Balboa Park and Old Town San Diego

Though I had visited San Diego Zoo as a child several times, I never explored Balboa Park of which it is a part. One of the main sites I wanted to see on our California trip was this multi-use center of San Diego. Since we were arriving on a Sunday, we decided to get there early enough to hear the Spreckels Organ concert. My sister and her husband had never been there at a time when that performance was taking place either.

The organ had not yet been rolled out to the stage

We packed a lunch to eat when we arrived, and we left plenty of time to travel as we didn’t know how quickly the seats would fill up. As it turned out, there were lots of seats and a rather poor turnout. On the drive from Whittier, as we got closer to San Diego, we experienced a down pouring of rain. Amazing! California after all is in a drought. However, by the time we got to Balboa Park, though there was cloud cover, there was no rain. Too bad the clouds went away that afternoon as the sun beat down pretty fiercely.

 

We ate lunch; our relatives staked out seats right up front and let us meander. My husband went to an automotive museum while I headed in the opposite direction toward the Botanical Building.

 

The buildings and landscaping are the legacy of the 1915-16 Panama-California Exposition and the 1935-36 California Pacific International Exposition. The Botanical Building, a wood lath structure, was constructed in 1915. It is off of El Prado, the boulevard created for the exposition.

There is a nice lily pond in front of the Botanical Building.

Inside were orchids and other interesting plants.

Before arriving at the Botanical Building, I had stopped at the Hospitality House to pick up a brochure.

 

Armed with that information, I strolled El Prado, admiring the architecture.

Carillon which was from a later date

Museum of Man

The tiles and shapes reminded me of Moorish art.

 

I thought I heard the organ playing. The concert wasn’t scheduled until 2 p.m. and this was a little after 1 p.m. I hurried to the Spreckels Organ Pavilion. Now the organ was in view. The Pavilion was built in 1915. The organ has been updated through the years with a new console and additional pipes. It has 4,518 pipes. The organist was a man practicing for a Monday night concert.

There is an official civic organist, Dr. Carol Williams; she plays the pieces on Sunday. It got pretty hot once the clouds left. The Spreckels Organ Society was renting out shade umbrellas for $2, starting about 1:30. They had lots of business. I sat and watched several Quincenera and wedding parties coming for photo shoots among the portico pillars.

 

I finally decided to cross the street to explore the “houses” belonging to the House of Pacific Relations that were left from the 1935-36 event. There was an art sale taking place on the lawns as well.

Apparently there was going to be some kind of folk dancing on a grassy area between the small buildings. That was in the shade, but you had to sit on the grass or bring your own chair. The “houses” had a few cultural items inside, but mostly literature about different countries.

When I got back to the Pavilion, it was about 15 minutes until the concert started.

The concert was about an hour. There were 10 pieces; one of the suites was written by Dr. Williams. The concert ended in a rousing rendition of the National Anthem. Those big pipes can really growl. Though the umbrella helped some, I finally draped my tote bag over my feet as they were not sheltered and felt like they were starting to get a sunburn. You were allowed to walk thru the pipe housing and get close to the console after the performance as well as ask questions about the instrument. I was glad we had attended.

On our last day in San Diego, we drove to Old Town where San Diego began. The old adobe buildings mostly have stores with tourist goods and restaurants. We ate at my sister’s favorite Mexican restaurant, then strolled thru a few shops.

 

 

 

We didn’t stay long, though, because we needed to head for Whittier so my husband and I could gather up our things and start packing for our flight to Chicago the next morning. It had been a long time since I had been in Southern California in summer. I am so glad that we made the trip.

Hotel del Coronado and USS Midway Museum, and a Surprise (San Diego)

 

Though I grew up in Southern California and had visited San Diego a few times, I had never been to the Hotel del Coronado, the famous Victorian hotel whose history included stays by royalty, presidents, and Hollywood stars. This vacation, we drove across the bridge to North Island and headed for the town of Coronado.

 

The Del  opened in 1888. You can read about its development and construction by clicking the link. It was one of many grand hotels built to attract people to Southern California during the land boom. Today, most of those are gone; the Del currently is the second largest wooden construction in the United States. When it opened, it was the largest resort hotel in the world.

Hotel del Coronado when it first opened.

 

It still attracts a wealthy clientele. The hotel has been updated in the past decades and the resort now has “cottages” and towers of rooms besides the original building. Its restaurants and shops are open to the public. We rode from the beach level to the lobby one level above in an old-fashioned elevator with a gate that closed across the opening and operated by a uniformed attendant.

We almost parked in their lot, but discovered it would be prohibitively expensive, something like $20-$30 for the first two hours, then $10 each additional hour. We were able to find metered street parking a few blocks away. Unless you choose to dine there, 2 hours is plenty of time to see the public areas.

