San Diego Trip January 2012

There was a boat show in San Diego in January and , since it is "only" a 5 hour drive from our home in Arizona, we ( well, Bob , that is ! )  used  that as an excuse for a week long trip to the coast. Needed  a "Salt water fix" maybe.

It was an interesting drive, Southwest from the Phoenix area to Yuma, then west along the USA/ Mexico border. There were two separate US Border Patrol checkpoints, where armed agents stopped every vehicle and pulled some over for thorough searches no doubt looking for illegal immigrants and drug and people smugglers. We were waved through by the polite and friendly agents who only enquired as to our nationality but did not even ask for proof. If we had looked Hispanic no doubt it would be different.



Sand dunes along the Arizona/California/Mexico border area

We stayed at a waterfront hotel on Shelter Island just a short walk from the boat show and a short drive from downtown. The boat show was a disappointment and not very interesting so we only spent a couple of hours there on the first day and never went back.
The downtown waterfront area was a different story, with a couple of old sailing ships, an older (1970's) Soviet submarine and a floating Maritime Museum on a converted ferry. There was also an older US aircraft carrier, now open for public tours but we didn't have time to visit that. One of the sailing ships was the vessel "Surprise" that was used in the movie "Master and Commander" with Russel Crowe .
After all that Vivian had had her fill of boats and boating so we drove over to Coronado Island and toured the famous Coronado hotel where some famous movies were filmed and where Hollywood's elites used to hang out. We also checked out the gift shops both in the hotel and around town.

Coronado  Beach view

One cannot visit San Diego and miss either Seaworld or the World Famous San Diego zoo so we did a full day at each of them and they were both well  worth the trip.

We then drove up the coast for a few hours  ending up in Dana Point where we found another waterfront hotel with another lovely harbour and marina to check out as well as a beautiful beach complete with surfers and, believe it or not, whales blowing offshore. Throughout all this the weather was just about perfect, mid 70's, sunny and light ocean breezes.

Last , but not least, we spent a peaceful afternoon visiting the old Spanish Mission at San Juan Capistrano (didn't see any swallows though). The mission was one of 27 established by Spain  before California was annexed from Mexico by the United States but this one is particularly well known because of the famous song.

All in all it was a fabulous trip and we will be sure to visit again to see more of San Diego and Southern California.