Visiting San Diego Day Two

I awoke this morning refreshed after an uninterrupted night’s sleep, and then my friend and I took the dog and went for another walk to the beach.  On the way back to the house, we stopped at the Villa Nueva to pick up some fresh croissants. At home, we enjoyed a hearty breakfast, then headed out for a day of sight-seeing.  I had made a list of the standard tourist attractions that I wanted to see, and my friend made sure we saw them.  Just so you’re convinced I really was there, here’s the skyline of San Diego from Coronado Beach:
SAN15-03We first crossed the bridge into the city proper and in the photo below, we’re looking at the USS Midway Museum.  The museum is a real naval aircraft carrier that was converted into a museum and educational center; the non-profit organization incorporated in 1992 and after raising funds and publicizing its mission, opened the museum in 2004.
SAN15-04I took this photo from the car as we drove past:
SAN15-05At this time, we were on our way to Point Loma and the Cabrillo National Monument.  If you look at a map like this one, you’ll see that we were heading for the spit of land to the southwest of the City that creates San Diego Bay; you’ll see Coronado Island due east.  We drove through the ecological reserve and parked at the Visitor Center (the small entrance fee was waived today, for some reason), then walked over to see the statue of Cabrillo (it’s an iconic sight, by the way).  According to the National Park Service website:

Juan Rodriguez Cabrillo led the first European expedition to explore what is now the west coast of the United States. Cabrillo departed from the port of Navidad, Mexico, on June 27, 1542. Three months later he arrived at “a very good enclosed port,” which is known today as San Diego Bay. Historians believe he anchored his flagship, the San Salvador, on Point Loma’s east shore near Cabrillo National Monument. Cabrillo later died during the expedition, but his crew pushed on, possibly as far north as Oregon, before thrashing winter storms forced them to back to Mexico.

From this vantage point, we could look at the city sprawling in the distance:
SAN15-06and there in the haze to the south is Mexico:
SAN15-07We stopped in at the Point Loma Lighthouse but didn’t climb it:
SAN15-09This national monument also encompasses more than 600 acres of native habitat and is a well-known stopover for birds migrating along the Pacific Flyway.  On the west side of the park are the tide pools, which my friend said her kids enjoyed visiting when they were young.  According to the website, “A myriad of marine plants and animals, including lacy red and slimy green algae, sluggish sea hares, leggy octopi, darting fish, and the always entertaining hermit crabs, live in this rocky intertidal area.”  We didn’t walk the trail down to the beach but gazed down at it from the heights.
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Then it was time for lunch.  Near Point Loma is a retail area with both stores and restaurants that was converted from a federal facility.  Here we stopped at Tender Greens, one of those wonderful locavore, farm-to-fork restaurants where I enjoyed a Happy Vegan salad, consisting of farro wheat with cranberry, hazelnuts, quinoa with cucumber, beets, green hummus, tabbouleh, and tender greens.

After lunch, we headed for La Jolla, which I also wanted to see because I kept hearing about it.  Of course I wanted to see the beach, so we drove along the shore road, parked on a side street, and got out to stroll along the waterfront near Cove Beach.  Everyone comes to see the seals, though it’s quite obvious from their smells that their diet is mainly fish.  Here they are sunning themselves:
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I tried taking a closeup of one seal:
SAN15-11And here are some others that blend in with the rocks (look closely):
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On our way out of the city, we drove by the world-famous Scripps Institution of Oceanography.  As you may already know, it is part of the University of California at San Diego, which we also drove by.  My friend’s son graduated from UCSD a few years back, so she knows the area well.  In fact, on our way back to Coronado, we stopped at the son’s condo, where he and his wife are living as they renovate it.  They were busy painting and working on the bathroom, so we went out to get them some sandwiches to fortify themselves, then we headed back, stopping first to shop for running shoes and then dresses at the Ross discount store (yes, I bought a dress).  Dinner that night was at Miguel’s Cocina; I had the portobello mushroom fajitas, which is a signature dish — mmm!

Then we sped along to the airport, which is only a ten-minute drive from my friend’s house in Coronado, and I boarded the red-eye for the flight back to the East Coast.

Visiting San Diego Day One

I arrived in San Diego yesterday evening, so perhaps I should call this Day Two.  At any rate, starting out from my house around 12:30 pm, I drove to Bradley Airport, then flew from Hartford to Philadelphia, where our flight west was delayed due to a faulty autopilot.  When I heard the announcement, my internal monologue went something like this:  “Hey guys, we’re impatient to get in the air, but please, take your time — we, the passengers, would prefer that you fix it.”  Thanks to crackerjack mechanics, zealous administrators, and skillful pilots, we hustled across three time zones in plenty of time for me to enjoy Happy Hour with my friends.  Here’s the standard photo of “lovely clouds taken in flight at sunset”:

SAN15-01 My friends drove me through downtown San Diego straight to the Prado at Balboa Park, where I enjoyed a margarita and some hefty appetizers.  Then, my body told me that it was already the following day, so it was on to home and bed.

This morning, I was awakened around 8 am by my phone beeping at me (I forgot to turn it off), and shortly thereafter, I rolled out of bed and got dressed.  My friend likes to walk in the morning with their dog, and I was more than happy to join them.  Did I mention that my friend lives in Coronado, a small town consistently voted among the top travel destinations in the US and also touted for its residential quality of life? We strolled in a broad loop to the beach then back toward Orange Avenue, where we had breakfast outside at Miguel’s Cocina (my omelette was delicious).  Here’s a photo of their impossibly cute shih tzu Ali’i-Kai:

SAN15-02On the agenda for the afternoon was a trip to the wineries at Temecula.  Well, of course!  This may be SoCal, but it’s still California, and wine-tasting is de rigueur.  It took us about an hour in the car, on the way driving by Miramar College, where my friend works, and then all of a sudden, there we were, in the hot and sunny Mediterranean landscape north of San Diego.  Our first stop was the Wilson Creek Winery and Vineyard, which is noted for its champagne.  It cost $20 each for the tasting, but hey, you only go around once, right.  Fortunately, the lady who poured for us was great.  We each tasted five wines, and they were quite wonderful.  For those who don’t know me, I am partial to champagne (oops, “sparking wine”), and I don’t hold out for special occasions in order to drink it, so I was especially pleased to have these choices.  Then it was on to our second stop, the Oak Mountain Winery, where we listened to some music and again tasted some delicious wines.

By then the afternoon was waning, so we drove on to Oceanside for dinner.  We ended up at Vigilucci’s Cucina Italiana, where I had the Cappellacci di Zucca, which was actually quite tasty.  We weren’t particularly thrilled with the service, which was a trifle slow, but it could have been worse (I try not to be hypercritical in this blog, by the way).

All in all, it was a great day: starting with the beautiful beach at Coronado and filled to the brim with good food, good drink, and good company.