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Jean Gillette is on vacation this week. Here is a reprise of one of her favorite past columns I have blisters on my hands. I just finished a sixhour drive including the Grapevine. Every muscle in my body aches, my feet are pruney and I’m sunburned. So why am I smiling? Apparently it was something in the water. Actually, it was me in the water — a lot — as my son and I rocked, rolled and bobbed down a 15-mile stretch of the Kern river last weekend. The whole adventure went strongly against my better judgement. Remember, I had my kids late. Life these days includes a tricky back, varicose veins, arthritic fingers, abdominal avoirdupois, and the inability to negotiate steep trails without loud, embarrassing wheezing. Nevertheless, when the opportunity came up to raft the river for two days, I found I couldn’t say no. What was I thinking? Well, truth be told, I was thinking back to when I was 27 “rafted” both the Kern and the Klamath rivers. I remembered lazing along, getting bounced by the occasional rapids and watching the guide work his brains out maneuvering the boat with two long oars.No one told me that this trip would be an allpaddle event. Our river guides possessed patience far beyond their 20-something years. That and their upper body strength of an Olympic gymnast kept us out of trouble. But we still had to paddle — a lot. Our guide, Pete,provided us with a basic crash course in crewing and I got reintroduced to some muscles that truly thought they had retired to flabland for good. After the first day, I began to suspect it was a covert fitness camp for zaftig moms, led by their devious teenage sons. We jumped off high rocks into the river, hiked up and hiked down, leapt out of the raft, swam furiously against the current TURN TO SMALL TALK ON B4
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Cardiff family’s unique home stands test of time By Tracy Moran
CARDIFF-BY-THE-SEA — Even in a community of eclectic residences — cozy bungalows nestled against two-story condo complexes, Tuscan-style homes tucked against modern wood and glass structures — the Woodward home is in a class by itself. Perched atop Chesterfield Drive, the building was once a 16-sided, tin-clad water tower. But since the late 1920s, generations of the Woodwards have made it their family home, a three-level, circular structure unlike any other in the area. Ora Woodward, who had lived in the Bahamas with her husband Ernest Woodward at one time, bought the tower around 1927, said their grandson, Ernest “Corky” Woodward III, 68. “She had to buy it because it reminded her of Bluebeard’s castle,” he said with a smile, referring to the structure on the Caribbean island of St.Thomas that legend claims was built by the pirate Bluebeard. She then had the one-time water storage tank converted to a house. The home includes a basement topped by two stories that offer 360-degree views through stately trees and bright-red bougainvillea. Each level has 1,200 feet of space and a diameter of approximately 40 feet. At one time, murals covered the inside walls, recalled Corky Woodward, who lives in the home with his wife, Nancy, one of his two sons, and his mother, Mary Woodward.At 91, Mary Woodward has a lifetime of memories tied to the house. She recently moved back, following a stay in an assisted living facility. “It’s glorious to be back,” she said of her return to the family home, “because before I died, I wanted to be home again. To be back here is the joy of my life.” Mary Woodward originally came to Cardiff with her parents and siblings when she was 18, at the outset of World War II. Her parents befriended Ora Woodward and her son, Ernest Woodward II, and he and Mary fell in love. “I guess we were meant for each other,” she said. “We ran away to Yuma to get married.” Because he had a bad back, he was unable to serve in the war, so they returned to the Woodward’s Cardiff family home, which they shared with 15 others, including Mary Woodward’s
The Woodward family home in Cardiff was once a water storage tank. Inset: Mary Woodward and her son, Corky, have fond memories of Cardiff's early days. Photos by Tracy Moran
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Promoter to delay 10/20 race No candidate race for By Bianca Kaplanek
SOLANA BEACH — After discussing a proposal to host a 10-mile run that would close Coast Highway 101 on a Sunday morning next February, Solana Beach City Council deemed the event a good idea at a bad time. An approximately 2-mile stretch of the roadway is currently undergoing major construction, with the improvements slated for completion in September or October of 2013. “What would it do to you if we waited a year?” Councilwoman Lesa Heebner asked following a presentation at the Aug. 22 meeting by Rick Kozlowski, who is helping to produce the event. The answer, as it turns out, is that it will give promoter Peter Douglass more time to create a better race.He said he plans to re-present the proposal to Solana Beach and the other two host cities — Del Mar and Encinitas — at their September council meetings with a new date for sometime
in 2014. “Ultimately the mayor and City Council of Solana Beach are doing us a big favor,” said Douglass, president of Turnkey Operations and co-creator of San Diego’s Rock ‘n’ Roll Marathon. “Sure we’re giving up on 2013, but what they’re asking us to do is going to make it a better event,” he said. “They are much wiser than the stupid promoter who’s trying to put this together.” Douglass approached the city several months ago requesting approval to hold the California 10/20, a 10-mile run along Highway 101 that would start and end at the Del Mar Fairgrounds, beginning at 7:30 a.m. Feb. 17, 2013, during Presidents Day weekend. He said he was aware of the improvement project but believed it would be at a phase in February that it wouldn’t interfere with the route. “That still may be the case,” he said. “We want to have the same race so with a
longer marketing and production cycle we can do it better.” Douglass said the event is expected to attract about 8,000 to 10,000 participants. Runners will exit onto Jimmy Durante Boulevard going south, turn around at the fire station, head west on Via de la Valle, then go north on Highway 101 until they reach Manchester Avenue in Encinitas. They’ll turn around at the Cardiff Kook statue and return along the same path, entering the fairgrounds at the Solana Gate on Via de la Valle. In a worst-case scenario, the 101 would be closed in both directions through Solana Beach from about 7 to 11 a.m. “My initial thought was, ‘Is this really the right year to be doing this for the first time?’” Councilman Mike Nichols said, noting that residents complained about a 30minute shutdown at 9 a.m. for the city’s 25th anniversary TURN TO RACE ON B19
Carlsbad City Council By Christina Macone-Greene
CARLSBAD — Something quite historic occurred at the city of Carlsbad. For the first time ever, no traditional race to fill the two vacant seats on the City Council will happen because there is no opposition. That’s right, no candidate forums or campaigns. The two candidates, current Councilman Keith Blackburn and Carlsbad City Clerk Lorraine Wood, will settle into these open seats because nobody else officially filed for them. According to Carlsbad’s Assistant City Clerk Karen Kundtz, originally five individuals took out papers to run for City Council in hopes of vying for a spot. But in the end, only Blackburn and Wood completed their paperwork and qualified for the Nov. 6 election ballot. “Looking back at reports,
this is the first time that anyone for council has run uncontested,” Kundtz said. “Certain years they’ve had a city clerk or city treasurer that went uncontested but this is the first time for the City Council.” Mayor Pro Tem Ann Kulchin, who has been a City Council member since 1980, made the decision not to run another term. Kundtz said a new mayor pro tem is usually chosen by the mayor after the election. And that person typically carries seniority on the City Council. “I am very excited for Lorraine and she is going to be great addition to the council,” Blackburn said. “It is bittersweet.We are sad we are losing Ann and we are happy that we’re getting Lorraine.” Blackburn, who will be serving his second term as a council member, pointed out TURN TO COUNCIL ON B19