Today is Marco’s birthday! After talking to our parents in Switzerland we drive out to Point Loma, hoping to see Gray Whales. Each winter the Pacific Gray Whales pass by the western overlooks of Cabrillo National Monument (Point Loma). After spending the summer feeding in the food-rich waters of the arctic, the Grays swim south along the coast to the bays of Baja California, where they mate and nurse their young (you can find more information on their migration on the National Park’s Website ). We don’t know what the actual likelihood is to see them, but it doesn’t seem to be very high from what we hear. But, anyway, we will be back - you never know .....
I actually wanted to invite Marco out to the Outback Steakhouse to celebrate his birthday but as we had a big piece of meat yesterday already we decide to postpone that. Instead, we have ham and home made potato salad.

It’s the first time in about 15 years that we are not at home for Christmas. It is very unusual to be away from the family, be in warm climate and not have any of the so familiar holiday treats (especially the home made cookies). Well, we certainly don’t miss the cold, humid and lousy weather!
On Christmas Eve we leave San Diego at around 10:00 am for a tour which leads us east on HWY 8 and then up through the Cuyamaca mountains on a gravel road to Julian. With all the rain we got over the last few weeks (about 2 inches) we want to see how much greener the landscape got. We stop at a creek which usually is dry but now has a nice little stream of water about 3 to 5 feet wide. We park the car and start walking along the creek. We find several tracks of animals one of which could have been a raccoon.
On the way back we go shopping for dinner. This morning we were joking about standing in front of the the stove and having cheese fondue. Now we are standing in front of the shelf in the store and look at the Emmi Cheese Fondue, we look at each other, smile - and take it. Now we just need some bread and our dinner is ready! The fondue is ok, obviously not as good as a home made one, but it satisfies our cravings.
Christmas Day is one of the few days where most of the stores are closed and the streets are nearly empty. It is a brilliant day, warm and cloudless. We head to Lake Murray for a walk (in shorts and sleeveless top). In the afternoon we cook a nice Christmas dinner for the two of us - a rack of pork chops, which will certainly be enough for two meals. We have to cut it apart to be able to close the lid of the frying pan, it is just too big for our pots and pans. But, the result is delicious and for desert we have some tasty sweet American apple pie with whip.