Friday, January 20, 2006

Old Town, Coronado, and PB

Breakfast at Denny's is pretty much the same nationwide. But once you step outside the door after breakfast, then you know that you're not in Michigan anymore.

Old Town San Diego State Historic Park is filled with historic buildings and displays of the way life used to be in southern California. We saw the McCoy House Interpretive Center, the Wells Fargo Historic building (Colorado House), the first Anglo school in San Diego (the Mason Street School), and the Casa de Estudillo - a reconstruction of a "middle class" Spanish home. (See above link)

There were several groups of school children visiting the park this morning. They were all very well behaved, and seemed to be attentive to the presenters. I was impressed with their behavior. At the school building, it was fun for me to watch the "teacher" explain the history of the school to the visiting kids. She was very good at her job, and the children were fascinated. The school was extremely small even for a one-room schoolhouse. We were surprised at how narrow the building was.

My other favorite was the Wells Fargo stagecoach in Colorado House. It was a big, beautiful coach painted bright red and yellow with the Wells Fargo logo on it. It was said to have carried a grand total of 18 people - nine inside and nine outside - but it didn't look possible! I enjoyed the Hints for Travelers immensely (spit to leeward).

Tom took us on another great tour of San Diego - we took the scenic route from Old Town to Coronado, through La Jolla. It's a perfectly beautiful day, and the drive was most enjoyable, especially with such a good chauffeur! Coronado Beach was gorgeous - Dick and Tom walked the beach but only came up with a couple of shells to keep. The new (to us) Coronado Bay Bridge is quite an experience. It's one of those flying bridges sort of like the Zilwaukee Bridge, but twice as high and three times as long. The view of Coronado Bay was spectacular.

Then Tom drove us to PB (Pacific Beach to those in the know). We sat and watched the surf pounding the shore, and joggers enjoying the beautiful surroundings. We parked right by Joe's Crab Shack, and so it seemed logical to eat lunch there. It was upstairs, so there was a great view of the ocean, sun, sand, and surf. It had plenty of local color and good food, a great combination.

At lunch Tom and I decided to go see Memoirs of a Geisha this evening. I don't mind at all seeing it for a second time! So we came home to take a nap, because certain people in this family tend to nod off in the evening without a nap. (!)

A lovely day...