Todd and Cindy's Travel Blog

Dinner Thursday – misread an email from my sister recommending a restaurant and strolled 5th looking Pho Express (it’s on 6th we discovered later when we rechecked the email). Since we couldn’t find the Pho restaurant, we decided to stop at Croce’s (remember Jim? – Time in a Bottle & Bad, Bad Leroy Brown). Jim’s wife, Ingrid owns this neighbourhood restaurant – not cheap, but great food, atmosphere, and live music.

Todd and I started with a Caesar salad and a bottle of St. Michele’s Cab Sauv (visited the winery in Washington in the summer of ’12). Todd ordered the Grilled Duck entrée served with barley risotto.

I had the fork-tender short ribs and garlic mashed….so yummy!

Our waitress, Rita, informed us that Croce’s is moving at the end of this year – the lease is up and the landlord has rented the lower level to a venue that plays loud music that would interfere with Croce’s.

Friday

– we returned to Balboa Park to begin exploring some of the museums. The buildings at Balboa that now house museums were created for the 1915 Exposition. We purchased the Passport – good for each of the 14 museums and the Zoo over the next week.

Our first visit was to the Museum of History where the interactive Bottled & Kegged exhibit detailed the history of brewing in San Diego from the time of the Natives and Spanish to Prohibition to today.

San Diego is home to over 65 craft breweries! (We will explore a few before our vacation ends….).

The museum also contained artwork, artifacts, and displays highlighting San Diego’s history (Kumeyaay culture, Spanish settlement, Mexican era and the early American period).

The Model Railroad Museum was a sight – a model train buff’s dream – metres upon metres, room after room of various sizes of trains, trolleys, and tracks running through miniature San Diego city and surrounding landscape.

The Natural History Museum was impressive. Hundreds of bones and fossils of land and sea animals and birds found in San Diego and area, dating back to pre-ice age, are on display. Animated volunteers are around to share their knowledge and enthusiasm.

The Japanese Friendship Garden is a work-in-progress (a larger area is under construction, set to open in 2015).

A winding path directs you around blooming azaleas, Japanese bushes, bamboo, water fountains, bonsai trees, and a koi pond.

The Automotive Museum houses a number of motorcylces and cars through the ages. The Cadillac display was quite impressive; a far cry from my CTS.

Lunch in the park at Prado was excellent – great food and amazing décor.

I ordered the Smoked Turkey Breast with watercress, cranberry relish, garlic aioli on homemade focaccia. It came with a marinated veggie salad and homemade chips….so good….so much….couldn’t finish….

Todd ordered the Fish Tacos. The grilled Mahi Mahi was served with red cabbage-jicama slaw, mango-jalapeno salsa, mango mustard, and corn tortillas. No comparison to the fish tacos the other day – better presentation, better accompaniments, better taste….

…can’t believe a week has gone by already….Don’t want to leave this great weather with beautiful sunrises…

Wednesday – we boarded the trolley (Green Line) and went to explore Old Town.

Old Town is a National Park with historic buildings, museums, and period demonstrations. Buildings from 1821 to 1872 offer a glimpse into the community life of San Diego’s earliest settlers.

In 1769, the Spanish create d a military outpost and the first of California’s 21 missions for the Franciscan padres on the hillside just outside what is now Old Town.

We had quite a conversation with the local blacksmiths, once Todd told them he has worked with metal almost his whole life, they had a big discussion about how they started rolling threads instead of cutting them on formed round parts just to keep it as period….then we started to ask them if they had heard of Rob Ford…and low and behold they asked if we had heard about the mayor from San Diego…and yes we had just read about him being charged with multiple counts of bad behavior with his female staff members…

In 1822, the Mexican military arrived in San Diego (Mexico had just gained independence from Spain) and California was now under Mexican rule.

Spanish soldiers stayed and began constructing homes around an open plaza down the hill from the fort. Buildings were made of adobe brick as wood was scarce.

In 1848, the Mexican rule ended when the United States declared war on Mexico and won after 2 years of battles. California was now part of the United States.

Later that year, gold was discovered in California and San Diego was established as a stopover for miners.

