and ride. We are going to have to soak to get all the stamps off. ;-)
We made a beeline for the baby panda since we knew he'd only be out for an hour or two in the morning. He was sleeping, but he was so fuzzy and cute! The mom was pretty cute too. I wanted to jump in and give them both a big hug. Then the zoo guide told us that pandas live solitary lives, that you'll rarely find more than one adult living in one area, and she told us what pandas do to anything encroaching their territory. No hugs.
We stopped by the gorillas since we enjoyed them so much at the Safari Park and hadn't seen them at the zoo. They were just as stinky at the zoo as they were at the Safari Park. I had no idea gorillas stink so bad. They have a terrible body odor stench. Taite and Calla probably could have told me that, though. All day they were informing us, and inadvertently the people around us, tidbits of animal trivia. These kids can soak up and regurgitate a lot of details! We saw a few more animals, took a ride on the tour bus and skyfari (gondola lifts), and headed out to the car for some lunch.
The temperature got up to about 60 degrees and sunny. Because of the windy weather last week at the Maritime Museum we got a raincheck to take a ride on the Pilot - the 1914 chief pilot craft. Until 1996 its job was to transport pilots between land and the inbound or outbound ships they were piloting. Tuesday, the Pilot gave our family a private tour of San Diego Bay (private only because nobody else signed up for the ride on a cool San Diego Tuesday afternoon ;-)). Our tour guide told us about the Navy, the USS 70/Carl Victor, the Navy's 911 buoys, the Coronodo bridge, the town of Coronodo, the del Mar, the Spreckles family, the tuna industry that originally developed San Diego, stories about noticeable buildings, and more. We also floated under the USS Midway, the naval aircraft carrier used until 1995.
Along the tour Taite suddenly jumps up and yells, "Dolphin!!! I should have known! Pelicans always follow dolphins because dolphins follow schools of fish." Yes, more valuable animal trivia. (Thank you Taite and Wild Kratts.) We all saw dolphins swimming through the bay. First it was a pair of dolphins, then a single dolphin, then more. It was the highlight of his day. It is certainly exciting to see wild animals in their habitats. It's the thrill of the encounter. How ironic that this was a $3 boat ride as opposed to the $80 Seaworld ticket. Love it!
At dinner Tuesday night we asked our kids about their favorite parts of the day. The common answer among all of our children has become "all of it" or something similar. So Tuesday night we had a lesson on communication. We talked about why someone might ask "what is your favorite animal?" or "what have you enjoyed most on this trip?" Then we talked about appropriate answers and ways to engage the other person in further conversation. The lesson included tips on body language, voice influction, and eye contact. If Lincoln can get past his shyness, he's a superstar communicator. Calla is great, too. Since she was old enough to see Calla has had laser-focused eye contact - staring deep into your soul. If it's a conversation about football Taite can do really well. If the conversation is not about football, we have some work to do. Travis and I sat around the dinner table giving the communication lesson, then we role played. (I bet there are a lot of people who are really glad they are not our children. ;-))
Thankfully after a full week of learning, walking, and sightseeing the Ooh La La Spa re-opened to offer much needed back and foot massages. Taite and I were Calla's two best customers and she put us both to sleep.
Wednesday we left San Diego and started up the coast. It was fun to drive along the Pacific Coast Highway. You can see the ocean and the mountains. The sun was shining and glistening off the water. The 65 degree temperatures encouraged us to open the windows and let the wind cool us. We drove by llamas, cows, and horses. We saw strawberry, potato, onion, citrus and grape farms. We saw some pelicans so we expected to see some dolphins, but we were probably too far away to distinguish them.
The drive went by quickly. Travis spent his time on the phone working. Taite, Calla, and I worked on math, spelling, reading, writing/journaling, and Bible verses. Lincoln and Parker working on coloring...Parker’s leg.
