SAN DIEGO—It being the Martin Luther King holiday, many people in San Diego had a chance to recuperate today from the disappointing Chargers loss before their return to work tomorrow. I practiced my nature photography by trying to catch a dove doing something interesting on a light standard across Aedan Court from Sandi, Shahar and Shor's home.  Later,  Shahar and I spent part of the day walking through two sections of Mission Trails Regional Park.  First, we took a loop trail that brought us down to the grinding rocks by the San Diego River; later we took a trail that took us through grasslands to an overlook above the Old Mission Dam.






The first  part of our walk took us from Father Junipero Serra trail down to the San Diego River near the
old grinding rocks.  We saw a family picnicking there, a scene that may have been similar (save for the 
style of dress) to ones during Kumeyaay times.  The river, or more precisely a stream, was comparatively
fast moving to days when I have seen it almost sitting still, discouraged by its journey from the mountains
toward the sea. If you look closely at the rocks in the third row, left picture, you can see the depressions 
made by years of acorns being beaten and ground by Indian.  The tree next to it may have given them 
shade.  Shahar walked ahead on a trail that provided us vistas of mountains, and then a view towards the
visitors center of Mission Trails Regional Park.  We then drove to the grasslands area, where the long
bridge for State Route 52 provides a corridor for wildlife to pass from Mission Trails to Miramar Marine
Corps Air Station.  That view began the grasslands portion of our walk, seen below:






Grasslands Walk—The trail leads past grinding rocks, the use of which Shahar simulated, then rose to 
a point overlooking the Old Mission Dam.  On the way back, we saw two women on horseback, and soon 
thereafter the bridge leading back to the urban reality of our lives.