Christmas morning

Merry Christmas everyone. Our neighbors gave us a stocking full of cat toys for the boys. We opened it up on Christmas eve. Balls that jingle, catnip mice that tingle the nose, but their favorite toy of all is the chenille and tails on an elastic string. Make it sail through the air and they’re all mesmerized by it. Cappuccino is perched, patiently waiting his turn.



On Christmas morning, we were awoken quite early to the sound of jingle bells. Honey, did you hear the cats playing with new toy last night? That was fine, kids are always excited on Christmas. We wanted to get up early to go to the San Diego Zoo to wish the animals a Merry Christmas. The new panda cub, Su Lin, is almost 5 months old. She comes out of her den by herself now and was out at 7:30am this morning, the volunteer said. Mom, Bai Yun, enjoys her bamboo while Su Lin is climbing all over the place. At one point she tumbled off the log and we all chuckled and then covered our mouths, because you really have to speak in hushed tones so as not to startle the pandas. The panda pup looks to be a little bigger than Cappuccino and just as fluffy. One, two, three, awwww.

Ocean Beach Christmas tree

We went down to OB to walk on the beach. We parked in the lot near dog beach to check out the excitement. There’s always something to bark about and that day was a french bulldog meetup. It’s just a riot to see more than ten of the same breed frolicing together. Scratch the little pug-nosed fellas and they grunt like a happy pot-bellied pig.

We walked south down the beach to the pier. I thought I was just connecting the soles of my feet with the sand, but we got a nice holiday surprise.

Each year, Ocean Beach decorates their giant tree on the ocean front near the pier. Perfectly harmless ornaments of inflatable toys decorate the branches. Of course a giant crane is needed, no bumble snow monster here to help out.

Rockin' out in Mission Gorge

We wanted to go for a hike, but saw that the tides were high, so we nixed a walk on the beach. Larry suggested Mission Trails Regional Park. We parked near the visitor’s center and walked visitor’s center loop trail. This is where you can see a portion of the San Diego river in this area where it’s not protected and preserved for area wildlife. We then took the path to the 1-mile-long “Rock Climber’s Loop Trail”.


This is a challenging trail which climbs some 400 feet by way of many switchbacks. At the “top” of the trail nicknamed “middle earth”, climbers may test their skills on giant columns of granite. With a fear of “splat”, I will not be challenging myself on this extreme sport. Rather, I turned around and paused, taking in the beautiful views of South Fortuna Mountain and the San Diego river basin.