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Published: November 16th 2014
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We awoke to a gorgeous morning today. San Diego was not going to disappoint! We are parked at the San Diego harbor and in between the USS Midway aircraft carrier and what looks to be a pirate ship. As it turns out, we’re in the middle of a maritime museum. The Star of India is the world’s oldest still-sailing ship, having been built in 1863. She’s been around the world 21 times! It turns out it is not a pirate ship. Just past that is actually a Soviet submarine, too. I’ve never seen one of those in person so that’s pretty cool. I didn’t even have to go anywhere! The Midway was commissioned the week after WWII ended. It served 47 years, which is unheard of in the navies of the world. At one point she was the world’s largest ship, even!
We knew we wanted to take the tour offered by Old Town Trolley, since we only had part of a day to visit. Getting off the ship and over to the booth was very simple and quite short. We decided that we would take the whole tour and then go back to any stops that we
liked on the second pass. The first stop was the Seaport Village, which is a shopping complex designed by engineers at Disney. It has that stereotypical look that you would expect. It actually reminded me of the Main Street at Disney's Magic Kingdom. San Diego convention center was next. This is the home of Comic-Con, which I know is the world's largest comic convention, thanks to The Big Bang Theory. Nobody got off here, as there wasn't really anything going on. We took a spin through Horton Plaza (named after the original one of San Diego's first residents) which is an enormous shopping center and moved right along to the Gaslamp Quarter. This is where a lot of shopping, dining, and entertainment are. It has always been a popular area, and never more so than today. It's very traditional looking, with real gas street lamps, brick sidewalks, and lots of architecture. Next we passed PetCo Park, the home of the Padres and headed over the Coronado Bridge. I'll tell you what, being in a trolley with no seat belts and barely any walls, driving over a 200 foot tall bridge at highway speeds was slightly unnerving! This bridge takes you
over to Coronado Island. Technically, a peninsula, this is a very fancy area of San Diego. However, more confusingly, this is its own separate town with its own mayor and everything. There is a gorgeous view of the city skyline with the bay in the foreground, too. We were on the wrong side of the bus so we didn't get the shot. Coronado Beach is definitely one of the country's nicest (I think it was actually voted #2). There are a lot of residential properties around it, which I think keeps it nicer and less busy. Hotel Del Coronado was next. This is a beautiful, very original-looking hotel right on the beach. Ten presidents, Marilyn Monroe, Babe Ruth, and countless members of royal families have all stayed at the Del. When it was built, it was actually the largest resort in the world. Back then, there wasn't much indoor plumbing, either...luckily, all rooms now have bathrooms.
Balboa was the next stop, if you were so inclined. Originally a 47,000 acre section of land set aside for public use, the park is one of the oldest in the nation. It’s now only 1,200 acres, but set in the
middle of one of the largest cities in the country. There are numerous gardens, museums, fountains, and even one of the world’s largest outdoor pipe organs located within the park. Kate Sessions is one of the many people to thank for this park and it’s botanical wonders…they even call her the Mother of Balboa. Now, a few years ago, our first stop would have been the San Diego Zoo, which is located here, as well. However, after watching Blackfish, I don’t think we’ll ever see captive animals on display anymore. Sort of a shame, but I guess that’s all in who you ask. Regardless, the zoo has an aerial tram that traverses the park…pretty cool. Little Italy came next. This area was founded by Italian fisherman who came to hunt the tuna that were plentiful off the coast. It was really dangers work, as they didn’t actually ride in the boat! There were planks on the outside that they stood on and the caught fish actually got to ride in the boat. This area is under heavy development with lots of condo’s and restaurants going up. I really wanted to get to Richard Blais’ new place, but it didn’t open
Frost Me
Cupcake Wars contestants! until 4pm.
The next and final stop was Old Town. This was the original epicenter of San Diego. Building by the coast back then was not considered to be preferred for some reason so this spot was nice and desert-y. Currently, it’s a tourist trap with some authentic and not-so-authentic souvenirs and food. You have to get off of the trolley here and I believe that is because the company that runs the trolley also owns many of the stores here. One cool thing here is the Whaley House. It’s been named the most haunted house in the country by several organizations. Built in 1855, it has seen suicide, hangings, and court cases over the years. All kinds of people claim they’ve seen all kinds of ghosts here. Creepy. That’s enough ghost talk…back to the trolley.
We drove by the airport which has some really interesting tidbits. It’s named Lindbergh Field after Charles Lindbergh, as he test-flew his plane before his transatlantic flight in 1927. It’s the busiest single-runway airport in the country and second busiest in the entire world! It has three planes taking off or landing every minute.
I think I’d like to try flying into here because they must be so accurate with timing or else it throws off the whole day! They say that because of the structures all around it, pilots have to have specialized training to use the airport due to very minimal clearances. The coolest thing we learned was that the Coast Guard here doesn’t have their own runway, so they use the airports. However, to get to it, they have to taxi their planes across the highway when missions come up.
Rod and Terry got off at the boat, but Kris and I decided we wanted to go back and do some shopping at the next stop and we’d just walk back. Seaport Village was ok. It didn’t have as much stuff as I guess I thought it would, but we found the few things that we needed and then found a cupcake shop! The place is called Frost Me and it’s delicious! They have some cool little seating areas inside, but also some seating on the patio. These girls were even on Food Network’s Cupcake Wars! We just followed the walkway along the bay to get back to
the ship. We passed the Unconditional Surrender statue, which is a 25-foot tall sculpture of a couple kissing upon the return home of the guy. Kinda cool. We passed along the backside of the Midway and I must say, it looks a lot bigger from ground level. They even had some dining options aboard that looked out over the bay and the city. The next time we’re in the city, I want to get the tour of it.
We didn’t have nearly enough time to experience the city as much as we would have liked. It’s so large with so many activities that I think you could spend a week here and just scratch the surface. We’ll be back.
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