Julian, Anza-Borrego, Pechanga — April 2025

 

We took a two-day tour to Julian, Anza-Borrego, Pechanga and Temecula. The forecast called for some rain, but fortunately, it only rained while we were riding on the bus; I never opened my umbrella. It was pretty cold, though, and very windy in the desert.

Julian, in the Cuyamaca mountains east of San Diego, is famous for its apple pie, which we certainly tried.

In the afternoon, we visited Anza-Borrego Desert State Park. There were no wildflowers this year, but we saw a few of the sculptures by Ricardo Breceda. Here are my photos of them. 

We spent the night at Pechanga Resort Casino. Because they are a sponsor of the Lakers, they have a 2020 Lakers NBA Championship ring on display. Here is an 11-second video of the ring. (If necessary, click to enlarge the video.)

The next day, we had lunch at Wilson Creek Winery in Temecula and stopped in Old Town Temecula.

I wrote this on Facebook one evening:

Trump and Musk are deplorable.

Hillary was always right about this: "You know, ... you could put half of Trump's supporters into what I call the basket of deplorables. Right? They're racist, sexist, homophobic, xenophobic, Islamophobic – you name it...."

On November 8, 2017, one year after the election, Trump thanked the "deplorables" for his victory

The next morning, I thought, "I should have sent it to the newspaper." So I sent it to the LATimes. They did not print it.

2024 was a somewhat difficult year

It started with a bang... literally: A car hit me as I was walking across the street in January 2024. This, along with arthritis, has left me with long-term pain in my lower back and in my right hip, and has forced me to cut back on walking, my only exercise. I also struggle to find comfortable sleeping positions. I decided I should try a hip replacement, but Physical Medicine doctors tell me not in my case. Many different meds and a bit of acupuncture have made no difference. Some stretching exercises sometimes help a bit. This is seriously hurting my well-being.

After years of fighting leaks, I asked for a quote about roof repair. But they insisted city inspectors would also want the big roof beams repaired, and I wasn't interested in that.

Upon turning 60 in December 2023, Victor learned that he has over $10,000 in retirement funds! After much paperwork over many trips throughout 2024, and with help from some of his family, he has yet to see a cent. We're still working on it. (If this ever concludes, I'll write it up here.)

In September, I bought an almost new car. But it turned out to be stolen, and I lost both the car and the $19,000 I paid for it! All I'm left with is a police report stating that I am the victim of "theft by trickery" (a crime I never before heard of). It's not even tax deductible, because it's not related a federal disaster declaration.

And, to top off the year, there was the dismal Presidential election, which left me depressed.