San Diego - Seaport Village

Friday October 2, 2009

Glenn went off to catch the trolley while I walked over to the park next to the aircraft carrier. We would meet there where the trolley has stopped before, when we had taken the whole tour on Tuesday. That was the plan anyway.

But as I searched around the buildings, I couldn't find a shopping mall. There was only a restaurant. I was getting a sinking feeling that I was in the wrong place. This was confirmed when the trolley bumped along down the street right past the park.

This was bad. Glenn and I were in San Diego. Neither of us had a cell phone - we had no way to contact one another. He was going to the shopping mall and I wasn't even sure where it was. I didn't even know its name. I did know that it was by the water though so I started walking on a path by the shore. Ahead were a number of buildings that could be a shopping centre. As I got near, I saw a trolley pull into the driveway. Eureka! But I was at the other end of the sprawling complex (Seaport Village) and had to cross a large parking lot. I didn't mention that my innards were acting up on this day, so this was no time to risk running. The trolley drove back out of the driveway.

At least I was at the right place but when I eventually got to the end where the trolley stopped, Glenn was nowhere to be found. Oh no. He may have started walking back to the park where he knew I was, but, with so many buildings and paths on the grounds, there would be no way to tell which route he might take. I hoped that he hadn't taken the trolley over to Coronado... or taken a cab back to the hotel. I was envisioning our day in ruins - the whole day spent trying to find one another.

Near the trolley stop was a ticket booth. I asked the man there if he'd perhaps seen my husband, thinking that Glenn might have checked in to see if I had asked about him. "Lady," he said with a droll tone, "Husbands are looking for their wives here all the time."

I stewed for a few minutes trying to figure out what to do. Now here's the amazing part. I turned around and saw Glenn getting off a trolley! It turned out that he'd missed the first one. He was annoyed that he'd missed it but it was sure lucky that he did. I love it when things work out like that.

I didn't take many photos. We visited a book store here, then caught the trolley to Coronado.

San Diego - statues

Friday October 2, 2009

Glenn was tired. I got the bright idea that, since we were going to take the trolley over to Coronado, he could wait at the ticket booth for it while I ran over to the park with the statue, on the other side of the aircraft carrier. When we had taken the trolley before, it zipped into a mall by the water. I figured that mall was right beside the statue so I could meet Glenn when the trolley arrived. It seemed so simple.

Off I went down the street and around to the park.

And here is the 25 foot statue of the sailor and the nurse, called 'Unconditional Surrender.' If you wait a moment or two, somebody will come along to reenact the scene.

A closer view. Those shoes are huge.

Ha, what is that man doing?

Tucked away behind the sailor statue is this - 'A National Salute to Bob Hope and the Military.'

San Diego - USS Midway Museum

Friday October 2, 2009

When I first heard about the Midway, I imagined some amusement park with a roller coaster, not an aircraft carrier.

With our late start, we decided to skip Old Town and just take a cab right to the aircraft carrier. We arrived a bit before the opening time of 10:00 and got in line for tickets. Adults: $17. Seniors: $13.

You need a wide angle lens to fit it all in.

There's the dock where we came in the other day, with a couple of cruise ships and a Hornblower ship.

Inside we inadvertently got caught up in a self-guided audio tour, winding through a maze of corridors. The tour is probably quite interesting but I really wasn't into it on this day. Once we found our way back out to the gift shop, I visited the washroom where this sign was inside the door. Mainly, I'll remember it for being when I figured out what was wrong with the camera's light setting. Unfortunately, I wasn't aware that the picture sizes were also wrong. We didn't discover that until after we got home. So all of the pictures taken with this camera for the rest of this trip have the sides chopped off.

We really just wanted to get up to the flight deck. Glenn went up to one of the young guys on the deck and, noting the wings he was wearing, asked if he was a pilot. The fellow said, no, he just worked around the airplanes. Not even on the airplanes.

The arrestor hook.

What I wanted to see most was the runway from end to end. But we couldn't because of all the displays cluttering it up. Being there was like standing on the roof of a large department store... with some airplanes... and guys standing around.

I just wanted to get off and cross that bridge (to Coronado) in the distance. But first, I'll have a closer look at that statue.

