A series of storms lined up off the coast of southern California. The rain forecast for New Year’s Eve was accurate. It rained in the morning, then cleared up – the temperature only reached 60 degrees and it didn’t dry out before the rain returned in the evening. The high winds in the forecast never materialized though.

A lot of RVs were in the park to celebrate the New Year. You can usually watch the fireworks display at Sea World across the bay from Mission Bay RV Resort. Donna and I felt bad for the people who came here with plans to sit outside and take in the show with friends for the New Year. Instead, rain poured down from low clouds and everyone stayed inside. You wouldn’t see any fireworks even if you were outside.

On Saturday afternoon, Sini wanted to go to the store to buy a bottle of wine as a gift for her friend. I hitched a ride with her to buy Bloody Mary mix and beer. We went to Vons grocery store in Pacific Beach. This store is almost always busy – even more so around Thanksgiving and Christmas. I wasn’t prepared for the New Year’s Eve crowd there. I’ve never seen the store so packed with people. Every cash register had a line of people waiting to check out that extended into the aisles.

Donna and I decided to lie low on the last night of 2016. We usually go out or join friends to celebrate, but we stayed home this year. I made Bloody Mary’s for happy hour. Donna cooked lobster tails she bought at Sprouts. They were small tails, so we had two each.

Lobster with stuffed mushrooms and broccolini

She served it with mozzarella stuffed portobello mushrooms and sauteed brocolini. It was a nice meal to end the year.

I opened a special bottle of beer that I’ve held onto since we were in Santa Fe, New Mexico. We visited the Santa Fe Brewing Company and Donna bought an oak barrel -aged sour ale for me there. Sour ale is an acquired taste, but I like them occasionally. Sours are usually relatively expensive. This was a 750ml bottle – the size of a standard wine bottle – and I think Donna paid about $30 for it.

Santa Fe sour ale

Sunday the rain moved out and we had clear weather. It didn’t warm up though, the high was only 59 degrees. Donna and her sister, Sheila, went for a run on the trails at Torrey Pines down to the beach and back. Then they went to Pacific Beach for a late brunch.

All of the 32 NFL teams had their final game of the season on New Year’s Day. I spent the day inside watching three consecutive games. There were a few twists – Kansas City ended up winning the AFC West by beating the Chargers while Denver whipped on Oakland. And on Sunday night, the Green Bay Packers won the NFC north by beating the Detroit Lions.

Also Sunday night, Dean Spanos fired the Chargers head coach, Mike McCoy. The Chargers have had two poor seasons in a row, with multiple injuries hampering the team both years. I don’t know if any coach could’ve done much better than McCoy. The team started the year with a 53 man roster – as did everyone else. Twenty of the of the original players on the roster ended up on injured reserve – unable to play. Not just any twenty, but mostly starters and key players like Keenan Allen, Jason Verrett, Brandon Flowers, Brandon Mebane, Melvin Gordon and on and on. Andre Williams played running back – I think he was the eighth running back for the Chargers this year. He never had an NFL carry before but managed to gain 87 yards rushing in the game.

Firing the head coach won’t fix that. I wonder who’ll take the job. I also wonder if Dean Spanos will move the team away from San Diego. I commiserated vicariously with McCoy by opening a bottle of IPA from San Diego’s Saint Archer brewery. This is a very good IPA made with five varieties of hops.

Saint Archer IPA

A lot of the weekend warriors started moving out on Sunday. At least they were able to pack up in dry weather. Another Alpine Coach moved in across from us in the afternoon – bringing the total number of Alpines to four in the park.

This morning we woke up to rain drops on the roof as another batch of clouds came over. There’s a 20% chance of rain in the afternoon although it isn’t raining as I type this. The mass exodus continues and the park should be relatively quiet for the rest of the week. I don’t have any special plans for the day – I’ll watch some college bowl games and maybe download another book to my Kindle.