SOLANA BEACH — Recent yarn about dumps in Del Mar and Solana Beach brought back some colorful memories for Mary Obloy Forte, whose family were longtime residents of Solbeach.

Pens Mary, “My dad used to take me and our dog to the dump on Saturday mornings and I loved going with him. Back then it was more fun than watching Saturday morning cartoons.

“Somehow my dad had the insight to bring his camera on one of our trips. One of those photos that was taken in 1960-1961 is of our pickup truck backed up to the dump and me and my dog in the back.” To the east are the rolling hills of Rancho Santa Fe.

Another dump fan recalls there was a young fellow dressed in a khaki uniform resembling a park ranger. He greeted everyone, clipboard in hand, and noted all the disposables.

For what purpose? There likely wasn’t anything official about his survey. Just something for someone to do on a sunny Saturday.

The dump was a “cut and fill” operation by the county long before Solbeach was incorporated. It was located in the vicinity of Lomas Santa Fe executive golf course and west of San Dieguito County Park, also nonexistent at that time.

The Surfside city dump was in the area of Crest Way decades before incorporation and was somewhat of a mess.