A Day Of Quilt Shops And Pacific Ocean Beaches

We were on the road just before 8am Saturday morning heading south towards San Diego.  Our destination though wasn’t the big city on the border but rather two other cities just north – Vista and San Marcos.  What was the big attraction in those two places?  Two of Paulette’s favourite quilt shops - The Fat Quarter and Grand Country Quilter were having their post-Christmas 50% sales on fabric. Traffic was light and we arrived at the first shop in Vista at 10am just as the doors opened!

The beautiful beach of Carlsbad, CA

If you happen to be a quilter or a person who is interested in quilting shop bargoons then head over to Paulette’s blog and she’ll show you all her great deals.  If not, then I’ll show you what Rylie and I did while Paulette was busy bolstering the US economy. 

Paulette said she’d like an hour at the Fat Quarter Shop in Vista so after dropping her off, Rylie and I headed west for the 10 minute drive to the Pacific Ocean and the city of Carlsbad. The beach promenade was pretty busy but luckily I found a parking spot right away.

I hustled Rylie out of the truck and we set off on a 30 minute walk along the sidewalk high above the beach.  It was a sunny, warm morning with the temperature in the high 60’s and it was only 10am!  The beach seems to be a popular place for people of all ages to enjoy a walk and see the ocean.

I could only imagine how busy this beach must be in the middle of summer. It seems to go on for miles and miles. 

A very nice hotel facing the ocean in Carlsbad

Carlsbad is one of those clean, remarkable looking spots that dot the southern California coastline. There are many beautifully restored old buildings but also a lot of tacky looking restaurants and surf shops. I imagine its a pretty expensive place to live if you’re anywhere within a half-mile of the beach!  After our walk, Rylie and I headed back to Vista where we met Paulette right on schedule as she left the quilt shop carrying 2 large bags of loot.

View from Double Peak Mountain in San Marcos

After leaving Vista we drove about 10 minutes south to San Marcos for another 1 hour pit-stop for Paulette at the Grand Country Quilter. This time, I didn’t head for the beaches, instead I took the short drive to a famous landmark in San Marcos - a place called Double Peak Park.

Double Peak Park affords a 360 degree view

Double Peak is located just south of San Marcos and the elevation at the summit is 1,646 ft.  On a clear day, the peak offers views of distant places such as Mexico, Downtown San Diego, San Clemente Island, Catalina Island, the Palos Verdes Peninsula, the Santa Ana Mountains, and the San Bernardino Mountains. It was a pretty clear day and I was able to see downtown San Diego’s buildings and I imagine some of the islands as well if I knew where they were.

I could see downtown San Diego off in the distance (but not Russia!)

Again, we had lots of time to explore Double Peak and still get back to San Marcos to pick Paulette up at noon.  On the way back to Desert Hot Springs and the Sands, we stopped off at an In-N-Out for lunch. The burgers were good and with not too much traffic we were back at the Sands not long after 2pm.  We just took it easy for the rest of the afternoon and watched a movie on TV after dinner. Life is good!

Thanks for visiting!