Week 9

Monday, May 27, 2002

Today was a travel day, but the best scenery of the trip so far. Interstate 8 traverses the Southern border of Arizona and goes from 120 feet below sea level near El Centro to 4140 feet above sea level at the Tecate Divide, a distance of about 40 miles. The last 100 miles of the trip to San Diego was through unbelievably beautiful mountain scenery. I arrived at the campground, called Campland by the Bay. This was a pretty expensive campground, but I chose it because of its proximity to Mission Bay and all of the things that I wanted to see and do in San Diego. The campground was a bit of a disappointment, in that it was not as well maintained as most of the places that I have been. They do have nice cable TV, and there is phone service, but unfortunately it seems to be out of order at this time. There are lots of activities here including bike and boat rental, and a pretty nice restaurant called the Hungry Wolf.

Tuesday, May 28, 2002

I rented a car for the next few days. I’ve decided that San Diego is not a good place to be wheeling around and parking an RV. I went to Seaworld today. I really really enjoyed the day. There aren’t too many rides at Seaworld, in fact there are 3; a 300 foot tower that is similar to the kissing tower at Hershey Park. It takes you up in an enclosed capsule, slowly rotating and stopping at the top for a few minutes, then slowly coming down again; a sky-ride or cable car gondola over Mission Bay for a 6 minute ride. There was another ride called the Wild Artic which was a simulated helicopter ride over Antarctica. But the shows were fantastic. First I saw a dolphin show, and then had a great lunch of ribs, corn and fries at the Ranch Grille. After a couple of the rides, I went to a show entitled Cirque de la Mer which was similar to the Cirque du Soleil that I saw a Disneyworld. I enjoyed the 4-D movie about Pirates, even though it was really a kid’s thing. Then I went through really good exhibits of Sharks, and another on Manatees, and a third one on Penguins. Then I caught the last show at the biggest amphitheater, Shamu the whale. This was a great show. The park closed at 6:00, so I drove all over the San Diego area including a cruise along Mission Beach, Pacific Beach and La Jolla. I also drove into downtown San Diego and Balboa Park. Tomorrow I will go back there for the San Diego Zoo.

Wednesday, May 29, 2002

I drove down I-5 to Balboa Park this morning. The world famous San Diego Zoo is just one of the very interesting beautiful facilities in Balboa Park. When I got into the zoo, I noticed a tour bus that covered the whole place, so I bought a ticket it for it. I was a little disappointed in the tour, because I had to wait quite a while before getting on the bus, but this zoo is HUGE. If I had not taken the bus, I would have missed a lot of it. The tour helped me plan the rest of my day. I enjoyed the landscaped trails throughout the zoo and looking at the thousands of animals there. I went to a show with an otter, bird, reindeer, leopard and a shadow leopard. They were well trained and it was a very entertaining show. I had lunch in a restaurant called the Treehouse, which was about 50 feet above the ground but yet right at the tree tops as the name suggests. I spent the rest of the afternoon watching the tigers, bears and gorillas etc. I was disappointed to find that the zoo closed at 6:00, but I decided to go for a little drive afterward. First thing I did was cross the Coronado Bridge which I had seen from a distance earlier. This is a very high bridge to allow for the naval ships to pass under. Coronado Island is the home of the North Island Naval Station which had several big ships in port including two huge aircraft carriers. I drove down the island to Imperial Beach and back to the mainland, then back into San Diego. I saw a sign pointing “Old Town San Diego” so I took the exit and was glad I did. It was a very cool old town area with interesting architecture and I took a walk through an old cemetery with many graves of the original settlers of San Diego. I had a great Mahi Mahi dinner at a nice restaurant called Brigantine’s. After the late dinner, I walked around old town a little more, then drove back to Campland and hit the bed.

