Inspiring travel stories, tips, and guides from a couple exploring the world one destination at a time.
Last Updated: June 6, 2026
Paso Robles is a beautiful wine region of rolling hills draped in grapevines and ancient oak trees, situated midway along the California coast between Los Angeles and San Francisco. It had been our go-to destination for long weekend getaways when we lived in San Diego. From Temecula it was a five-hour drive north — and absolutely worth every mile.
Last Updated: June 6, 2026
Temecula was less than a two-hour drive north from Santee Lakes. Over the past 25 years we had explored many of the wineries in the Temecula Valley, watching the region mature into something genuinely impressive. Not only has the quality of the wine improved considerably, but so has the culinary scene — and, inevitably, so have the tasting fees.
Last Updated: June 6, 2026
From Jacumba Hot Springs, California we headed west to Santee Lakes Recreation Preserve, east of San Diego, where we set up for the holidays to visit Michael’s dad. After a couple of weeks in remote Jacumba at nearly 3,000 feet, it was a welcome change to have the full amenities of a major city within easy reach — Costco included.
Last Updated: June 6, 2026
From Palm Springs, California we headed south to Jacumba Hot Springs, a small desert community perched at nearly 3,000 feet along the US-Mexico border in San Diego County. The landscape is unlike anything else in Southern California — massive eroded granite boulders scattered across the mountains, wide open desert sky, and a haunting quiet that comes from a place the rest of the world seems to have left behind.
Last Updated: June 6, 2026
From Las Vegas, Nevada we made our way south and west to Palm Springs, California, stopping along the way at Lake Havasu City, Arizona. The drive through the Mojave Desert is one of our favorites — wide open skies, vast desert vistas, and the feeling that the American Southwest always has something remarkable around the next bend.
Last Updated: May 2026
We still had a property in San Diego that we had rented the past couple of years. Our tenants moved out, giving us a great opportunity to make renovations and put it on the market. We changed our travel plans and based ourselves in Escondido — the closest RV park to the house in Rancho Santa Fe. Southern California is an amazing place and it was wonderful to be back after a two-year hiatus. Great year-round weather without mosquitoes, black flies, tornadoes, hail, or hurricanes — just fires and earthquakes. It’s easy to see why so many people live here and pay the insane cost of living.
