Your Patch Guide to Happiness

Are you thrilled to be cruising to the end of a short week or are you in three-day weekend letdown mode? Glass half empty or half full?

Either way, the goings on through June 8 should lighten your mood or keep your already-raised spirits nicely elevated. Two fests feature barbecue and dancing and there's a grand opening.

Look for a prominent author to visit La Jolla and the chance to enjoy North County museums for half off through June.

CLOSE TO HOME

• Where/when: Oak Country II Staging Area, Highland Valley Road, Ramona, 10 a.m. Friday.

• Why go: Opening of new four-mile trail in the Santa Maria Creek Greenway. Supervisor Dianne Jacob will be at the ribbon cutting. This is the first trail through the 3,500-acre Ramona Grasslands Preserve. The loop will take hikers through grasslands, chaparral and oak woodlands to a pond and lookout point. The staging area is on Highland Valley Road, just east of Archie Moore Road and before Highlander Drive.

• Price: Free.

• Where/when: , 642 Main St, Ramona, 9 a.m. Saturday.

• Why go: Byron Mettler, author of The Best Book On Self-Publishing with CreateSpace will present a two-hour workshop on getting your work into print.
• Price: $10.

• Where/when:  , 434 Aqua Lane, Ramona, 11 a.m. Saturday.

• Why go: The center's Rib Fest includes all-you-can-eat ribs, potato salad, corn, tea, coffee and lemonade and a raffle for a trip to Reno.
• Price: $10 or $25 for families.

• Where/when: Menghini Winery, 1150 Julian Orchards Dr, Julian, noon Saturday.

• Why go: Post 468 of Sons of the American Legion hosts the 5th Annual Back Country Dance & Barbeque, with two bands set to perform.

• Price: $5-$10.

BEST BETS, A LITTLE FARTHER OUT

• Where/when: Escondido Children's Museum, 380 N. Escondido Blvd, Escondido, and six other North County museums, through end of June.

• Why go: Embrace North County Arts & Culture in June and receive half off the entry fee for each of seven museums in Encinitas, Carlsbad, Oceanside and Escondido. Vouchers are good for four people.

• Price: Varies.

• Where/when: Balboa Park, Sixth Avenue and Laurel Street, San Diego, 6 a.m. Sunday.

• Why go: Come out and cheer on the thousands of runners (probably more than a couple of them from your neck of the woods) who have trained and agonized over taking part in the Rock 'n Roll San Diego Marathon. The race starts in Balboa Park and ends at Mission Bay.

• Price: Free for spectators; registration is closed.

• Where/when: , 7812 Girard Ave, La Jolla, 7:30 p.m. Monday.

• Why go: Sebastian Junger, author of the best-selling The Perfect Storm, returns with War, about the time he spent with a U.S. platoon in Afghanistan. He revisits the subject after helping direct the 2010 Oscar-nominated documentary Restrepo. He made the film with journalist Tim Hetherington, who was killed in Libya in April. 

• Price: Free.