Some Hiking...San Diego WEEK 2 (Part 2)

San Diego Metro KOA
Chula Vista, CA
January 15, 2019

The later part of week 2, we enjoyed a couple of our favorite hikes.

Hollenbeck Canyon Wildlife Area
About 30 minutes away near the little town of Jumal is Hollenbeck Canyon.  

The former cattle ranch was designated a wildlife area in 2001.  
Unlike the last few years when we enjoyed the area for free, there is a $4.00 fee per person to enter.

  


As the pictures show, one of my favorite things about this hike are the trees...giant beautiful trees.

Torrey Pines State Natural Reserve
Torrey Pines SNR is located within the San Diego city limits.


This 1,500 acres of land gives us an idea of what Southern California must have looked like to the Spanish explorers. 

It is amazingly beautiful and remains one of my favorite spots to visit.  FYI...the entry price has increased...during High Season it is $15 Mon.-Thurs. and $20 Fri.-Sun. per car.  


Torrey Pines is home to our nation's rarest pine tree which is native only here and on Santa Rosa Island.

It was sad to see so many distressed tree.

 Unfortunately, extended drought conditions have weakened the trees making them unable to fight back against bark beetles that have infested and killed many trees.  




Cone shaped traps bated with battle pheromones have been placed in the park to catch and monitor the beetles.
  

Torrey Pines SNR is always at the top of the list when in San Diego...

The last time we were in San Diego was Jan 2017.  


We had the pleasure of meeting one of the many volunteers in the park that year.   We turned the corner this year and there was Ann in the same spot as 2017.  

Ronnie points out a group/pod of dolphins...

 So until next time...

HAPPY TRAILS ! 

San Diego...WEEK 2 (Part 1)

San Diego Metro KOA
Chula Vista, CA
January 15, 2019

Coronado Beach Doggie Park
A clean and pristine beach





 along with beautiful views









and friendly pups (and their owners) make Coronado Beach Doggie Park a must do when we visit San Diego.  No better way to put a smile on my face, a skip in my step

(and a skip in Jack's step too)

and fill my heart with happiness than to watch Dover, Sally 

Yes, they practiced for hours to perfect their moves! 

and Jack playing.

Our little athlete!

The off-leash doggie beach is located on the north end of Coronado Beach and backs up to the Navy Base.

Mission Beach 
Much to my excitement, there are 70 miles of beaches in San Diego.  I never know when or where Ocean Beach turns into Mission Beach and Mission Beach turns into Pacific Beach and so on.  What I do know is that it's amazingly beautiful and I am definitely in a happy place.   

For several years we have joined Carol and Ronnie for a bike ride on the boardwalk that meanders along Mission Beach.  We don't have bikes anymore so when Carol wanted to go ride bikes there last week, Joe and I joined them, but we walked.  I was really glad we walked !  We parked at the end of the beach near the volleyball nets.

Hummm...walk the boardwalk or walk the beach?  That's a no brainer !  We had barely gotten started when we saw Carol and Ronnie go by.    

 It was a gorgeous day for a beach walk...

At Bellmont Park, we continued our walk on the boardwalk to get a feel for the "laid-back" neighborhood lined with cute little homes and eateries.  

FYI...The Giant Dipper, located at Bellmont Park, is a wooden rollercoaster built in 1925 and was declared a National Historic Landmark in 1978. 

 Mission Beach spans nearly two miles of ocean front.  The boardwalk curves along the beaches on both the ocean and bay sides of the community.  

FYI...thong bikinis are technically illegal on Mission Beach.  But if the mood strikes to wear one, the law is not typically enforced !

Some alleys that join Mission Blvd to the beach are very charming. 

After a wonderful morning of walking for us and biking for Carol and Ronnie, we all met at Luigi's for pizza and a brew.

 The USS Midway Museum
The USS Midway is a maritime museum located at Navy Pier in downtown San Diego.  

A beautiful skyline from Navy Pier... 

When commissioned in 1945 (a week after the end of WWII) it was the largest ship in the world.   




 Work was done in 1957 to install a deck-edge elevator and an angled flight deck.  In 1966, the flight deck was enlarged from 2.8 acres to 4 acres.

Before being decommissioned in 1992, it served in the Vietnam War and in Operation Desert Storm.  

We began a self-guided audio tour in the hanger deck.  

The flight deck and hanger deck have more than 30 restored aircraft and helicopters displayed.  Joe served on the USS Ranger during the mid sixties.  He saw many of the aircraft that were also on the Ranger.

 "These aircraft and helicopters span decades from the Battle of Midway in 1942, the Korean and Vietnam Wars, to today's tactical aircraft.  Each one represents an aspect of the USS Midway's long history."

After we perused the flight deck, we joined a guided Island tour led by one of the many volunteer docents.  The first deck in the island houses the flight deck operations room and the navigation room.  

 The command center for the flight deck operations is small. The status board pictured below was written by a petty officer...all letters and numbers were written backwards !  The land/launch board details the schedule for all outgoing and incoming aircraft.   


















There is a chair for the air "boss" and the "mini" boss with a view of the entire flight deck.

The Commanding Officer's chair is on the top deck in the island along with the Gator chair where the carrier is steered. 







There are a couple of amazing statues also located close to the Midway on Navy Pier.   

The first one is the "Kissing Statue".  

The statue is 25 feet tall and  officially known as "Unconditional Surrender".  It depicts the famous embrace between a sailor and a nurse celebrating the end of WWII in New York's Times Square in 1945. 



Also on the pier is a National Salute to Bob Hope and the Military.  The statue of Bob Hope shows him entertaining the troops.  What was really cool was an audio box playing sound bites from some of his times entertaining the troops.  When Joe was on the USS Ranger in the mid sixties, Bob Hope visited them twice in the Gulf of Tonkin... once with Ann Margaret !   

 This is not the end of blogging our second week in San Diego so there will be a part 2 coming next.  We did a lot last week because the forecast showed four days of rain this week.   

I will close for now.  Until next time,

 

 HAPPY TRAILS!