Four Points Bulletin

Travels north, east, south, and west of our Oceanside home base.

Mammoth Cave sits on the very edge of Dixie National Forest, just eight miles from the cabin we rented in Duck Creek Village. The cave is a lava tube, formed by flowing lava and cooling water just a few thousand years ago. Mammoth Cave is one of the largest lava tubes in Utah (the longest …

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Calico Ghost Town is located just three miles off the 15 freeway and is the halfway point between Mesquite (our stop for the night) and Oceanside. This was all of our first times here and we didn’t know really what to expect. What a pleasant surprise! The old West mining town was founded in 1881 …

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The San Luis Rey Bridge, which spans over the San Luis Rey River (and terminates right next to our house in Oceanside), was completed in 1925, open to the public in 1926. At that time, it was the largest bridge in the county. Just sixty years later, the bridge was too small and dangerous for …

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Leo Carrillo Ranch is 27 acres of LC-branded walkways, artistic homes, and ranch structures. The walking paths are wide and lined with gigantic agave and overgrown cacti. Sixty years ago it was still a 1,700 first ranch/second home of Leo Carrillo, the actor and conservationist. The fact that any of this land remains is a …

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Today is the winter solstice (the shortest day of the year). It is also the day that Jupiter and Saturn are so closely aligned that they appear like a single point of light in the sky. The Jupiter-Saturn conjunction (the planets closest approach) occurs every twenty years, although typically the conjunction isn’t so close. The …

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Rancho Guajome Adobe checked all the boxes today; there is lots of space to run around, its close by, its free, and its not crowded. The fact that it is a California Historical Landmark and on the National Registrar of Historic Places is a nice bonus. The 19th century adobe is currently closed, but the …

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The Cerezo Bluffs tide pools are the closest thing we have to an aquarium close by. It is better than an aquarium in the sense that there is a hunt involved; which wonderful creatures will be found hidden in the intertidal zone today? Low tide time aligned with naptime, which left me with two hands …

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We are much too dressed up to walk the tight, cattail lined trails of the Buena Vista Audubon in South Oceanside. But we are not too dressed up for family pictures. Having visited our local Audubon before, I knew we would have the trails to ourselves, giving us an opportunity to take a hundred pictures …

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Prince of Peace Abbey is a Benedictine Monastery, located in none other than my favorite city, Oceanside. It opened its doors in 1958, but I learned about this place just a few years ago, when I heard an interview on NPR with their bee keeper, Brother Blaise Hueke, who kept bees at the abbey for …

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