Point Loma Lighthouse

Point Loma Seafoods

With 5-1/2 weeks under our belt in San Diego, and very close to leaving for home, we decided to go for one more excursion with our extended family, Rob and Carol. We had visited Point Loma Seafoods a couple times and enjoyed picking something fresh from a huge selection of choices, including many smoked varieties. So, we couldn't turn down another invitation to visit it.

Originally, we thought this was a "restaurant", but in reality it is a "fish market" where you choose and purchase what you want to eat and drink, and that is not easy as there are soooo many choices. 

Servers behind the fish counter take your order and put it together on a tray. Then, you take your fresh catch into the "dining room" and find a table of your choosing. Upstairs seating is also available, overlooking the harbor, which we did on one occasion. Fish and crustaceans: well, there is everything from fresh sushi on the far right, made to order, to live crab and lobsters in tanks on the far left. And, fresh scallops so large they won't fit in your mouth. OMG, my mouth is starting to water just thinking about this place ...

We started with a shrimp cocktail, actually large prawns in cocktail dipping sauce, and followed that with a combo plate of fresh, blackened salmon. So good we went back again to try something else. The smoked trout was excellent, too. And, yes, there is a good selection of wines from different countries, mostly Italy. If you go away from this place hungry, it's no fault but your own!

Point Loma Lighthouse

Next, we headed for Point Loma Lighthouse at the end of the peninsula where we walked trails and took-in the incredible views of the harbor. When it's clear, like the day we were there, you can actually see Tijuana, Mexico. Rob used to dive for lobster in the bay, and surf, near here; a beautiful spot. The first pix is of the "new" lighthouse, and the 2nd looking back towards downtown San Diego.

While there, we happened to catch one of the Navy's guided missile cruisers, USS Lake Erie CG-70, leaving its home port of San Diego for open waters.

A few more pictures of our walking tour and sites at Point Loma, and our tour guides for the day, Rob and Carol. We had so much fun and the best visit ever! Rob, like most of the men in his family, are barbeque Masters ... and we did!

Walking trails were well maintained and covered the entire top of the point.

The opposite side of the point overlooks a research facility of some type, run by the University of San Diego. Rob says they were training dolphins here in the past, for military purposes ... Geeeeeez!

In a small museum, the original old lighthouse Fresnel lens is on display with other artifacts. The old lighthouse was closed for repairs the day we were there, so no pictures.

And of course, no trip to the point would be complete without a picture of the man himself, Juan Rodrigues Cabrillo, whose nationality – Portuguese or Spanish – has been hotly debated recently. There is much controversy of what Cabrillo actually accomplished as well, but Wikipedia has this to say about that: 

"On August 1, 1542, Cabrillo anchored within sight of Cedros Island. Before the end of the month he had passed Baja Point (named "Cabo del Engaño" by de Ulloa in 1539) and entered "uncharted waters", where no Spanish ships had been before. Then, on September 28, he landed in what is now San Diego Bay and named it "San Miguel" ... Thus, the statue was erected in his honor (along with a brand of Mexican beer?) ... Check out the size of that sword!

After the trip to the point, we headed home bidding farewell to San Diego, our cherished friends, incredible restaurants, beautiful weather and, fortunately, the most horrible traffic in California ... good bye for now, SD!

USS Iowa Battleship Museum

I have to admit, I've had this ship on my bucket list for over 40 years now, and I promised myself we weren't leaving So Cal without a visit, even it it was a 2-hour drive through traffic, to Long Beach, north of Mission Bay RV Park. There is so much history attached to this ship. And, by chance, coincidence, and another tour booking screw-up, we again got a personal guided tour of the ship, escorted by "Battleship Larry", who had been a docent there for more than 6 years, and had actually served aboard Iowa's sister-ship, the USS Missouri, now berthed in Oahu, Hawaii.

So, here are a few pix, many from "behind the chain" to off-limit areas, thanks to Battleship Larry. First, a picture of Larry himself:

I took 70 pictures, so sort of impossible to show you all of them here. I'll post a few to give you a feel for what a tour might be like aboard USS Iowa, then post a link at the end so you can look up the very impressive stats on this ship. 

Remember, it has three main gun turrets, each containing (3), 16-inch guns, each turret requiring 79 sailors to operate it during battle stations, and each gun capable of hurling a 2,000 pound projectile 17 miles or so. That's like launching a Volkswagen Beatle through the air ... Oh, and then it takes about one and a half minutes to come down, on target! ... Pretty dang impressive, hey?

Next stop, a behind the chain look at the Admiral's stateroom and dining area.

The ship is also called the "ship of Presidents", as many have visited including Franklin D. Roosevelt. A plaque in the Admiral's quarters along with pictures commemorate the visit.

There are so many different types of armament on this ship to list, so, if interested, go to the link at the end of this blog and look at the stats. One of the most formidable are the Phalanx anti-cruise missile defense systems, affectionately named R2D2 due to their shape. 6 rotating barrels, 20mm caliber, capable of firing 3,000 rounds per minute. Holy guacamole, hey?

There are rocket launchers, torpedo launchers and much to much to show here, so check out the links below to all the pictures online, as well as a link to the ship's statistics. Have fun poking around here ... history at your finger tips! One more quick pix of a 1,500 pound projectile, placed in the barrel with hydraulics, followed by four, 100-pound bags of pelletized powder.

