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Published: September 29th 2012
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Day 21 - Chillin by the pool at 'The Del', Distance travelled - 200 yards from the room to the sunbeds to the bar and back!
So let the chilling out begin, no driving, no sightseeing, no campsites, no weird goat walking, no super heroes just 6 days doing naff all by the seaside.
After our usual lazy breakfast of coffe and pastries from Starbucks, Shas headed straight for her sunbed and I went for a short walk around the grounds to see the hotels collection of birds of prey who were all sitting out on their perches on the lawn. Although they were not quite as impressive as Kayla the eagle from Selhurst Park, they did have a particularly evil looking Egyptian Vulture! They don't let these birds fly around the hotel, probably for fear of losing them to a low flying aircraft or the worry that they'll start tearing a seagull or pigeon apart in front of some poor little kid. They do however use them for bird scaring in a very bizarre fashion.
One at a time the birds are loaded onto a large broom and then carried aloft by the handler around the grounds
and through the outdoor patio and restaurant areas. If a pigeon or a seagull is spotted, the broom is moved to make the hawk flap it's wings which 'scares' the target into flying off, although I suspect this ritual has been done so often, the local birds know they won't be eaten so only 'move on' a little rather than fly away.
The pool area is huge and very quiet in the mornings so we virtually had it to ourselves. It got a bit busier in the afternoon as the tours for the families of the Waste Management convention attendees arrived back from Disney, Seaworld or wherever else they had been but it was still relatively quiet in terms of people.
The skies on the other hand were still very busy with all sorts of military aircraft flying in overhead. It's a bit like your own personal sunbed air show with the highlight when two V22 Ospreys flew in as conventional planes then did a loop of the bay as they tilted their propellers upwards before landing vertically almost as a helicopter or Harrier! Shas once again thought I had been on the cocktails or had too much
sun, (the latter was true as my glowing red chest and stomach can testify), but I know what I saw.
The procession of military planes and helicopters coming in to land continued throughout the day, as did the drinks from the pool bar as the temperature got hotter and hotter but then just like the previous night, all flights suddenly stop just before dark so your evenings and nights sleep are unaffected by the aircraft.
After drinks on the balcony watching the sun go down we decided to avoid the evenings Waste Management excitement and headed out on the town in Coronado. Hard to believe that with the current weather we are 'out of season' and the streets were empty as were most of the restaurants and bars. Shas was hoping to find the white suited Top Gun flyers on a night out but no such luck. With a wide choice of Italian, Mexican, Seafood, or 'pub Grub' we opted for a nice Italian on a first floor terrace overlooking Orange Avenue called Vigilucci's. Food was great and with reasonably priced Italian red and cold Peroni on tap we were set for the night. The food was excellent
and the in house Italian operatic pianist very amusing, particularly his very over dramatic rendition of "You'll never walk alone", quite fitting considering the news this week.
After a short walk back to the hotel, we joined the conference delegates back in the bar on the edge of the beach for a couple and then it was time for the zig zag walk back to the room and bed. Short blog, relaxing day and great evening.
Tomorrow will be more of the same before we head off to Petco Park for a bit of Friday night baseball between the San Diego Padres and the San Francisco Giants. Shas has got us field box tickets just behind the home dugout, just hope she doesn't repeat the 'it's just like a longer, more boring game of rounders' quote when we're in there!
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