Back to the Border

Monday, May 30th – Dripping Springs State Park to Tijuana River Regional Park, San Diego, California 

 We woke up worried that the camp host would come and bust us for staying in someone else’s spot. It didn’t happen. The camp host was happy going about his business as we were happy going about ours. The kids spent the morning playing on a hillside with a group of other children. We got some suggestions from their parents on what to do in Cali. Overall, we got out early to finish the hour drive to San Diego. 

 Our destination was the Tijuana River Valley Regional Park. The Tijuana River is basically a sewage river that starts in Tijuana, Mexico and flows across the border to the ocean near San Diego. This upsets people in San Diego because it affects water quality at their beautiful beaches. An international effort was made to spend billions to clean up the river, removing 400 tonnes of garbage, and build the Tijuana River Valley Regional Park. When we spoke to them, there was plenty of availability. We were somewhat concerned about a review that noted a smell from the nearby river in the campground. We figured we’d check it out and go from there. 

 We drove the hilly approach to San Diego then past and almost all the way to the border. As we pulled off the exit to go to the park, we saw the border wall gleaming on the hill above the park. There were horse farms everywhere with rentals available to take you to the beach. When we arrived, the park worker was showing off his rosy boa constrictor named Salsa. The girls loved the snake and kept going back to hold it. The interesting thing was their play area. It was all logs. They had the ends of logs sticking out of the sand so you could jump between them, a log sea saw, various log climbing structures; it was unique. There was no smell. 

 We settled into our campsite in the early afternoon and that hasn’t happened for ages. We just crashed. It’s been a whirlwind, moving every day to see the next sight. Enjoying a National Park all day, hiking and touring around, then driving to camp near the next park. Setting up at night when you can’t really see the spot you decided to stay the night in. 

The kids went to the park to play, Gen and John napped, and I enjoyed the warm afternoon. The kids quickly found some new friends and they gradually migrated into their campsite. They asked if they could hike up the mountain, a nearby hike to a viewpoint. Their friend’s mother, Michelle, offered to take them. They then spent forever on the teeter totter, they loved it. 

 Eventually, we rallied and decided to go into Chula Vista, a San Diego suburb, to see the sunset on Imperial beach. The park we settled at was iconic; basketball court play pick-up ball, play structure for the kids, a few guys practicing tight rope walking and the beach in the background. We watched a cloudy sunset before John needed to race to the washroom; he mostly made it. Our trip home featured a grocery store and a McDonalds.