We were looking forward to seeing family in San Diego; when we discovered that no less than four of our favorite full-time RVing buddies were also in the area, our dance card filled up immediately. A week later, when we moved on to Tucson, we serendipitously met up with another favorite RVing duo and their trusty sidekick.
Friendship On The Road
Four-and-a-half years ago, I never imagined the friendships that would blossom in our travels. Honestly, I secretly feared we might be lonely as we roamed the country. As it turns out, we’ve made many wonderful friends through our blog, as well as through fortuitous encounters on trails, in campgrounds, and during our yearly camp hosting gig on Lopez Island. One thing is for sure, meeting up with friends adds depth and camaraderie and a whole heck of a lot of fun to our travels.
We gathered with our RVing buddies for a delightful evening at Stone Brewing at Liberty Station in San Diego. What a great group of friends and fellow travelers! Hans and Lisa (Metamorphosis Road), Pam and John (Oh, the Places They Go!), LuAnn and Terry (Paint Your Landscape) and MonaLiza and Steve (Lowe’s Travels) showed up for an evening of reconnecting, sharing stories, and plenty of laughter. We didn’t get kicked out of the restaurant, so we apparently showed some restraint.
Liberty Station all decked out for the holidays (yep, this blog is far behind)
A very fun gathering of RVing friends and fellow bloggers at Stone Brewing, Liberty Station. Clockwise around the table: Hans, Eric, John, Steve, MonaLiza, Pam, Laurel, Lisa, LuAnn, Terry.
Dos Picos County Park, our home for the week while visiting San Diego
We always enjoy our time with Eric’s family in Poway (sister Penny, brother-in-law Tom, nephews, and families)
A great day of biking and fun with Pam and John along Mission Bay
Time for a lunch break on our bike ride
Meeting up with Terry and LuAnn for a beautiful day of hiking at Lake Poway
A delicious lunch and catching up at Stone Brewing in Escondido
At the top of Iron Mountain in Poway with Steve and MonaLiza
Lunch at Marinade on Main in Ramona; MonaLiza is happily anticipating that beer tasting
Moving on to Catalina State Park, a Tucson favorite
Return To Tucson
We’ve spent quite a bit of time in Tucson on previous visits. This visit was short, but we still managed to hike every day in Catalina State Park (one of the benefits of staying in the park). Fortuitously, just a few sites down were Sue, Dave, and Lewis (Beluga’s Excellent Adventure) and we had a great time sharing a happy hour, a birding hike, and a wonderful dinner out with them. More good times with good friends.
A very rude saguaro cactus
Happy hour with Sue and Dave—and Lewis, the butler
On the birding trail with Dave and Sue
A fabulous dinner at Vivace in Tucson. Go here if you find yourself in Tucson.
And Of Course, Feathered (And Furred) Friends
A Phainopepla (what kind of a name is that? I liked it better when they were called “Silky Flycatchers”)
A Cactus Wren, always one of our favorites with their very big personalities
A Roadrunner, another of our perennial favorites
We saw a coatimundi on the trails at Catalina State Park! That was a surprise.
A Northern Flicker, isn’t that feather pattern gorgeous?
A sweet little Verdin, the first to show up when we put out our hummingbird feeder
A beautiful Broad-billed Hummingbird stops by for a drink
A Cooper’s Hawk on our picnic table; probably eyeing the little birds at our feeder :-(
Beautiful!!
Christine, it was beautiful, in every way. Thanks for your comment!
Good people – fun times! Love that road runner photo.
Ingrid, it’s so much fun to get together with good friends on the road, as you know. The Roadrunners are so curious and comfortable around people!
It was such fun seeing you (and everyone else) in San Diego!
You certainly got some amazing bird shots in Tucson. The coatimundi sighting must have been so exciting!
Lisa, we were so happy that everyone was available to get together for dinner. It was a blast! We’re just sorry we weren’t there longer so that we could have spent more time together.
We were surprised by our coatimundi sighting—and delighted! I’m glad you enjoyed the bird photos, we love seeing and photographing them. :-)
Loved seeing all of you again. Too bad our table at Stone Brewery didn’t allow for more visiting with the entire gang. Thanks so much for taking time out of your busy schedule for a hike. I too felt that when we started this journey that it might be a lonely time, but it has proven to be just the opposite. Some of our best friendships have been forged on the road, and that includes you and Eric. Love your bird photos. And I am still amazed that you saw coatimundi in Tucson.
LuAnn, it couldn’t have worked out better! How fortuitous that all of us happened to be in (or near) San Diego at the same time. I think we actually needed at least an entire weekend together. :-)) But we’re really happy for the time we had, and we count ourselves lucky to have met you and Terry in our travels. We’re looking forward to many more good times to come with you two!
You hit the friend jackpot. Great coatimundi. We’ve only seen them in Costa Rica.
Debbie, we really did hit the friend jackpot! It was amazing that all of us happened to be in the same area at the same time—and that everyone was available to get together for dinner. As far as the coatimundi, we certainly never expected to see them on the trail!
