Starting in San Diego

July, 28: Finally some time off. After a great summer of working in the garden and the flower beds for Karen and working in the soybean fields and some last minute spraying for soybean aphids for Jason, it was time to head west and enjoy CA. Jason had a conference in San Diego so it worked well to plan an extended stay with some backpacking. Hopefully I can get through all of the highlights of the trip this week!

Having to go to a conference is rough -- the picture below gives a good representation of the resort we were at for the meetings. Karen was happy to see the pools that were scattered around the resort. She got plenty of sun while I was "working". These were the APS (American Phytopathological society) meetings. Basically it is a group of scientists that work with plant pathogens (viruses, fungi, bacteria, nematodes) that infect all kinds of crops. I presented some of my graduate work at the meetings. It was also a good time to catch up on all the new science that is going on.

Our hotel was close to some good restaurants. On Sunday night was made the short walk over to the Alligator Cafe for dinner. We enjoyed a great meal outside in the mall plaza and were joined by Palle, Paul, and Adriana (left to right).

Now, while we did go to some of the meetings, we did make time to see the ocean. We navigated through metro transportation to arrive at Mission Beach. Here we took a stroll up the beach dodging sandcastles and seaweed on the beach and bikers and skateboarders on the boardwalk. It was beautiful out there and I see why people want the ocean front property -- but those Iowa corn fields are still inviting! We ended the evening at Joe's Crabshack eating fish and shrimp and enjoying a couple Fat Tires (yes they finally made it from Denver to CA).

On Tuesday, the final day of the conference we attended meetings in the morning and then caught the bus again and headed to Coronado Beach for the afternoon/evening. This was quite the ride through the city to get there and they we crossed a long bridge that gave us a great view of the bay. Many of the Navy carriers and battleships are docked there and as we crossed we could see a battleship heading west and out to sea. We took the time to go into the ocean and enjoy the waves. Karen decided that she would stay try and take in the sun -- we both left a little burned. An interesting fact: Hotel Coronado is one of the largest and oldest wooden structures in the US and the price for one night ranges between 350 and 2500. Needless to say we are not planning a return trip:)

So far so good. San Diego has been great but the conference has come to a close and tomorrow we will be hitting the road to see more of CA. We still have a few days before we hit the mountains, but we have family and friends to visit first