Fall Activities

Fall is my second favorite season, after summer. Living in San Diego, we really don't see many of the seasons, just the good ones. This fall has been a pretty warm one, but that hasn't stopped me from celebrating the change of the seasons. I went to the Little Italy Farmer's Market and picked up a bunch of absolutely beautiful cream roses. Even Spartacus had to get his fill of fall.

This fall, I've been inspired to include pumpkins in my home, but in particular, my kitchen. I kicked the fall season off by making a pumpkin spice waffle breakfast one Saturday for the hubs and me. I attempted baked pumpkin donuts (I say attempted because I was at high altitude, and my mom didn't have baking powder, so I had to improvise, they came out like gingerbread but they were fantastic!). And my last pumpkin creation was a pumpkin roll with filled with whipped, sweetened cream cheese.

In honor of what I thought would be a lovely fall weekend (it was lovely but MUCH warmer than anticipated), my hubs and I decided to check out Lakeside's Stelzer Park with a picnic. Boasting a few hiking trails and picnic grounds, we thought it'd be nice to get away from the hustle-bustle of the city and head to the quieter suburbs. About half an hour outside of SD's famous gorgeous skyline lies the quaint Lakeside. Most people know it as the place you have to drive through to get to one of the closer casinos in the area.

On a whim I packed some goodies for sandwiches, some chips with some homemade jalapeno jelly mixed with cream cheese (the hub's favorite dip of the moment), some smokehouse almonds, root beer, and because we didn't have the $3 fee to park, we ran back to the local convenience store and I got us a maple donut to split so I could take cash out.

After our lunch, we decided to take a hike. The trails are uneven and rocky but well-marked. Poison oak is everywhere. After about a mile hike we decided to turn around.

 On our way back, just outside of the park entrance we saw someone holding up a sign with newly developed homes for sale on 1+ acres of land. Hmm, maybe we'll have to revisit this place sometime soon...