October 2016

Old Town San Diego is a historic and Hispanic area. It also was Dia de Muertes, which is a nice way to celebrate loved ones who have passed. Day of the Dead (Spanish: Día de Muertos) is a Mexican holiday celebrated throughout Mexico, in particular the Central and South regions, and by people of Mexican ancestry living in other places, especially the United States. It is acknowledged internationally in many other cultures. The multi-day holiday focuses on gatherings of family and friends to pray for and remember friends and family members who have died, and help support their spiritual journey

It was really nice to see everyone including the little kids make a drawing with their family members passed names in it in tribute. Many displays around town, and in cemetery, which is one of the oldest in US. One picture did turn out a little scary afterwards when we saw it though!.....

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Perfect weather. Sunny 300 days/ yr. Every day aprox. 70 high & 50 degrees low. Beach, Mountains, So many things to do. Only downside is very expensive..

Went on a trolley tour to see main city highlights. Downtown pier w/navy & other ships. Huge outdoor 17 museum complex. Italy neighborhood. And also Old Town San Diego first city on West Coast.

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Salton Sea was created by an Engineering mistake which caused Colorado river to drain into it for 2 years, with no outlet.

it's salt level is way higher than Pacific, and not quite as high as Salt Lake City. In the 1950's there were many tourist hotels, houses built, people, and a huge state park (2nd largest in nation), and 2 marinas. After 2 hurricanes hit in the 1980's and increasing salinity of the sea, tourism died out, and only a few people remain. It has interesting history on Wikipedia. Also in Oct 2016, an earthquake swarm of 200 mini earthquakes hit Salon Sea, which is near LA and San Diego.

It is an engineering disaster, tourist town, and bird sanctuary now. a lot of movies were also filmed here.

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Needed to get electricity, showers, phone service, and internet. And also figure out our next 3 places to go which will (probably) be Salton Sea, San Diego, LA, and Death Valley.

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Decided to go from Flagstaff to California to see a few things we didn't get to earlier when we left to go to Colorado. Laughlin, NV on way was full, so we decided to stay in nearby Needles, CA Big mistake, the gps can't find the old Route 66. This section probably should be torn down, and there were only 2 bathrooms/shower rooms for whole 20 site campground. And then the shower had no pressure and was cold. At least we got the laundry done. Denzil woke up at 6 am and said let's get out of here somewhere else, and so we drove to Laughlin and decided to stay there, much nicer.