Last weekend was our last weekend here in San Diego – for this trip. We had a great time driving up to Carson with Gary and Brian. Gary has season tickets for the Chargers and we went to the penultimate game of the regular season. Traffic through San Diego’s North County was heavier than expected, but once we got past Oceanside, we moved along without much slowing.

We arrived at Stub Hub Center a little past 2pm – time for some tailgate action.

Tailgating at Stub Hub is a blast. There’s a section called Thunder Alley where people set up bars and of course there are dueling stereo systems. Everyone is grilling something. Gary really went to town on the grill and cooked a chateaubriand that was out of this world. This is the most tender cut of beef and the flavor was wonderful. I wish I had a picture of it.

We got to our seats just in time for the kickoff. The seats were only five rows up from the field in the corner of the end zone – close to the action!

We had a fun time although the Chargers didn’t prevail. Donna volunteered for designated driver duty on the way home. She drove us to Gary’s house in Clairemont and we took an Uber ride home from there.

Donna took care of her sister’s dog Sunday afternoon, Monday and Tuesday. She made two trips each day to Sheila’s place to walk, water and feed her dog, Bandit. On Christmas morning, it was raining here. Donna took an Uber ride up to La Jolla to avoid riding the Spyder in the rain. She had a nice walk with Bandit up there though.

Tuesday was Christmas Day and lucky for us, the rain moved out around 1:30pm – just in time for us to join our neighbors Larry and Brenda along with Brenda’s son, Mike. We met Larry and Brenda here a few years ago. They’re from Louisiana and we really enjoy visiting with them. They invited us to join them for Christmas dinner.

Larry cooked a turkey in a deep fat fryer.

We had several side dishes and Donna made a stuffing that featured chestnuts. The meal and company were excellent. I had a Belgian Trappist ale with dinner – Chimay Grande Reserve.

Donna made baked pears with cinnamon and chopped walnuts served ala mode for dessert.

We sat and chatted until 6:30pm or so – the time flew by.

After pickleball at the Ocean Beach recreation center on Wednesday, I had to get busy. I’ve been putting off the installation of new tie-down rings in the trailer. Two of the old ones pulled out and I needed to make the repair to secure the Spyder in the trailer. I found what I needed at Ace Hardware in Pacific Beach and got it done Wednesday afternoon. Donna packed away the Christmas decorations. She stores them deep in the center of the basement compartment since she only needs to access them once a year.

Last night, Donna made chicken Gabriella for dinner and served it with roasted Brussel sprouts and brown rice. After dinner, I was puffing on a cigar outside when a police helicopter flew over Grand Avenue. I could clearly hear an announcement over the public address system – they were searching for suspect dressed in a black sweater and black pants.

Tomorrow we’ll pull out of here. I’m looking forward to a couple of quiet nights in the desert after three months of city life. Then we’ll check in at Viewpoint in Mesa, Arizona for another dose of life in the city.