Yesterday I was sharing a memory from when I was a child with my boys. Soon after World War II, after we had come back to California, my parents decided to go to see one of their old friends. I was just nine or ten years old on the day that our family had this adventure.
We would have gone on the old car ferry as pedestrians to get to San Diego from Coronado. I remember many a time walking up the old wooden ramp to get to the top deck where the passengers could sit or walk around and see the sights during the short ride across the bay. There was the horn as the boat pulled out of the dock. We could often hear this sound from our grandparents house on third and F. There were many Navy ships in the harbor. Sometimes we would see porpoise in the bay. So many sights and sounds to recall from those old ferry rides.
When we got to San Diego we would ride on the streetcar to get to our destination. This is not as clear a memory for me, as the streetcars were gone by the fifties. We even had a streetcar that went down the middle of Orange Avenue from the ferry to the Hotel del Coronado. That is why there is the grassy island down the middle of Orange Avenue. Now there are trees and gardens in place of the old electric streetcars.
Back to our excursion to see my parents old friends. I mainly remember getting off the streetcar in the Mission Hills area and walking down a steep path towards the valley below. Our destination was an old adobe house where the friends lived. I remember having a delicious lunch which included rabbit. I think that is the only time I ever ate rabbit. I do not even recall the name of these friends. But I do remember that Mission Valley consisted of farms and a rural atmosphere. You would never have imagined the Mission Valley of today. For years I tried to figure out where the adobe house had been. At first I would try to find it when we traveled through the valley on a rare occasion. I also remembered the farm on the property next to where we visited. I remember a big old barn. We must have visited someone there too as I remember an old farmer that had lost his arm in a farming accident. I remember the pastureal scene in the valley with cows and all.
Later on I remember a highway through the valley before freeways existed. Seems to me this was one road we took to head east. I was mostly in Coronado so I would not have been in this area very many times. Sometimes I see an area of San Diego and try to remember what that area was like before freeways. I remember the first time I went to Mission Valley Shopping Center in the sixties. My mother-in-law took me on the bus to buy me a dress for Easter. She was good about doing things like that for us. She had a favorite cafeteria to go to at the shopping center so I enjoyed a rare treat for those days.
One thing that I remember clearly from my preteen years is going to Girl Scout camp in Cuyamaca. I can tell you exactly what road to take and where to turn. The camp isn't there now but the road is in the same place near Stonewall Peak. We did not have the freeway over the mountains in those days. It was the old highway which is fun to meander on now days. We enjoyed the days when we had a car to get to the mountains. Now we get rides with our son when he is in town. We also have a cousin that takes us on long rides about once a year when he is here.
So many memories from days gone by. Things may change as the years go by but God never changes. We may mess things up where there once was beauty, but there is still plenty for us to enjoy. There is still a river running through the valley with places to find birds. You will be reminded that it is a river valley when the rains come and the river rises. People may complain about not being able to get past certain roads when it rains. That is just a reminder that the river was here first.
It has been fun remembering the good old days. But these are good days too if we remember to appreciate what we have. God is so good. Let us not forget to thank Him for the beauty he has created for us to enjoy.
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