Balboa and Battalion

We had a senior missionary event scheduled this evening, and of course it was in San Diego, so as usual we decided to “make a day of it”. We drove out early in the day and met up with two other senior missionary couples, the Farrers and the Wings, for lunch.

As we finished lunch, the Farrers asked “what are we doing next?” Pepper and I hadn’t really planned anything– we thought we might head to the beach. But on a whim, we decided to show them around Balboa Park, as they’d never been there. They loved it. Sister Farrer really enjoys gardening and flowers, and we had an opportunity to see so many flowers. There’s a massive garden devoted solely to roses.

After walking through the park a bit, they were beginning to tire (Elder Farrer is 85 years old) so we opted to head over to the Mormon Battalion for a tour. Our family had been there back in 2015, and as it turned out, not much has changed since then. I did get to put on some olde tyme military garb:

After the tour, there’s a little outdoor area where you can learn about brickmaking and panning for gold. We remembered the photo of Kyra and Alex with their bricks…

And I’m pretty sure the same bricks are still sitting there.

And Zack enjoyed panning for gold nine years ago…

Sister Farrer found some gold as well! (And those pans appear to be the same…)

We had a wonderful time hanging out with the Farrers, and they were grateful for the tours. Sometimes impromptu plans are the best plans.