Spring in Southern California – Part I
We drove our hire car to the Old Town Inn – a small oasis located on the Pacific Highway offering excellent value and a good base for sightseeing. We had a large room with kitchenette which, although we did not cook, was very useful for keeping drinks cold and making packed lunches for the following few days. After the welcome complimentary breakfast we spent the morning chilling out by the pool and then walked across the Highway into ‘Old Town San Diego’….an historic State park paying tribute to the cultural influences that make San Diego and California so special. With restored and reconstructed buildings around a town square the Old Town commemorates San Diego in the 1800’s in a fun and informative way. In the evening we wandered back through the Old Town to the popular ‘Old Town Mexican Café’ a lively and informal Mexican diner. Just a short wait and we were tucking into some wonderful Burritos and Chimichanga’s….delicioso!
Off early the following morning to San Diego Zoo. It is an enormous park complete with rainforest and some amazing exhibits and habitats. We were so pleased to see so many of the animals out and about. We began our day by taking the 35 minute bus tour around the Zoo followed by the Skyfari – an overhead tramway offering a bird’s eye view of the Zoo and of San Diego in the distance. There are more than 4 thousand animals from 800 different species but our favourite had to be the baby panda!
Mid afternoon we were ‘animaled out’ so took a drive through Balboa Park and past one of the largest collections of museums in the USA. A short drive over the Bay Bridge and to Coronado - providing views of the City across the San Diego Bay. That evening we strolled around the buzzing and historic Gas Lamp district.
Our last day in San Diego and we were off to ‘Seaworld’. The Shamu show was pretty amazing and from the Wild Arctic to the Forbidden Reef and from Shark Encounter to Rocky Point reserve we enjoyed seeing so many sea creatures (some for the first time) and getting wet on the roller coaster and tube rides!
After we had exhausted ‘Seaworld ‘, we headed to bustling Mission beach and ate ice cream whilst watching people rollerblading down Ocean Front walk. From there we drove high up on the cliffs above Pacific beach – a huge expanse of white sand and a surfer’s paradise. We watched the sunset over Ocean Beach pier whilst eating fish and chips – a great end to a fantastic few days.
San Diego is an ideal holiday resort for all ages. It is most famous of course for its Zoo, Seaworld and the Museums in Balbao Park. However, there are other well defined and interesting areas that are perhaps less well known such as the Gaslamp District, Little Italy, the Old Town and San Diego Harbour (a mariners paradise and home to the USS Midway, HMS Surprise, the Maritime Museum). All these areas can be reached by the Old Town Trolley for those preferring not to hire a car.
We would have loved to stay a few more days but had to move on. The following morning we made an early start and drove up the Pacific Coast Highway) to Dana Point where we were joining Captain Dave on his Dolphin and Whale Safari. What a treat this was…having seen dolphins, whales and sea lions in captivity we were now hoping to see them in their natural habitat. And we were not disappointed. After a short ride out to sea we found a small pod of dolphins and were able to follow them (or were they following us?) for some time viewing them from the unique under water pod….how amazing to be travelling underwater with a pod of dolphins! After about an hour, Captain Dave spotted a Fin whale – we followed it’s footprint for a while and then it disappeared, only to pop up behind us…it was now following us….what a wonderful experience!
Heading back to the harbour we had a very informative question and answer session with Captain Dave whilst eating Mrs Captain Dave’s homemade brownies. We passed some sea lions sunning themselves on a large buoy ….a funny end to an amazing afternoon!