ON OUR WAY TO ESCONDIDO, CALIFORNIA

We headed out at 8 a.m. on Jan 17 to Escondido, CA taking the 303 south to I 10 then highway 85 to I 8 and west to Yuma.  Along the way, we saw the solar farm near Gila Bend, AZ that covers over 3 square miles and was the world’s largest when it was completed in 2012.  The panels generate 290 megawatts of power enough for 250,000 homes.  These solar panels are unlike the mirrors used at the solar thermal farms which are a major hazard to birds in two ways:  the birds think the mirrors are a body of water and dive into them or they get caught in the concentrated sun beams that cause them to ignite in mid-air.  Here’s a photo and a weblink to the solar panel farm:

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Agua_Caliente_Solar_Project

We stopped in Yuma to visit friends from Cranbrook who winter there and stayed for about 2 hours.  Seeing Yuma again brought back memories of the months that we stayed there but it sure seemed busier than Surprise.  The drive west on I 8 towards San Diego was very scenic as we started up through the mountains.  After the wind turbines, we drove through piles of boulders and then started seeing pine trees and other tall green vegetation which was a nice change from our desert scrub.

Traffic increased steadily as we got to the outskirts of San Diego and then we headed north on I 15 which has up to 14 lanes across.  Quite a change from our two lane highways back at home.

We are staying at a Welk Resort a few miles north of Escondido and it is a large complex with hundreds of villas, 5 swimming pools, 2 golf courses, a live theatre, a couple of restaurants and some shops.  We have a second floor condo that looks out over one of the fairways but we are well above it and screened by a couple of oak trees.  Here are some inside photos:

 We went for a drive in a subdivision south and east of us and were amazed at the amount of boulders and rocks everywhere.  The houses are perched on the top and sides of little mountains and it doesn’t look like anyone lives on a flat piece of ground.

 Yesterday afternoon, there was the weekly farmer’s market at the resort so we went to check it out.  They had some good stuff and we bought a couple of souvenirs plus fresh oranges, an avocado and cilantro.