"Seeing is believing!" Lynne McTurk, Funbelievable

By Miriam Raftery

July 20, 2011 (Lakeside) – Now there’s a place where you can let kids climb the walls—plus run, jump, and bounce to their heart’s delight. It's a great place to beat the summer heat and let the kids run wild. 

The Mexican wolf is one of the rarest land mammals in the world, with fewer than 50  in the wild and about 350 in the global population.

Campo, the Forgotten Gunfight by Bryon Harrington (www.CampoGunfight.com, 2009 Campo, 372 pp.)
 

Review by Miriam Raftery
 

July 3, 2011 (Campo) –Few San Diegans are aware that a Wild West shoot-out deadlier than the famed O.K. Corral confrontation occurred in our own East County.

A patron in a Tecate cantina overheard a notorious group of banditos boast of plans to rob the entire town of Campo, a frontier settlement near the Mexican border. So he rode north and tipped off the Gaskill brothers, owners of the Campo Store. The brothers asked San Diego’s Sheriff to send a posse for protection—to no avail. Left to fend for themselves with their lives on the line, the townspeople planned a defense. Then they mounted a vigil that lasted for weeks, until the fateful showdown on December 4, 1875. 

By Miriam Raftery

Donated Dwellings Expand Camping Options at Scenic Ramona Getaway

June 9, 2011 (Ramona) --County Supervisor Dianne Jacob joined County staff and a local nonprofit donor Thursday to unveil two new cabins the public can now reserve at Dos Picos Regional Park in Ramona.The 200-square-foot cabins are designed to accommodate disabled users and the general public. They were donated by Cabins by the Lake, Inc., a local nonprofit dedicated to establishing accessible cabins around the region.

Guests savored fare served up by Chefs de Cuisine & S.D. County Vintners Associations;

Tough-to-build line was once called the “impossible railroad”

April 18, 2011 (Campo) – More than 400 fans of fine foods, winetasting and vintage trains turned out on April 2nd at the“Chef’s Fire Up the Iron Horse” celebration to commemorate the 50th anniversary of the Pacific Southwest Railway Museum in Campo. Guests learned the colorful lore of San Diego's own railway line, rode the rails--and savored some memorable wining and dining.

 

Chefs de Cuisuine carved up up a whole roast pig as well as other mouth-watering dishes served up at seafood, barbecue and dessert stations. Owners of local wineries poured a generous array of samples at the San Diego County Vintners Association table. Other sponsors included Ballast Point Brewery, Café Calabria, and Viejas.

Options range from “splash” and “equestrian” camps to “web design” camp and more

March 9, 2011 (Anza-Borrego) -- The rains have come and gone, leaving fresh air and sunshine to blanket the majesty of Anza-Borrego Desert State Park. Anza-Borrego Desert Park Foundation invites you to spring into action with activities to fulfill your sense of wonder and appreciation for the park.

Watch a video of the trail opening ceremony here:. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6000bFjSB0s

By Billy Ortiz

“The nation behaves well if it treats the natural resources as assets which it must turn over to the next generation increased, and not impaired in value.” – President Theodore Roosevelt

By Miriam Raftery

February 21, 2011 (Palomar Mountain) –President Theodore Roosevelt, the great conservationist who founded our national park system, once observed, “There are no words that can tell the hidden spirit of the wilderness, that can reveal its mystery, its melancholy and its charm.”

Roosevelt would have been enchanted by the pristine beauty of Palomar Mountain, blanketed in a foot of snow this President’s Day. No doubt he would also feel melancholy to learn that Palomar State Park is among those state parks under consideration for possible closure due to the state's budget gap.  For now, however, visitors frolick in the powdery snow, most blissfully oblivious that the park's fate hangs in the balance.

By Marc Arndt

Four seasons to enjoy Jamul-area wildlife preserve

By Marc Arndt
http://www.sandiegohiker.net

Story and photos by Ariele Johannson

January 4, 2010 (Warner Springs)--For historic Warner Springs Ranch, time seems circular as its past echoes for a return. In keeping with a Native American trend to buy back ancestral land, the Pala Band of Mission Indians is purchasing its former homeland, Warner Springs Ranch.