Vlinder

We packed a lot of stuff into one day today so even though I will try, I won't be able to do it justice. This morning we headed down to Hillcrest to see some of the historical sights that Lisa has researched. Alycia has been a working girl all of this week and so has missed out on our fun. Today being Saturday she was able to join us. Her boyfriend Craig Love also came along. Our first stop was the San Diego Deli. This restaurant has been in business continuously for over eighty years. That is quite amazing in a time when you see restaurants come and go every few years. We had lunch there and I enjoyed a very good beef dip. From there we went to see San Diego's one and only suspension bridge. Lisa read us all the history of the bridge but I've already forgotten what it was. All I know is that when Alex and I got going we had that bridge swaying pretty good. Then, just a few blocks away was a tressel bridge. Also a foot bridge. It was over a very beautiful canyon. There was a trail heading down the canyon and I so wanted to head out and see where it went but I was out voted on that one. Instead we then headed down to the bay. We saw some old antique ships and some other ships that were modern replica's of old ships. We didn't actually tour any of them because we had tickets to take the ferry over to Coronado Island so we didn't have time. I'm not sure what the point of the ferry was because they've built a nice big modern bridge that will take you to the same place for the price of the gas to drive there but the ferry ride was enjoyable and we got some pretty good views of the downtown skyline. They had a bunch of shops at the ferry terminal on Coronado. We spent some time in a Scottish store and then enjoyed a nice cold lemonade. It was a pretty hot day and a bit muggy. It sounded like a Kira day, I think Florida got to her head. It was then back to the mainland and I did manage to convince them all to go to the top of the Hyatt hotel. The view from up there is famous and although Lisa has been many times but I haven't. It was worth the trip. Right across the street from the Hyatt is the Kansas City Barbecue. This place is famous because it is where the bar scene in the movie "Top Gun" was filmed. Sadly it burned a few months ago and many priceless memorabilia were lost. Probably not priceless, but quite notable were the many bra's that woman leave hanging from the ceiling. I imagine that those will be quicly replaced. From the Kansas City barbecue it was on to Little Italy. This part of town is also famous but we've never been there either. We had planned on eating dinner at Fillipe's but when we got there the line was huge. We decided to move on and we ate a very good meal at another place that I can't remember the name of. It was spagetti and meatballs for me. We then picked up some gelato (looked a lot like ice cream to me) and then it was on home. Everyone was pretty worn out after today. Sadly it is the last day of our "Staycation" as Lisa likes to call it.

---------------------------------------left to right; Fred (me), Sarah, Lisa, Alex, Alycia, Craig
-------------------------------------The suspension bridge in Hillcrest
-------------------------------------A tressel bridge in Hillcrest
------------------------------------------The view from the Tressel bridge
---------------------------------------Some more of the views from the Tressel bridge (Sarah)
---------------------------------------------A replica sail boat. Alex has actually steered this ship during a school field trip while it was out to sea.
---------------------------------------Our Ferry
---------------------------------A couple of Aircraft Carriers that are based in San Diego
--------------------------------------Sarah and I on the bow of the ferry
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On the Ferry headed to Coronado Island
--------------------------------------The San Diego skyline from the ferry. The tall building second from the left is the Hyatt that we went to the top of.
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It's been a long day
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The view from the top of the Hyatt. The land to the left in the picture is Coronado Island.

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The Kansas City Barbecue where the bar scene in the movie Top Gun was filmed.

--------------------------------------------The sign says it all. This is Little Italy.

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Alycia and Alex behind a fountain in Little Italy. Alycia collects globes so she thought this was a pretty cool fountain.
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We were a bit naive when we decided to get ourselves a dog. They are a lot more work than we had signed up for. You picture this well behaved animal that stays outside, poops in the same place all the time and is content with the love and attention you're willing to give them. As it turns out, they poop all over the place, they want love and attention all of the time and at 2:00 in the morning they do NOT want to be outside. They also don't want to be left at home when you go on vacation. In spite of all that we grew to love Vlinder. We did eventually get her to stay out side most of the time but we had to put her on a long chain to keep her from cruising all over town. She did love to go for runs. I remember one time we were running down our street and this little white fluffy dog (11) comes running out at us yapping away. As I said, Vlinder was a Border Collie and so she had grown to a respectable size. The woman was in her yard with the little fluffy dog so I decided not to stop and harass the animal and we kept running on past the house. Well what happened next occurred so fast it took me a second to realize what had happened. Fluffy ran up to Vlinder, Vlinder snapped the little dog up in her mouth (Fluffy pretty much fit right in the mouth) and the woman in the yard cried out in anguish "Snowball". When I realized that Vlinder had Snowball in her mouth I yanked on her chain (didn't want her to swallow) and yelled at her. Vlinder spit Snowball out and we continued on running without breaking our pace. I didn't even stop to check out how Snowball was doing. One of my favorite activities was to tie the toboggan to Vlinder and have her pull the kids while we were running in the winter time. The kids were little and they didn't seem to slow Vlinder down at all. Over the years Vlinder grew up and was much more well behaved and she became a part of the family. She seemed so docile around the kids that we only ever pictured her as this very calm and easy going animal. I should have known better from the "snowball" incident. We soon found out from all of our friends that if we weren't home they couldn't even get to our back door to knock on it. She was a very protective dog and was watching out for us. Lisa also never had to worry about Arts sickly cows getting into the yard either. She didn't like Art very much or his cows. When we used to go on holidays we often left Vlinder with the Nortons on their farm or the Halls on their farm. It wasn't long before we found out that the Nortons neighbor had a pure blood Collie. What beautiful pups those were. Vlinders home was under our back porch. It was very well protected and made a good dog house. We pulled into our driveway one night and out comes Vlinder but there is a puppy half way out. We quickly brought her into the house and gave her the proper love and attention she deserved. I then decided I had better go back out and check if there were any pups under the porch. Sadly, there was one dead pup there. I don't know if it was still born or if it had died without his mothers care. In any case, we had three very healthy and beautiful pups. I no longer remember who we gave them all to but what a great experience that was for us and the kids. One time we got home from a longer vacation and when we went to collect Vlinder from the Hall's we learned that Vlinder and their dog had gone out exploring the hills one time and never came home. It was a very sad time in the Leavitt house. The interesting thing is that years later I was at work and a bunch of us were shooting the breeze talking about random things when this guy asks the rhetorical question. "If a couple of dogs were chasing my cows do you think they would ever be found if I shot them and threw them in the irrigation canal?" This guy lived just a couple of miles north-west of the Hall's so I knew right then that he had shot my dog. I never confronted him on it because first of all it had been several years and secondly, a cow is worth a lot of money and if a dog was chasing my cows I would probably shoot it too. I still never liked that guy after that. As much as I loved Vlinder I swore that we would never get another dog. I held out for a good ten years but finally I broke down in 1999 and I let Kira bring home a little Beagle who was born April 1, 1999. I had always told the kids that the city was no place for a dog. To keep them quiet I finally conceded that if they found a small dog with short hair that was free that I might consider it. I had no idea they would actually find one. Bridget is now a part of our family.