Aztec in AZ, and Balboa Park in San Diego

I walked 5.09.miles today.  Where did I go today, the Sunday before the 4th of July?  Well, first I walked to the grocery store.  Along the way I saw this lovely Monarch butterfly, refueling at the Monarch "way station," which is this guy's amazing front yard.  The trip to the store is about 2,000 steps each way.  I lugged a 1/2 gallon of milk, 3 steaks, a bunch of bananas, some grapes, and a box of spoon-sized shredded wheat back up the hill to our place.  It was 70 degrees...perfect!

Last week, I walked 37.71 miles.  Katie walked 38.84 miles!  Go Katie!  She is a valued team member who is encouraging to me in so many ways.  She also fuels her body with fresh, healthy food, which is a real secret to longevity and endurance in this marathon walk.  Again, welcome aboard to Katie.  She is a true ally in this endeavor!

Then, one of our neighbors decided to leave their dog behind, alone, and barking... on 4th of July weekend....so, we decided to go to Balboa Park for the day.  First, we walked by the carousel.  Next, we went to the Village Grill, by the Spanish Village artist colony.

Then we walked toward the main road that goes through the park, El Prado, where we saw people driving various 4-wheeled vehicles. 

Next, we walked to the Botanical Garden.



 

When we exited the arboretum, I took a few pictures of the tourists looking at the Coy pond and listening to the Spanish guitar music.











 



 
Then we walked to the main square.












After walking to the main square, we turned to the left and walked by the Prado restaurant, and to our delight, there was a San Diego State music major who was playing Spanish guitar music.

We kept walking toward the organ pavilion, and just a few steps past the Japanese Friendship Garden, we saw this lovely lady.

We kept walking, crossing the street to the international houses.  There is a little village of "houses" that represent many different countries, promoting understanding and friendship with their cultures.  There was a band playing patriotic American music in the little pavilion area.

We stopped and chatted with the people in the House of France and House of England, and my son got a pastry in the House of Germany.

From there, we walked on toward another garden area, that happened to have a nice view of the Balboa Park bell tower, which is part of the Museum of man, that now allows walking tours up to the top.

After that, we walked across El Prado St. to the other side where a lady was singing and her partner was playing the cello, which was right by the entrance to the Old Globe Theater area.

We decided to walk back to our car because my feet were starting to hurt after about 9,000 steps.  By the time we made it out of the park and walked past the San Diego Zoo to our car, I had hit 10,000 steps.  We didn't want to go back to our condo to the barking dog, so we stopped in Hillcrest, the GLBT community in San Diego, to see what was playing at the local cinema.  But, the movies were not that appealing, so we walked to another restaurant called, "Chocolat" that is on the corner of University and 5th St., and we had gelato.  As we walked back to the parking garage under the Hillcrest Cinema, my Fitbit buzzed, telling me that I had walked 5 miles.  And that was my 5-mile day!

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On the mapped trip from San Diego to Washington D.C., 5.09 miles puts me East of Yuma near "Aztec."  Aztec was a post office that was established by Charles A. Dallen on September 12, 1889.  Aztec was a stop on the Southern Pacific Railroad line between Phoenix and Yuma.  Not much remains of the station, just two small, crumbling, buildings, one made entirely out of railroad ties.
It was 108 degrees today near Aztec...I'm glad I was in San Diego.