Dining terrace facing the beach

 

Private beach; Point Loma in the distance

Arrival area for guests

 

Dragon tree that appeared in Some Like It Hot with Marilyn Monroe

Newer towers in the background

 

I don’t know how the rooms are furnished; the lobby was dark and uninteresting

 

 

Something the guys in our group were especially interested in seeing was the USS Midway Museum which is docked adjacent to the downtown area of San Diego. We ate lunch first at Anthony’s, a seafood restaurant, not far from the carrier. My adventurous spouse had squid sandwich. We had waited until the noonday rush was over, and we were rewarded with a bayside table.

 

The USS Midway was commissioned in 1945, the largest ship in the world at that time. It was too big to fit thru the Panama Canal. It saw extensive service in the Viet Nam War and was the flagship of the Persian Gulf War air operations in 1991. It was decommissioned in 1992 and kept in San Diego. It was overhauled to become a museum and opened in 2004.

Hanger deck

Anchor chain

 

Part of below-hanger-deck display

 

The audio tour had you go down to the engine room. That wasn’t too bad, but climbing all of those steps back up to the hanger deck was a lot of work, especially as there was little ventilation and it was a hot day. It felt good to get a soft drink and sit a bit before tackling the flight deck.

 

There was an elevator to the flight deck and I took it. Truthfully, after having toured other aircraft carriers in other places, this wasn’t on my have-to-see list. I walked around, but didn’t read much about the aircraft. I spent more time looking at the surrounding scenery. In 2015 there will be a theater with a movie about the battle of Midway. Learn more about the ship on its museum page.

 

 

 

The sailor statue is just like one we have in a special exhibit in Warsaw, Indiana, except at least 10 times bigger. That’s the bridge to Coronado.

We were all pretty tired after walking throughout the USS Midway. We drove around little Italy looking for a restaurant, but parking is scarce. We finally ended up about 1/2 way back to our hotel, stopping at the Corvette Diner. This is probably a great place for kids, but maybe a little too-high-energy for 4 very pooped retired people. Yet, the music was from our eras. Too loud to converse. When the waitress arrived at our table, the first thing she did was throw a handful of drinking straws up into the air over our table. There was a DJ in one of the other rooms, and she announced the upcoming song. The waitresses in our room stopped taking orders and proceeded to sing and dance to a rock n’ roll song. A birthday group of elementary and pre-teen kids in the corner danced along. They also took the red straws and connected them into wands and hair crowns and whatever they could come up with.

 

The food was pretty good, and the music would have been fun if half the decibels. The manager commented as he breezed through our room that we were the quietest group in the place. As we headed toward the parking lot, we discovered a sprinkler system across the road had come on, and somebody in a jovial mood had redirected one of the sprinkler heads across the sidewalk. Fortunately, a teen in a group that was leaving right ahead of us, went over and stood on the head and redirected the water.

Certainly, a memorable dining experience.

 

Point Loma, Cabrillo Monument, Shelter Island (San Diego)

We were fortunate to have my sister and brother-in-law go with us to San Diego. My b-i-l did the driving. Since they had been to San Diego many times, we could sit back and relax without worry of being lost. We got in a bit of a traffic jam when driving to our lodging because Comic Con was still taking place.

 

We stayed at Humphfreys on Shelter Island, where my relatives had stayed before. It has a lot of pretty foliage and is next to a marina.

Our room at the top of the stairs

 

We ate breakfast at the restaurant hotel with a window table overlooking the marina.

Public park that runs along shore was a nice place to relax and within walking distance of the hotel.

Not far from Shelter Island is a peninsula; the very tip is Point Loma. This is also where Cabrillo National Monument stands.

 

Juan Rodriguez Cabrillo was the first European to set foot on the west coast of what is now the United States. On September 28, 1542 his flotilla of 3 ships arrived in what is now San Diego harbor. He went ashore on a strand of beach. His group spent 6 days waiting for a storm to pass, before proceeding further up the coast of current-day California. The monument overlooks where Cabrillo came ashore and his ships anchored.

There are great views of the San Diego area. Wish it hadn’t been so hazy in the morning. It seems to me that afternoon breezes give you a better chance of clearer views. I noticed that at the restaurant where we dined on a different night on Shelter Island, also.

San Diego is still an active naval center. You view from Cabrillo Monument ships in the harbor regularly.

There is a small museum and gift shop at Cabrillo Monument.

 

On the same peninsula is the Old Point Loma lighthouse.

My husband walked up the hill to the lighthouse while I visited the gift shop. We had already been told the lighthouse was locked.

 

This lighthouse opened in 1855. The oil-lit lens could be seen 20-30 miles out. However, the lighthouse was closed after 36 years because of a flaw. Though the visibility could be good, often the lighthouse was shrouded in fog and the light did not penetrate the fog adequately. A newer lighthouse was built down the hill.

Also on the peninsula is Fort Rosecrans National Cemetery . What a beautiful final resting place. One area overlooks San Diego harbor; another overlooks the Pacific Ocean.