The story starts with Lincoln in a timeout for whining. I get on the phone to talk to my dear friend, Michelle. Lincoln sees his opportunity to sneak out of timeout (he’s no dummy - he knows my attention is elsewhere). (Criminal behavior...concerned.) He heads to the back where Parker is sitting on the bed coloring a Crayola magic marker book. Soon he’s tapping me on the shoulder. I tell him not to interrupt my conversation. (Working on manners.) He whispers in a loud voice, “Parker is coloring on herself.” I put Michelle on hold for a minute while I check it out. I find Lincoln’s information to be accurate, Parker has Taite’s red marker in hand with red and orange marker coloring on her legs and feet. It’s not the first time she’s colored on herself so I take away the markers and tell her she’s in a timeout. Note - I never moved her. Her timeout is in the exact place she was sitting to color on herself, just now she has no markers. The mere fact that she is in a timeout causes her to wail. I close her door to muffle the noise and return to my conversation with Michelle. I hear from the back, “Lincoln colored on me too!!!” ?!?!?!?! Sadly, I have to end my long overdue and very short conversation with Michelle to investigate. (The life of a mom.) I question Lincoln. He confesses. Yes, he encouraged Parker to draw on herself, partook in the activity, then tattled on her. Stinker. We had a discussion about telling the truth, making good choices, and not tattling. Then Lincoln got a paddle on the bottom and an all-day timeout. Lincoln is the first Wilson to ever receive an all-day timeout. He was allowed out of timeout for lunch, then returned to timeout for another 3 hours. I realize that 4-hour timeouts are probably not an effective way to discipline or teach a behavior. This timeout was designed around keeping a peaceful RV for a 5-hour roadtrip and to ensure that Lincoln did not get put out on the shoulder of the highway.
Our destination today was San Luis Obispo where Cal Poly is located. Another incredible California city! Travis told me San Luis Obispo (SLO) was the first city to ban smoking twenty years ago. I became intrigued and started noticing the town was much more than a college town. The town’s focus over the last 30+ years has shifted away from optimizing the business environment to maximizing quality of life. As Gallup data shows, it is hard to be happy without your health. SLO bans smoking indoors and outdoors in parks and in front of office buildings. They prohibit drive-thru restaurants and minimize signs and advertising. They have a 1% housing growth limit so the city can keep up with recreation and natural resource needs. They’ve designed all the roads so there are dedicated spaces for bikers and walkers, encouraging less car traffic, less emissions, and more exercise. The city also encourages home-based businesses. Nearly 25% of SLO workers are self employed. If you aren’t healthy yet, SLO will get you there. I found www.bluezones.com as a resource for the city. In the U.S., California, Iowa, and Minnesota all have cities that participate in this Blue Zone culture - creating environments of longevity like SLO. Our very own Albert Lea, Minnesota, is part of that. Very interesting!
We wanted to get out and experience SLO first hand. We noticed a park on our Google Maps so we found some street parking (ok, a lot of street parking) and walked over. I brought the kids to what I thought was the playground equipment. It took me a minute, but eventually I realized it was workout equipment! I’ve only seen something like this (on a smaller scale) at a park near the Blast in Eagan, Minnesota. Taite, Calla, and I took some time to workout - like five minutes. Then we walked over to the real playground on the other side of the park. There we found Parker making a lovely dinner of leaves and sand. She had a spot prepared for Taite, Calla, Lincoln, and herself. The other kids weren’t ready to eat so she prayed for herself and dug in. Then she and Calla enjoyed the teeter totter, Taite and Travis tossed around the football, and Lincoln just ran in circles (much needed after solitary confinement).
Recommended by a SLO native as the best restaurant in town, we went to Firestone Grill for an early dinner. The tri-tip steak sandwich and ABC burger were worth the stop!
Our stop for the night was just north of SLO in Paso Robles. There we parked the Flyer in the driveway of Corbin and Ann Holland. Before we arrived we didn’t know the Holland’s. They are the sister and brother-in-law to Andrew and Georgia Howard - our dear friends who we’ll be visiting Thursday night. Andrew heard we’d be headed this way, made a couple phone calls, and voila!...here we are. Corbin and Ann are beautiful people, and their 3 children are adorable.
It was so fun that we got to stay here, especially since Corbin was homeschooled for some time when he was a kid (part of God’s plan for us on this trip, I’m sure). His family started homeschooling when he was in 9th grade, mostly because he wasn’t liking high school. My favorite part of the story was his mom wanted them to learn Spanish so mom, dad, and 4 kids - 9th grade on down - moved to Costa Rica for 8 months and attended a language-focused program there. He loved his experience and has incredible memories from it. Get’s me thinking...maybe Costa Rica next year?!? Looks like Nicoya, Costa Rica, participates in the Blue Zone. We can learn Spanish and get uber healthy all at the same time. Sounds like a win, win, win!
It’s fun to imagine the possibilities.
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