Vineyard Hacienda in Spring Valley, California — Images by kenne
It’s not uncommon for people in Tucson to get away from the heat by either going to the White Mountains, Flagstaff or the San Diego area. The last couple of years we have gone to San Diego.
On our previous getaways, we stayed downtown, near Balboa Park, or at Pala Casino. Wanting to try something different, Joy started searching travel sites and learned about Vineyard Hacienda. It looked like a really cool place and had a lot of good reviews, so she scheduled a three-night stay.
When we left the forecast for Tucson was 106. When we arrived in Spring Valley the San Diego temperature was 105. So much for trying to escape the heat.
Vineyard Hacienda is a beautiful place, tucked away from a lot of hassle of metropolitan San Diego. Having only six rooms, the Hacienda provides the best of a B&B and a hotel. However, upon arriving, we learned the Vineyard Hacienda doesn’t have AC, a nice fan but no AC.
The temperatures in San Diego tend to be moderate, which is one of the reasons why it’s a great travel destination. Having moderate temperatures in the summer is also why some authentic places may not have air conditioning. Under normal circumstances, this would be fine, but not during record-setting summer temperatures.
We changed into our bathing suits and headed for the pool for a couple hours before going out to dinner at a local beer and burger place — great food.
The next morning we learned that there was no water. Overnight the pump broke down. This was not good, especially since the forecast was for another day in the 100’s and no one seemed to know when the water would come back on.
So, with no water and AC, we headed for the Coronado Island beach, followed by lunch in the Gaslamp Quarter of San Diego. Since it was still too hot to walk around the Quarter, we decided to head back to the Hacienda and spend the rest of the day by the pool.
As we drove back, we decided, water or no water we were going to check out the following morning, cutting our trip short by a day. Late in a day of another 105+ temperatures, the water was back on.
There’s a lipstick sunset Smeared across the august sky There’s a bitter-sweet perfume Hanging in the fields The creek is running high
And I left my lover waiting In the dawn somewhere to wonder why By the end of the day All her sweet dreams would fade To a lipstick sunset
Well, a radio was playing And that ol’ summer heat was on the rise I just had to get away Before some sad old song Brought tears to my eyes
And lord I couldn’t tell her That her love was only killing me By the end of the day All her sweet dreams would fade To a lipstick sunset
Well it’s pretty as a picture baby Red and blushing just before the night Maybe love’s like that for me Maybe I can only see As you take away the light
So hold me in the darkness We can dream about the cool twilight ‘Til the end of the day I can make my getaway To a lipstick sunset
Til the end of the day I can make my getaway To a lipstick sunset
There will come another day Then I’ll make my getaway To a lipstick sunset
— John Hiatt
Rain at Nightfall — Image by kenne
Raining at nightfall
is a red lipstick sunset
followed by storms.
The crew from Donahoe Roofing have spent the last two days replacing our roof in 100+ degrees. I say 100+ when the ground temperture was over 100 degrees, only God knowing how much hotter it was near the roof surface. Since I have been around most of the time, I have witnessed how draining it has been. To deal with the heat, they have spent twelve plus hours each day doing a job that normally would have been completed in a little more than a day. It should be noted that this crew has been working in temperatures near or over 100 degrees for over a month now.
It can be a bitch working construction in the gulf coast.
“Lipstick Sunset” Image by kenne