The sky was becoming disappointingly cloudy.

La Valencia Hotel

Friday October 2, 2009

We were a little tired and got up later than usual. We ambled a block or two over to La Valencia hotel for breakfast.

It was very foggy that morning but soon it began to lift.

We chose to sit outside on a terrace overlooking the picturesque lawn and pool. Because of the fog, the seats were wet and the occasional drop of water plopped onto our table from above. I thought it was amusing that we were sitting at the famed La Valencia getting wet behinds. A waitress then gave us napkins to sit on and later a fellow turned over all the chair cushions. The service and food were good though.

I had ginger pancakes and bacon. I liked the pots of jam. Ha, did they give us enough butter?

View from the terrace. Who allowed that ugly block of a building in La Jolla? It really doesn't fit.

Supposedly, Charlie Chaplin, Groucho Marx and Greta Garbo vacationed at this hotel, and Gregory Peck had get-togethers with the casts of the La Jolla Playhouse productions.

La Valencia's Whaling Bar and Grill was and is a main gathering place in La Jolla. Unfortunately, most of the indoor shots of restaurant, lobby and bar were nearly pitch black. At this point I wasn't able to figure out why, even with the flash on, I often wasn't able to get a picture.

The Parisi Hotel across the street is another hotel I had considered.

Oh dear - a glitch with the camera

Friday October 2, 2009

Our last full day in San Diego didn't get off to a good start.

I was worried about the card on the camcorder filling up (we only had the one card) and decided we should empty it after downloading the photos onto the laptop. Somehow, in the dumping, settings on the camcorder were changed and many pictures were therefore ruined. I've tried to fix some of the salvageable ones as best I could, but the colours are not quite right. Photos from the Elph will be normal.

Last part of our drive on day 3

Thursday October 1, 2009

Leaving Torrey Pines Park we headed south toward La Jolla.

The sun seemed to set fast in San Diego so there wasn't a lot of daylight left. There were two things I had hoped to see while we had the car: 1) the San Diego Mission, number one of a string of twenty-one missions up the state, and an important part of California's history, and 2) the Cabrillo Monument. These two sites were roughly in opposite directions.

Hopes were high when I spotted a landmark that made me think we were not far from the mission. It could have been nice to photograph the exterior in late afternoon light... but we didn't find out because we got stuck in a horrible traffic jam. California traffic! After inching along for some time, I finally abandoned the idea and turned west to return to our hotel. The sun was low and it was blinding my eyes so driving was hairy. We somehow wound up in the parking lot of the Birch Aquarium, which I wouldn't have minded visiting, but it was after hours and a private function was in progress.

By the time we got back near our hotel in La Jolla, my nerves were frapped and I didn't feel like driving in San Diego any more! We dropped the car back at Avis and walked back to our hotel, stopping at the grocery store and the cookie/coffee shop on the way. I suppose Avis could have charged us for the 2nd day we didn't use, but they didn't. Avis was good when we rented from them in Guelph earlier this year, so I'm becoming a fan.

I'd never tried Newman's Own raisins before but they were so fresh I might be a convert. They are available in Canada.

One thing I never find in Canada though is Rice Chex cereal so we picked up a couple of boxes. Would have looked for Weinhard's root beer too if we'd been closer to home.

The plan for Day 4 had been to drive to Old Town and take the trolley from there to the aircraft carrier and Coronado. Unfortunately, with no car the next day, we would not be driving out to the mission or Cabrillo Monument but we could still taxi to Old Town.

Torrey Pines State Natural Reserve

Thursday October 1, 2009

To enter this State Park with a car costs $10.

A road goes up three hundred feet in 0.8 miles to a parking lot where there is a pueblo-style lodge which, somehow, we missed photographing. It used to be a restaurant when it was built in 1923; now it's a visitor's center.

Fitness-minded Californians walk, jog and cycle up this hill, even in this kind of heat. By the time they get to the top they're sweating buckets and maybe are too exhausted to enjoy the awesome view of the area we'd just come from. The salt marsh down there is a protected area as well.

It's dry country (but not like inland desert because this area gets fog) with cactus, pines of course, interesting sandstone formations, and trails winding around all over. I would have liked to have hiked there for a couple of hours.