Immigrants moved to San Diego and prefabricated wood-frame buildings were shipped from New England around Cape Horn.

In the 1860s, Old Town changed. Flooding, an earthquake, smallpox, drought, and the building of businesses and residences in nearby New Town all led to the deterioration of Old Town. Buildings were abandoned and left to the elements until sugar magnate, John Spreckles bought one of the remains (…and about 1/10 of land in California) and began to revive Old Town.

While in Old Town, we decided to have a late lunch at a Mexican restaurant – Casa Guadalajara.

Both our plates had rice and refried beans. We shared each other’s main course – tamales and chicken mole enchiladas – and washed the food down with a couple of cold beers (beer went so much better with the food than wine….).

Thursday – The trolley (green line) and two busses (28 & 84) brought us to Cabrillo National Park….okay, I’ll fess up – when we disembarked from bus 28, I read the schedule wrong and thought we had a 40 minute wait, so we went for a walk….bus came a couple of minutes after we got off, didn’t pass where we were walking, next one not for an hour L …. We then walked the route (uphill) for about 30 minutes then waited because stops were really far apart by this point.

The bus let us out at the information station in the national park (no entrance fee when you enter on the bus….). The views are amazing! You see San Diego, Coronado, and Mexico. The national park commemorates the exploration or the area by Juan Rodriguez Cabrillo in 1542-43 (a couple hundred years before the area was actually settled).

The hilltop area at the peninsula point is a natural protective barrier to San Diego Bay and was used as a harbour defence system during WWII when the Japanese attacked Pearl Harbour and fear of coming to the States border was high. Searchlight bunkers, fire control stations, and gun batteries were constructed.

Also on the high point of the peninsula, is the original lighthouse that began operation in 1855 to be seen from boats in the harbour and boats in the Pacific.

On a clear night, it could be seen for 40 km. The problem was San Diego has many foggy nights.

The lighthouse was only in use until 1891 when 3 lighthouses were built around the peninsula at water level.

In the 1800s, those who lived at the lighthouse had a pretty lonely existence as the nearest community was almost 13 km away in Old Town.

Just read that back home that a major snowfall advisory has been issued…..not sure we have any desire to leave this sunny 20°C winter weather….

Tuesday, we boarded the bus ($2.25 one-way each) for Coronado – across the bay in San Diego. We headed right to “The Del” – Hotel Del Coronado

– and hooked up with a tour in progress to learn about the grounds.

The Hotel Del Coronado was completed in 1888, less than one year after construction began. It is built entirely of wood and cost $1 million.

The Hotel Del Coronado is one of the last remaining Victorian seaside resorts, designed in the Queen Anne Revival style (asymmetrical design and turrets). There was no blueprint for the hotel. It was built by individuals discussing their ideas at morning meetings, so no two rooms were the same.

Many famous people have stayed at The Del – Frank Baum (said to have written some of the Wizard of Oz series while staying here), Prince Edward (before he abdicated the throne to marry Wallis Simpson – who was also from Coronado…), 12 Presidents of the US, and Marilyn Monroe filmed “Some Like it Hot” at the Del.

The hotel has kept its décor from the Victorian ages. The Birdcage-styled elevator is still in use (although it is now run by electricity and not steam) with its attendant waiting to take you to your requested floor.

The grand Crown Room, where Presidential dinners have been held and royal guests honoured can be rented for $12,000 a night….

Looking out toward the beach from the bar area where a 40 foot wooden bar spans the room,

you can watch swimmers at the pool or skaters at the rink. We enjoyed beverages (Todd – beer, me – Cab Sauv.) and a tasty heirloom tomato bruschetta.

This is definitely a place to visit, although staying a night will cost anywhere from $350 and up…..

For dinner we went to The Field, an Irish Pub on Fifth. We tried a couple of different local brews and ordered Boxty Dinners – Shepherd’s Pie and Beef ‘n Guinness. Boxty is a grilled potato pancake that is wrapped around your dinner and topped with gravy. Delicious!

Interesting – Robaxacet is not sold over the counter in San Diego; you need a prescription….