San Diego...

A chandelier in The Del Coronado lobby.

This picture does not do the hotel justice, it is over 150 years old, made of wood.

This wonderful hotel was slated for demolition in 1981. It took seven years to dismantle it and reassemble in a new location.

The entrance to the historic and beautiful area near our hotel, where there are supposed to be about 200 eating places within walking distance.

I thought that I was flying one of these yesterday on Interstate 5 through Los Angeles.

What a motley crew! They did however let us aboard to visit USS Midway.

Tuesday, February 9. Showers.

After a terrific sleep in a wonderful bed we were up and about looking for a hearty breakfast for a gruelling day of sightseeing. Off to the Old Town Trolley for a sightseeing tour of San Diego and it's surrounds.

A little background... This area of North America was originally occupied by natives for thousands of years. In the 1700's some Spanish explorer 'discovered' the site. Eventually they established a 'Mission' here, the first of 21 Missions up the west coast of what is now America, [USA]. Around 1820 the Spanish gave independence to what is now Mexico., then about 20 years later there was a Mexican/American war. As usual, America won and the rest is history.

San Diego was basically a western town that drifted along and sort of got stuck down in this corner of America, a sort of 'nothing' as far as the rest of the USA was concerned. After Pearl Harbour in 1941 the US Navy moved the Pacific Fleet to San Diego, that changed everything, massive development and improvements took place.

San Diego is an easy place to get about in, the airport is about 10 minutes from the city centre, and there does not seem to be the ugly city core that most big cities have. The traffic is mild and the drivers seem to be very courteous.

Coronado Island is that large island in the middle of San Diego Bay. In the mid 1800's two gentlemen, Babcock and Story, came to this barren island to fish. As complete strangers, they happened to be there at the same time one year and decided to buy the island from the current owner for $110,000, a LOT of money in 1850!

To make a long story longer, they subdivided the land, hoping to recover their costs and turn a profit, hopefully. The first day of the land auction they recouped their costs. After a week they had sold property worth over $2,000,000. They were very very rich!

They decided to build this fantastically audacious and still-beautiful five story wooden hotel out of redwood. We visited it today, it is a work of art and still kept in marvellous repair.

After the US entered the war, one half of Coronado Island was offered to the Department of Navy at $300 per acre. The Navy said that they did not have to pay for it, they would acquire it by the right of 'eminent domain', meaning they could have it at no cost. The owners went to court and the Navy ended up paying over $2400 per acre. [Don't mess with the little guy!]

We also visited 'Old Town' a short distance north of San Diego. It is a bit like Barkerville in BC or Beamish in Britain where restored historic building are situated in an area depicting the community feel of the time, [about 1880???] There we had a light lunch and wandered about reliving the Spanish life of the early residents. Nicely done.

We had a great day, ending up on the US Navy Aircraft Carrier USS Midway, now a museum, about two miles from our hotel. Great visit and well done, basically by volunteers. Midway was launched in 1945 and holds a high place in the annals of the US Navy history. The guides are all ex-servicemen, varying in ages from Korean War to recent servicemen. We taxied back to the hotel in a sudden rainstorm for a short rest before dinner.

We have not been blessed with really great weather on this trip, but it is February. One more day in Mainland North America then we are off to check out the Hawaiian Islands!