San Diego Trip - Day Six

DAY SIX

Turns out it didn’t take long for my return trip to the USS Midway. A couple of people I know wanted to go on Monday so I tagged along. We went in the morning, assuring plenty of time to see everything. Having rushed through everything yesterday, I took my time today, listening to all the narratives provided for each section of the ship. It was equally as impressive as the day before, and I got to see and hear more details on the various sections of the ship.

After that, I headed off for Coronado Island. The most direct route from my hotel to Coronado Island was directly across the water in the bay, so that’s the way I went over. I took the Coronado ferry service, which was a 15-minute boat ride across the bay and provided me a new perspective from which to see the city. Once on Coronado, the goal was to go and see the famous Hotel Del Coronado. The bad part was the ferry dock and the hotel are on opposite ends of the island. This led me on a walk that was a little more than a mile, and took me through the residential areas of the island. I have to say that it was perhaps the cleanest place I think I have ever visited. Every sidewalk was clean of dirt and debris; every lawn was kept up nice; all landscaping was well taken care of. The houses were all small and almost right next to each other, with no more than five or six feet between houses, and no two houses on the ten-block walk were the same. Each was different and had its own look. Even the landscaping for every house was different. It seemed like a very peaceful place to live.

I finally reached the hotel, having decided that I should have bucked up and taken a cab across the island. The hotel itself was immaculate and had this aura of sophistication. I walked around the outside and admired the architecture and unique design of the hotel. It reminded me of some kind of castle. I then walked through the shop area of the hotel and realized that aura of sophistication has a price tag, as everything in the stores were about five times more than a normal store. I went through the hotel to the beach access area and walked out on the beach towards the Pacific Ocean. The beach area here was much different than the beach I visited earlier in my stay, as this beach was very clean and was not overwhelmed with kelp. One area in front of the hotel had a bunch of rocks along the beach, creating some great photo opportunities. I walked around the rocks and in the water, and found a really cool looking seashell, intact and unbroken with a cool star design. I later found another one similar to the first, only it was a darker color. When I picked it up, the bottom felt tingly so I turned it over and found that it was not a shell, but some kind of living organism. The bottom was a purplish color and had tiny tentacle-like legs all moving about. I watched in fascination for a while and then gently placed it back in the edge of the surf to let it go about its business. The next order of business will be to look it up and find out just what that thing was. After spending quite a bit of time on the beach, I made my way back to the hotel. I ran across this odd looking tree out front, called a dragon tree that had on sign on it saying the tree served as the backdrop to a famous scene in the Marilyn Monroe movie “Some Like it Hot,” which was filmed in the Hotel Del Coronado. I then walked through the inside of the hotel, at least the part they would let me, and into the courtyard area that has some beautiful flowers and trees and landscaping.

I was so relaxed and happy about the visit to the Hotel Del Coronado and the beach that I didn’t even mind the walk back across the island to the ferry dock. I took a different street this time so I could see another collection of houses on the island. After returning on the ferry to the San Diego side of the bay, it was time for dinner and I decided on a nearby seafood place called The Fish Market, which is famous for its selection of fresh fish. I opted for my favorite, the salmon, and was not disappointed. I ate by myself and sat out on the patio area which was in fact closed off by windows, but had a few screens that let in the breeze. As I was sitting there, a seagull landed on the edge of the patio around the restaurant and walked up and down that edge for a good 30-40 minutes, just looking in at all the people eating. It was as if he was waiting for someone to start throwing him bread crumbs, not realizing there was window in between him and us. It got to be comical as he kept eyeing people in the restaurant wondering why we wouldn’t give him any food. As I ate, I looked out over the bay and was amused by not only the confused seagull, but the little dive bomber birds. I don’t know what kind of birds they are, but they are about 8-10 inches long, with a wingspan about the same, and look almost like miniature sea gulls. They would fly around 10-15 feet above the water, just gliding in the air, then all of the sudden they would dive straight down into the water. When they dove, their entire bodies would go completely under water for a couple seconds, before popping back up with a small minnow or fish of some kind in their mouth. It was amusing to watch. Towards the end of the meal, a pelican flew over and joined in, doing his own dive bombing for food, which was just as amusing.

My timing proved to be absolutely perfect, as I left the restaurant and went around to the opposite side to get a great view of the sunset. The view wasn’t the same as my earlier sunset viewing, but spectacular none the less. As I looked out, I had the water of the bay in front of me, with the reflection of the orange sun. Then there was the hill of the Point Loma area I had visited the other day, with the sun setting behind that hill. Once again, as I was getting pictures of the setting sun, another sailboat crossed the bay directly in front of the setting sun. Another coincidence and bit of luck with good timing on this trip, and another relaxing scene to end the day.