Thursday, May 30, 2002

Yesterday, someone at the zoo told me that she had been to the San Diego Wild Animal Park and that it wasn’t very good. Since I bought a combination ticket to Seaworld, San Diego Zoo and The Wild Animal Park, I figured I was going there anyway. The San Diego Wild Animal Park is a Huge reserve located about 35 miles Northeast of San Diego near Escondido. It was a nice ride up in the mountains, and it taught me a lesson: Never listen to someone else’s opinion of someplace. What I like you might not like, and visa versa. I loved the San Diego Wild Animal Park. This place occupies about 1800 acres. First thing I did was to take a train ride all around the park. The train ride took an hour. The animals roam free and among each other except for the really dangerous ones, like the lions and tigers and elephants. They are kept separate. There are about 3200 animals of 400 species in this park and it is unusual to see them roaming the range freely. It makes you wonder why us humans cannot get along the way the animals do. After the train ride, I walked the several paths that covered about 3.5 miles. Some were lined with strange plants (the park has more than 3500 species of plants and trees) while others went past and over observation points to observe the animals, or through aviaries. I really enjoyed this day, but I must admit that I was beat at the end of the day. I must say though, that I highly recommend this experience.

Friday, May 31, 2002

Today I did three things. First, I drove about 10 miles to the Cabrillo National Monument. Rodriguez Cabrillo is said to be the first European to set foot on present day California. This was in 1520. The park is on an island quite near San Diego. It was a gorgeous drive along the coast, with beautiful homes on the left and the crashing surf on the right. I stopped a few times to watch surfers in the surf at the bottom of the cliffs along the ride. The monument itself is at then end of this drive and stands high on a mountain top. It is a statue of Cabrillo along with a visitor’s center explaining what is known and not know about the man. There is also a lighthouse nearby and I went through the lighthouse and the keeper’s house. I also stopped at a beautiful military cemetery overlooking the Pacific Ocean. It was more impressive than Arlington. After leaving this area, I drove into downtown San Diego to the Maritime Museum. I didn’t think that this would be much, but since it was recommended by AAA as a starred attraction, I though I would check it out. There were three boats to go aboard. The first was the oldest tall ship still operating. It was the Star of India, built in 1863. It was a beautiful bark and quite different from the military vessels that I have been on earlier on this trip. Another surprise was a large ferry boat called the Berkeley. This ferry boat was beautiful with rich wood trim and stained glass windows throughout. She was built in 1898 and severed to ferry vehicles and passengers to Coronado Island until the bridge was built to replace her. The vessel is in great condition. Finally the third vessel was a large private steam yacht called the Medea, built in 1904. I was glad that I stopped at this place, even though I got a parking ticket for being a half hour late getting back to my meter. I wasn’t finished yet. I had one more place to visit today, and that was the Mission Basilica San Diego de Alcala. This church is the oldest of the California missions and dates back to 1769. It was very different and I enjoyed the tour of the church and grounds, but frankly I wasn’t as impressed as I was at the mission that I saw back in Tucson.

Saturday, June 01, 2002

I returned the rental car this morning and the rental agency drove me back to the campground. I had nothing planned for today, so I spent most of it at the campground, and did some cleaning of the RV and some financial maintenance, now that I have telephone service and I can get back on the internet. Tomorrow is a huge marathon and many of the streets around the campground will be closed most of the day. I plan to rent a bicycle and ride around most of the day. The weather continues to be favorable. There is a constant breeze blowing here and for the most part it is very comfortable, although once in a while it gets downright cool. The locals are saying how wonderful it is that it is not as hot as it normally is at this time of year.

Sunday, June 02, 2002

Today was my last full day in San Diego. I have really enjoyed the week here and did everything that I wanted to do. I saved today for a bike ride. There was a big marathon run scheduled for this morning and many of the streets around the campground were closed because of it. I went to rent a bike from the recreation building and went for a nice long ride along an endless pathway around Mission Bay. One of the purposes of this trip was to discover Paradise. I have had several candidates for the title: Orlando; Dallas; and now San Diego. I love this city. The people are so very nice here and the weather is great and the scenery is fantastic. I really enjoyed my bike ride. I stopped for lunch at a lawn party in front of a hotel, got my food and drink and sat on the lawn and listened to a great 3 piece band complete with steel drum. It was great. I never did get to the end of the bike path. After a couple of hours of cycling, I turned around and headed back to the campground, turned in the bike and went to the Hungry Wolf, the restaurant at the campground for dinner. Back to the RV to get ready to leave tomorrow morning. Tomorrow I’m going to Disneyland.