Excited to start the day as we are be met at our hotel by Naomi the daughter of good friends Sue & Peter Johns. Naomi & Hubby Colin have lived in San Diego for eleven years and have two adorable children. We drive to Colonardo over the bridge again, not so windy this time as yesterday it was in the open sided tourist trolly. We park up and walk a short distance to the beautiful white sandy beach and the famous Del Hotel. Wow I’d love to stay here. The day is cloudy and a little windy but warm enough to sit outside. We find a spot on the pool deck for lunch. Roger and I have huge burger & sandwiches with Naomi opting for a heathy salad, washed down with a bottle of Whispering Angel! Roger has a local beer. We chat for hours about the old days in the Ribs, Naomi’s friends include two famous Ribs barmaids from the old days Lucy Tyrell and Ali Webb. Life seems pretty good here in San Diego. We walk along the prom towards Mexico looking at the fantastic beach and on our way back experience a wine tasting. We have to pretend we haven’t heard of Whispering Angel!!! Sadly Naomi runs out of time and has to return to the family but we decide to stay in Coronado and walk around a while. We didn’t get far along the shops before being accosted by an very attractive young lady promoting skin creams. I’m a sucker for anything new, needless to say we were conned into buying some. No doubt Joolia will have something to say about that on our return home! Next door we visit the very lively Henry bar & restaurant where we spend the rest of the afternoon people watching. We stay on for early supper. Calling an Uber to get back to the hotel. The driver was a tad scary speeding over the bridge back into Gaslamp! An early night in our room watching Tv.
A Day at Seaport Village – Friday . 18c. Sunny
We start the day very slowly with a walk from the hotel to Seaport Village. The sun is out early today so makes walking very enjoyable. From there we walk along the sea front taking brunch along the route. Roger had eggs Benedict & I the vegetarian version of the same. Complete with lovely fresh fruit and delicious coffee. We walk to the Aircraft carrier “Midway”. It is massive. I have purchases tickets on line so avoided the queues. We are piped aboard as we board the ship. The volunteer crew/tour guides are extremely welcoming and friendly, some with jokes to tell as we pass through the ship. Two of the guides were retired pilots from the ship so the stories were even more interesting and real. We spend three hours plus touring the ship and watching films about the battle of Midway of which I was completely ignorant. Roger of course is familiar with battles as it has been an interest over the years. We leave the ship feeling sad for the many young lads on both sides that lost their lives in this horrific battle which was a turning point in the war. We walk a further half mile or so along the seafront and visit various nautical relics and museums including , sailing vessels and a submarine which I did manage to enter although tiny and creepy. I was surprised to see in the galley of this old sub a microwave similar to one we used to have at the Ribs!!! Finally after five or six hours Roger has seen all the ships, boats and planes and I sigh a sigh of relief. I now know what it is like for a man to accompany a women shopping for the day. We meander back the way we came looking for The Kansas City Diner, the famous bar where Tom Cruise did the cocktail scene in the original Top Gun. We realise we must have passed it when we got back to the Seaport village and my feet are killing me so we hail a bicycle taxi to take us there. It was close by, we are very pleased as we think we picked the only taxi cyclist high on something and we were glad to get off! He charged us $15. At the bar we had a short wait. As the sun had been out all day the place was heaving we eventually get a seat and dine. The food is typically touristy and stodgy – Roger said the brisket was good – not what I would have chosen but I’m too tired after 18,700 steps to go elsewhere and the vibe is great. After we have a nightcap at the Water Grill we walk back to the hotel through the Gaslamp area again and collapse onto our lovely bed. One thing has saddened me this entire trip including New York is the amount of homeless people every where as they seem to be on every street corner in the suburbs of San Diego.
Liquid Tales 