Holly's Notes and Condition

Mar 9th Evening Drive and A BLOG for Cousin Pam

Dave arrived home from the office and saw that I had my jacket and purse and was ready to go for a drive - so we left the house and took off south, down Antonio Pkwy. This time we took Hwy 74 - Ortega Hwy - south down into San Juan Capistrano. (It turns out the construction project on Ortega is to make it a 4 lane Hwy for the last 8 miles heading down into OC linking to the 5 Fwy - the people of San Juan Capistrano, with its relatively quiet, rural horse estates along that stretch of road are NOT happy with all the expansion plans. Dave says he thinks they are expanding the road to help the people who live in the new community of Ladera Ranch and the increased traffic coming up over Ortega from the Lake Elsinore area - make it to the 5 Fwy faster.) Even at rush hour - the traffic going down to SJC wasn't bad - it was completely backed up going the other way up over Ortega. We drove past Mission San Juan Capistrano - they have really restored the grounds and the church - pretty little downtown.
Then we continued down the coast to San Clemente, took Del Mar Avenue and drove down to the Pier and the beach front - a beautiful evening at the beach. We decided to park and enjoy the sunset. At the pier parking lot is a park that we had not seen before : 'Park Semper Fi' - dedicated in Oct of 2005, it is a little reflection park with a life sized bronze statue of a marine in dress uniform saluting out to sea - we strolled the park as the sun set - with its clear view of the ocean and the pier among flowering California native plants. There are several dedicated benches and what had caught my eye in the first place: the fresh bouquet of yellow roses in a vase at the base of the statue - when we got closer there was a newspaper dated Mar 6th - telling the story of a young widow of a US Marine receiving honor for his service and sacrifice. There are 7 photos of marines who have fallen in the line of duty - that loved ones have placed there in remembrance. Flowers and American flags - its a reflective place and there is a beautiful dedication poem on a bronze plaque beside the sculpture that tells what it means to be a Marine that really choked Dave and I up. The City could have probably fit another 15 metered parking spaces in the space that they gave to make the park - to my mind it is a far better use of space as this 'Honor Park'. It occurred to Dave and I that San Clemente is just up the coast from Oceanside and Camp Pendleton, the USMC Base, and probably sees a large number of marines and their families in town. Anyway, it was a good find. We were getting hungry, so we decided to retrace our route and stop and pick up dinner at Baja Fresh - a couple of taquitos to go with my favorite guacamole and an enchilada style burrito for Dave to enjoy at home, as I'm not doing crowds - I still have a cold.

Dave had mentioned on our drive that he had received an email from Ron B in NH and a phone call from Cousin Pam in Montana because I hadn't blogged since Feb 24th - they were concerned. I told Dave that I had felt good enough this afternoon to make some BLOG entries to update people about me. Just after we finished dinner, Cousin Pam called to say 'hi' and after talking to Dave for a few minutes - he handed the phone to me and she and I talked. It was wonderful to hear her voice and she was reassured to hear mine. I got to catch up with her about her family - Larry, who badly bruised his hip - but is still trying to tough it out, Kristen and her new beagle pup, 'Reba', and Kelsey getting ready to start into softball at catcher and go to her HS Prom. It was a good chat, as always! So, Thank You, Pam - this BLOG's for you! Sending my love and good wishes to the whole Montana Clan! (Oh, yeah... Dave sends his, too!)

posted by Holly @ 6:21 PM