Travelogue

San Diego skyline from Humphreys Half Moon InnWhat should have been a 9 ½ drive turned into a 13-hour affair when a car accident on I5 through the Grapevine Pass kept us sitting still for close to 2 hours. That followed by the usual traffic getting around LA made for a much more epic journey than we had planned.

Fortunately, we had reserved a room at Humphreys Half Moon Inn on Shelter Island, right across from Coronado Island. It was absolutely lovely with palm trees and views of the San Diego skyline and Coronado Island.

We were pretty exhausted and cranky from our long drive, so we decided to stay in and eat the salads I had packed in our 4Runner’s mini frig. That and a few glasses of wine snapped us back into the proper mood.

Day 1 - Stroll along Shelter Island Waterfront and Black’s Beach

Herb excited about a beach day at Black's BeachOur purpose for coming to San Diego in the first place was for Herb to soak up the sun he so craved, so after a morning walk along the Shelter Island waterfront, we set off to spend the day at Black’s Beach, on the southern end of Torrey Pines State Park.

While the beaches on the northern end of the Torrey Pines are accessible by car, this one required walking down a very steep and somewhat precarious trail that switchbacks its way down from the Glider Port parking lot to a beautiful 2.5-mile long sandy beach. The trail is only 1,000 feet long, but its 320-foot descent in that short distance, makes it feel much longer. However, the trail is well maintained and there are steps and handrails in the steeper sections.

Once we got down to beach level, we walked north about a ½ mile before setting up shop along the base of the cliffs.

Black's BeachThe beach was lovely and, despite being a weekday, much more crowded than we expected. I guess an 80 degree in February brings out the crowds, as that is pretty warm even by San Diego standards.

After a full, relaxing day of reading, people watching, and taking strolls up and down the beach, we were fully recovered from our horrible drive the day before and ready to have some fun.

On the way back from the beach, we made the mistake of driving out to Sunset Cliffs to watch the sunset, as we were not the only ones. It seemed like everyone else in San Diego had the same idea and it was a bit of a madhouse. However, we did manage to squeeze into the last parking spot in one lot to get out to take a sunset photo before Herb said let’s get out of here. He’s more of a solitude kind of guy.

Day 2 - Balboa Park and the Hotel del Coronado

Balboa ParkThe next morning we headed over to Balboa Park, San Diego’s version of New York City’s Central Park and San Francisco’s Golden Gate Park.
I think that one of the qualifications for being a great city is having a great park -- one that serves as an extended backyard for its residents and yet can still attract visitors from around the world.

Everyone knows about the famous San Diego Zoo, but the park also has more than a dozen art, cultural, and science museums, as well as a replica of the Old Globe Theater where Shakespeare plays are performed.

We wisely made our first stop the Visitor Center on El Prado, the main avenue through the park, to get their advice on a plan of attack. Last time we were here, we went a little crazy and bought a Multi-Day Explorer Zoo Combo, which gave us admission to the Zoo plus 17 museums. This time we toned it down a bit and got the 4-museum Explorer Pass, which I believe was $56 each.

Herb in the Balboa Park Desert GardenWe then headed off east along El Prado towards the fountain and the Fleet Science Museum. Before going into the Fleet, we decided to follow the signs to the “Desert Garden,” which is separated from the rest of the park by a pedestrian bridge over busy Park Blvd.

Although it did have a wide range of beautiful desert plants, I came away with a few negative impressions. Firstly, since it is an area accessible 24/7, there were a few homeless tents hidden amongst the cacti. Secondly, there were several instances of plant graffiti, where people had etched their initials on the plants. Pretty stupid. Lastly, I am no botanist, so I think it would have really been helpful for the plants to be labeled as to what they were. That being said, the garden contained a very impressive collection of succulents.

Our next stop was the Reuben H Fleet Space Theater & Science Center, which has over 100 interactive exhibits, which makes it a wonderful place to bring children. It is also home to Southern California’s only IMAX Dome Theater.

Lunch Break at Panama 66You could easily spend the whole day here, but we had three more museums to conquer. The IMAX movie we wanted to see wasn’t playing for another 2 hours, so we left thinking that if the timing worked out, we would return to see it at 1:00.