I'm glad I didn't read until later that the park has "a small population" of Southern Pacific rattlesnakes. We only saw this lizard.

It's late afternoon as we drive back down the hill and leave the park.

The California Coast

Thursday October 1, 2009

With time to spare we drove in the air-conditioned car back to the coast and went as far north as Carlsbad. Earlier in the day we had ruled out the thought of going to the Wild Animal Park or other inland areas because of the heat. Carlsbad is the home of Legoland which we weren't particularly interested in visiting.

Instead, we drove back down the coast to Torrey Pines State Natural Reserve, keeping an eye out for crossing surfers along the way. The park is that hill in the distance.

Do you ever get home and wonder why you didn't do certain things? Now I wonder why we didn't explore Del Mar, or even Cardiff-by-the-Sea.

Quail Botanical Gardens - artwork

Thursday October 1, 2009

Pele - Goddess of Fire

I'm not always partial to artworks in gardens. This sculpture was interesting though for the material it was made from, an orange-copper-coloured metal. It shimmers and shines as you move around it, which, of course, you can't see in a still photo.

But the mariachi band topiaries (of sorts) were really cute and well done. I almost got caught up in the movement and music even though it was imaginary.

Perhaps the most interesting part of our visit wasn't a plant or artwork - it was a person, an older woman who volunteers at the gardens. She lives in Solana Beach but was originally from Victoria, and had an interesting family and background. She gave us the address of her childhood house here so we could take photos and send them to her. We enjoyed talking to her so much I thought we might not get around to seeing the gardens.

Quail Botanical Gardens

Thursday October 1, 2009

After lunch in Encinitas, we drove inland a short distance to the Quail Botanical Gardens.

This sign, which I superimposed on the picture, probably doesn't exist any more. The garden's name has been changed to the San Diego Botanic Garden.

The Torrey Pine (some call it the Del Mar Pine) is not endangered, it's not remarkable in appearance, the wood is brittle and doesn't even make good firewood, but it lives on the seaside cliffs in poor soil and survives drought and storms. It is the rarest native pine in the USA, growing naturally in just a small area of California from about La Jolla to Solana Beach, with a subspecies growing on an island off the coast of Santa Barbara.

I was also fascinated by these Cork Oak trees.

Farther into the garden we go. There are several areas: Mexican garden, New Zealand garden, natural coastal habitat, herb garden, to name a few.

Does anyone know what the tree on the left is with the clumps that look like strings of peas?

By the afternoon it was baking hot - I think it got to 30°C but it felt hotter so this was not the best time to be visiting desert areas. I had to abandon the idea of trekking out in the open to the Children's Garden, which might have been interesting, and find some shade.

Glenn had found his favourite Plumeria flower. He picked a fallen blossom off the ground and sat happily sniffing it in inside a shady, walled garden while I toured more of the gardens.

The nation's largest bamboo garden is here. I never knew there were so many different types. (Bottom picture doesn't show much bamboo - I just liked all the green and yellow.) Info from their signs: "Bamboos grow in 2 different growth patterns - runners and clumpers. Running bamboos have underground shoots that can grow thirty feet in one season." And, "Unlike most plants, many bamboos only flower after long time periods, from 10 to 20, even 150-years intervals. After producing heavy crops of seeds most bamboos die."

The fruit orchard was a nice shady place to be. A sign with the banana plants says they're the world's tallest herb. (!)

Left: Natal Cycad. From the internet - Cycads are often referred to as living fossils... traced back as far as 160 million years.

Middle: I thought this might be a Pineapple Guava blossom but the leaves don't look right, so I don't know what it is.

Right: Olulu Brighamia. "This is one of the most unusual plants in Hawaii. Once common, they are almost extinct and grow only on cliffs in Kauai." It's also known as Cabbage On a Stick.

Victoria Amazonica. Plate it in silver and it would make a nice platter. Apparently the leaves can grow up to more than 9 feet in diameter! Google it and you'll see a picture of a baby sitting on one. I didn't even notice the frog in there until we saw the pictures at home.

This looks like the tree used in the garden's logo, yet I can't find any information on it. So I'm guessing it's a quiver tree.