You make me so jealous knowing you were with all MY friends…hehe Pam and John are such wonderful good friends. We have met up with them several times. They actually stayed at our house in Ohio for a few days a couple years back. We had a blast. Paul and I got to meet MonaLiza and Steve when all of us were in NM at the same time. Lovely people. I have yet to meet LuAnn, but I already love her. I love reading her blog, and her photos are always outstanding! We have written back and forth many times. I can tell by her emails she must be a doll. Met Sue and Dave for the first time also last year in NM. Wonderful people. I know y’all had several fantastic times together. Wish we were with y’all. What fun. Tucson is one of our all-time favorite places.
Haha, well I think you and Paul should definitely have been at that dinner! A wonderful group of friends, as you know. It was a total blast and you would have loved it! We need to all plan a time to meet up…can you imagine how much fun we would have?
WOW what fantastic bird pictures and the coatimundi sure rivals my bobcat. I’ve never heard of him much less seen him. You do have quite a group of favorite RV friends. Don’t know how you do so much in one week at a stop.
Sherry, we feel lucky to have made so many wonderful friends in our travels, including you and David. It was kind of a crazy week but worth it! We were happy to see the coatimundi, but I’d still like a photo of a bobcat!
You two are just blogger magnets, that’s all there is to it!
I’m sorry we missed those coatimundi on the birding trail at Catalina BUT today we saw a band of 15 crossing the road ahead of us…..so wonderful! In all the times we’ve been here I never knew about them.
We truly enjoyed our time together in Tucson and look forward to the next time, somewhere down the road. This is a good life, isn’t it!
Sue, how cool that you saw a band of 15 coatimundis! Obviously, they must be roaming Tucson beyond Catalina State Park. We had so much fun with you guys in Tucson. I’m really happy that we ended up there at the same time. We’re hoping to see you again before too long. Yes, it’s a very good life, especially when shared with good friends.
actually, we were still in the Santa Catalina range, just south of Catalina State Park on Reddington Road, so that must be their territory.
Ah, so it must have been the same group that we saw! So fun that they made an appearance just for you. I know you were looking. :-)
What a packed calendar for your short visit to the San Diego area! So glad that we were able to get together twice:) Lewis sat so still for the photo. He was definitely the star of this post:)
Pam, it did turn into a whirlwind visit. But we were so happy that we got to see everyone. Just wish we had been there longer! I hope we’ll share as many adventures this year with you and John as we did last year.
Lewis was waiting for another slice of Brie, I believe. He’s a good boy.
I can now say with some certainty that you are not just kidding when you talk about all of these folks. They really are great people and you really have been fortunate to make such wonderful friends while traveling. We are slowly building our RVer social circle and it truly does add an important dimension to our life on the road.
We’ve also really been enjoying Tucson. Catalina State Park was awesome and, just yesterday, based on your suggestion, we visited Sabino Canyon. The tram tour was interesting and the hike back was fantastic. We’re now on the western side of the city and noticing just how different and GREEN the desert can be. We love it.
Now if only we could be so skilled at finding beautiful birds and wildlife to photograph. Your captures are always so vivid. #goals
Laura, I’m SO glad you and Kevin met up with a group of our favorite full-timing friends! We’re kinda jealous that we weren’t there to hang out with you guys.
So glad you’re loving Tucson and that you enjoyed Sabino Canyon. We were thinking the desert was looking a bit dry this year…so I’m happy to know that on the west side it’s as green as always. Our visit was brief this time and we didn’t get there.
Although we always enjoy Catalina State Park, we absolutely love staying at Gilbert Ray County Park on the west side. It’s right next door to Saguaro National Park.
You have no idea how many photos we take to capture those fast moving critters! :-)
Wow, a coatimundi? That’s pretty cool. I’d like to see one of those! Stone Brewing? That’s on my to-do list for sure.
Henry, we were thrilled with seeing the coatimundi! Not easy to photograph in all the brush, though. Both of the Stone breweries we’ve been to have great atmosphere and excellent food and beer. You’ll like them.
So glad to see you two are on the road again and enjoying life. Love the pictures of all the critters. Hopefully, one day we will meet up.
Thanks, Pam. It’s great to hear from you. I hope we’ll meet up on our travels, too! We’re very happy to be back on the road, as you can tell. :-)
So jealous of that fabulous gathering of good friends!! It is definitely one of our favorite gifts of this amazing life on the road. And you got not one, but three pics of Sue – all great too! Love the wildlife photos.
Jodee, it was a wonderful gathering of good friends—wish you guys had been there, too! Glad you enjoyed the photos—yes, we managed to capture the elusive Sue. :-)
We were so jealous that you saw that fast running animal! But your Annas hummer is such a handsome dude! We appreciate your spending time and hiking with us despite your hectic schedule. This annual meet up is so precious that every moment is cherished.
MonaLiza, we wouldn’t have missed seeing you and Steve! Our day together was so much fun. The Anna’s is so colorful, isn’t he? We were hoping for a better photo of the Broad-billed. But we managed to capture the colorful ML. :-)
What a lovely and heartwarming post filled with friends, fun, smiles and love. Great to see. Fabulous photos of the birds at the end. Love the roadrunner and the hummingbirds.
Peta
Thanks, Peta. We’re grateful for good friends and the beauty of nature! Life is good. :-)