San Dieguito Park (Suzie and Joe's Going Away Party)

Tori and I went to San Dieguito Park this weekend for the first time in many, many years for Suzie and Joe's Going Away Party. After working with Suzie for over 10 years, she and her husband are moving to Lake Tahoe for his new job. While she'll still be working remotely for us, I will miss having her in the same office. For the party, they reserved a spot in the Lower Park picnic area and hired the food truck, Taco Picasso, to cater. Great Idea!

The park's layout of the upper and lower picnic areas separated by hiking trails running through the natural chaparral terrain is what makes it so great. Tori and I both fondly remember exploring these trails with our friends as children. After socializing for awhile at the party, we went for a walk up to the nearby Hawk's Nest Lookout Tower. The towers have been updated since the last time we came here, replacing the old log entries with sets of stairs. While I understand the need for safer access, I missed the balancing fun of traversing the rounded logs to reach the platforms. I did appreciate the new push-button audio system that described the local animals of the park.

We thought we would only walk to the first tower, but we ended up visiting all three, climbing the wooden ladders and crossing the two suspension bridges along the way. While the Pine Tower described the local plants, the Osuna Overlook Tower explained the history of the park. We finished our walk by taking the Eucalyptus Trail back down to the party.