Yes, a big kaboom these guns made!

https://photos.app.goo.gl/GuCQdezHfy3XWMPH6

USS Iowa Statistics

San Diego Family and Friends

While in San Diego, we had ample time to spend time with a part of our extended family, Rob and Carol. They live in Jamul in the eastern foothills, about a 20-minute ride from Mission Bay RV Park. We had so much fun, ate so much food, and enjoyed every minute of our time together. They've lived in the area for 30 years now, so know their way around well, and accompanied us to visit some incredible places ... and restaurants!

First, a picture of Rob, Carol and daughter Sarah.

We had so much fun visiting and eating and visiting and eating ... Another must see adventure is Old Town San Diego. Here you'll find a taste of Mexico and some of the best restaurants in the area. We visited Miguel's Cocina at least 3 times for some excellent Mex. A couple plates from Miguel's; chili Colorado and shrimp Quesadilla:

Well, now that I have your mouth watering, lets take a stop at Little Italy to another famous restaurant, Filippis Italian Pizza Grotto:

Here we dined on homemade pasta, clam linguini, gnocchi, and lasagna, all washed down with the house chianti, of course. I forgot to take pictures as we were too busy eating. Sorry about that! Well, maybe not?

Another stop on another day was the Farmers Table in La Mesa. After polishing off a 4-person picture of Bloody Mary cocktail, with a whole chicken on top, we ordered other incredible food plates from a large menu ... You don't walk away hungry from this place, believe me.

This was a very cool restaurant where you could see right into the kitchen. 

So, where do we go from here? Well, up to Rob and Carol's backyard for an excellent barbeque, on another day of course. Rob knows how to run that big Green Egg machine and turn-out plates like this one:

And, no trip to So Cal would be complete without a visit with Louise's older sister Dee and her family. They live about 2 hours away from Mission Bay RV Park in Diamond Bar. So, we decided to meet at a restaurant, half-way, called Filippis Italian Pizza Grotto. Sound familiar? Ha! You just can't eat too much Italian!

That's about it on food and friends for this blog. Our next planned thing to do was a trip up to Long Beach to go aboard the USS Iowa battleship, which has been on my bucket list for the last 40+ years. So, stay tuned ...

San Diego Zoo

Now, this is a zoo not to miss on your visit to San Diego. The zoo resides in Balboa Park, so is easy to find. If you go on a weekend, parking will be challenging. The nice thing about being in SD for 6 weeks is we could choose our days and venues, and a weekday it was!

The lion statue at the entrance gets your thoughts and anticipation off to a great start. I mean, if they can freeze a lion that big, what else is there going to be to see here? Ha! 

We started with a bus tour of the whole park to get a feeling for the layout and pick a few things that we didn't want to miss. Again, this place requires a lot of walking ... A few pix follow, although some may be a bit fuzzy due to the distance I was shooting from:

If I had to choose the Zoo over Safari Park, I would spend the time at the zoo. The presentation of animals is quite good and, other than a lot of walking, you get closer and see more of the creatures you expect to see at a zoo.

So, that's a wrap on the zoo trip. Next stop, friends and family, restaurants, good eats and maybe a short nap? More to follow ... stay tuned.

San Diego Safari Park

We hadn't really planned on going to Safari Park, but extended family living in the area said it was a "must see" (more on local family in another post). So, off we went after purchasing "safari combo tickets" online and printing them out. The park rests in a beautiful valley in the foothills about 40 minutes north-east of Mission Bay RV Park. We left early and found the main gate without issues.

Long story shortened: And, consequently, that's where the "easy part" ended. Although we were there before opening, traffic was already backed up in the $20 parking area and filling fast. I paid the $20 and dropped Louise off at the main entrance and began looking for parking nearby. I found a place in VIP $22 parking, parked (no one around to pay), and hoofed it to the gate to find Louise and we headed for the turnstile entry line to the park.

Anyway, as it turns out, the Safari Combo Package I bought online for $120, didn't include actual "admission" into the Park, and the cart tour I booked was starting in 10 minutes. Say what? Thinking fast, I got on my phone and bought the requisite "admission" tickets, spending another $150, and we blasted at a joggers pace to the tour area.

We were late! The tour had left. But, one of the transport people thought we could catch them and offered to give us a ride ... off we went. Well, we almost caught up but not quite. We sat there in the cart, about to turn back, and another cart tour guide offered to take us on a "personal guided tour", just the guide and us ... Hey, somedays things do go right! A few pix of the things we saw follow:

That's Hillary, our tour guide, a 4-year employee of the Park. Super knowledgeable, a nice personality, and even had names for most of the animals we got to see. We received a history about the Park and the animals in a very personalized fashion. Awesome!

We had a good time on the tour and spent some time walking around the exhibits near the entrance. So, all said, an expensive but satisfying day for us. Following are a few more scenes from inside the park.

Yes, even a tethered balloon ride was available ... we passed on that! The carnivores are kept separate from the larger part of the Park for obvious reasons. I think the lions would keep the Park from growing the herds of prey animals in the valley.

Plus, I can't imagine the horror from kids, or adults, watching a cheetah or lion taking down a young antelope for an afternoon snack. So, they are kept in a zoo-like setting here and there around the park, which means a lot walking to get to everything; we passed on that too. It was a hot afternoon.

The take aways are, it was okay to visit at least once, do it on a cool day, on a weekday, and bring lot's of cash for surprises! 

So, on to the next stop, the actual San Diego Zoo, and more to come ...