Showing posts with label Mission Beach. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Mission Beach. Show all posts

Saturday, August 2, 2008

San Diego Saturday

by Pa Rock

The three amigos walked from our hotel to the harbor today where we toured several ships and the stolen Russian submarine that I wrote about back in May. Actually, Nick and Boone toured the sub, and I stayed topside where I watched a big sea gull make a valiant effort to paint the submarine! We also did a tour of the harbor on a small boat where we were able to sail under the bow of the USS Midway and get up close and personal with an America's Cup yacht that was slumming through the harbor. One of the highlights of the harbor tour was buzzing an old sea lion who was sunning on a buoy. The same sea lion (or his identical cousin) was sunning on the same buoy when I took the same cruise last May. BTW, our vessel was piloted by a fine fellow whose name was Captain Jack!

Child Abuse Department: There are works of art, some quite large, and performance artists all along the harbor. I was watching a mime who was painted silver and was doing a moving statue shtick. Nick and Boone walked up as the guy was standing still, and Nick, who realized what was going on, said. "Hey Boone, look at the statue. Why don't you go up and touch it. The mime played along right up until Boone reached out to touch him, and they he wheeled toward Boone. I think that my poor grandson jumped three feet! And his cruel daddy laughed most of the way back to the hotel!

This afternoon we went back to Mission Beach. I had a wonderful time watching Nick and Boone play in the surf. There are one-point-three-million people in San Diego, and most of them spent this afternoon at Mission Beach. Highlights included watching a four hundred pound woman being buried in the sand by a group of children. (I hope they remembered to dig her up before they left!) There was also an old geezer, older than me, wearing a tee shirt that said "Life is a Mountain." As if the challenge posed by his tee shirt wasn't bad enough, he stood around doing karate poses. After about fifteen minutes of striking silly stances, a young guy ran up to him, did a flying leap right at the guy, and kicked his feet above the guy's head. That ended the karate exhibit! And then there were the people who left their sack lunch on their beach towels and went off to play in the water. I watched a sea gull nearly wear himself out trying to rip their lunch sack open! Nature rules!

Life is a beach! There is really no excuse not to live near one!

Friday, August 1, 2008

On the Road to San Diego

by Pa Rock


Nick, Boone, and I left Goodyear just before daylight and made it to San Diego around noon. It was a nice trip out because Nick drove the entire way. I was able to sit back and enjoy the scenery!

A couple of over-the-road observations: It is 340 miles from Goodyear to San Diego, with most of the trip being on US 8, a major, four-lane interstate. In what should be a busy time for tourists, we saw only two RV's. Two! And truck traffic is down very noticeably. It was easy to see where the truck traffic is going. Between Gila Bend, AZ, and El Centro, CA, we saw six long trains double-stacked with cargo containers. America is doing its shipping on the rails!

We also went through three border patrol checkpoints. At one they asked us where we were coming from and waved us through, and at the other two they just waved us through. (We had cautioned Boone not to start speaking Spanish if we were pulled over!) A long stretch of US 8 runs along the border with Mexico. We saw numerous Border Patrol vehicles on patrol and occasional guard towers looking off toward the Mexican sand dunes.

Our room wasn't ready when we got to the hotel, so we took off to Mission Beach and spent time wading in the surf. It was Boone's first view of the ocean. He wants to go back tomorrow. Mission Beach has lots of shops and an amusement park, so there is plenty to do. Tonight we are headed to the Gas Lamp District.

Our hotel is the Downtown Holiday Inn, and we are on the 11th floor with a fantastic view of the city. There will be lots to see and do before our departure on Monday morning.