Next, it was on to the San Diego Museum of Art, the oldest and largest art museum in San Diego. It was wonderful. We particularly enjoyed its Masters of Photography, Of Sea and Sand - California Paintings, Modern and Contemporary Art, and Impressionism and Post-Impressionism Exhibits. This is my favorite museum in the Park and one in which I could easily spend an entire day.

Lunch time, so we grabbed a table at nearby Panama 66, a restaurant that occupies the open-air setting of the San Diego Museum of Art’s Sculpture Garden, known for its good food and locally crafted beers.

Herb trying out a DeLorean in the Automotive MuseumAs we were finishing, I glanced at my watch and saw that it was 12:45, which would allow us time to hustle back to the Fleet Museum to catch the IMAX show I wanted to see: Into America’s Wild, a visually stunning cross-country adventure into the hidden wonders of the natural world.

Herb said he wanted to nap. I suggested he did that in the theater, but informed me that an IMAX film production was not conducive to napping. So we temporarily parted ways - Herb back to the 4Runner to take a nap on the bed in the back, and me to see some stunning natural wonders.

Lolo trying to sneak in a nap at the Air and Space MuseumThe film was great and I was so happy to recognize so many of the featured places as places that we had visited. Afterall, exploring beautiful natural places is kind of our thing.

I collected Herb from the parking lot, and we headed off to our last two museums for the day.

First stop, the Automotive Museum, which has a very impressive collection of over 80 historic cars and motorcycles. The cars on display offer a nostalgic look of the amazing history of cars in the 20th century, including a 1927 Bentley, 1931 Rolls Royce Phaeton, Steve McQueen's 1953 Allard, and a $75,000 1947 Cadillac. There was even a DeLorean for Herb to sit in, just as Marty McFly did in Back to the Future. They are meticulously preserved and ever so shiny.

Lolo very much enjoying her exotic rum drink at the Hotel del CoronadoThe last of our four picks of the day was the Air and Space Museum. I can see why this is one of the most popular museums in the park. It has some very cool historic aircraft and spacecraft from all over the world, including a working flying replica of Lindbergh's Spirit of St. Louis, the actual Apollo 9 Command Module spacecraft, and artifacts from the Wright Brothers, Charles Lindbergh, Amelia Earhart, Neil Armstrong, Buzz Aldrin and other aviation and space pioneers.

The lovely Hotel del CoronadoI probably should have considered a post-lunch nap like Herb did because I almost fell asleep while lying in a lunar module.

I was pretty excited about the next thing on our agenda - driving to Coronado Island and stopping at the iconic Hotel del Coronado for a sunset cocktail.

The Hotel is spectacular. Opened in 1888, it is one of the last surviving examples of a classic wooden Victorian beach resort. It is also the second largest wooden structure in the U.S. Through the years, it has hosted royalty, presidents, and celebrities and been featured in numerous movies, such as “Some Like it Hot,” which I watched before leaving on this trip in preparation for my visit.

Well, tonight it would be hosting us for a very large exotic rum cocktail at the beachside Taco Shack, where we enjoyed an incredible sunset in a truly incredible setting. I can’t believe Herb had to twist my arm to spend $17 on a cocktail, but I’m sure glad he did. My new favorite drink: Surfer’s Point - Cruzan Single Barrel, Plantation Grand Reserve, Lime Juice, Orgeat, Orange Juice, Myer's Dark Rum.

We ended our day with a lovely dinner at Humphreys Restaurant back at our hotel. It’s a very popular music venue, with live music offered almost every night - tonight included. We started off in the lounge, but we couldn’t hear each other at all over the music, so we moved to the quieter dining room. Nice to know we still wanted to talk to each other after 37 years.

Day 3 - Some resort pool and hot tub time

Pool at the Humphreys Half Moon InnIt was our departure day, but we realized that we hadn’t partaken of the hotel’s beautiful facilities, so we got our bathing suits on and headed to the pool and hot tub in the lovely palm garden. We're usually too active on our supposed vacations to take the time to just relax. We will have to make an effort to do this more in the future - helps recharge for the next frenetic day.

While theoretically relaxing, we planned our next stop to Anza Borrego State Park in Borrego Springs and made a reservation at the Palm Canyon Resort for the next 2 nights. We would use that as a base camp for our 4WD off-road explorations into the Park, leaving the possibility of staying a 3rd night if we still wanted to do more there.

Ok, relax time over. Let's hit the road.