We are doing the last part of the west coast portion of our journey before heading east and home to Virginia. This post covers our 5 days in the last major city for us to visit: San Diego, California as our 6-month adventure continues.
Day 1: Joshua Tree Area to San Diego (day 148 of the overall trip)
San Diego
We have decided to wind up the west coast portion of our 6-month adventure with a 5 day stop in San Diego. We are going to use a trolley service to get a tour and feel for a number of the major tourist areas in the city including Old Town San Diego, the waterfront, the Gaslamp District, Coronado Island, Little Italy and Balboa Park.
From our prior stopping point in Twentynine Palms this is the route we took to San Diego.
To Pioneertown
We are going to take the long, scenic route to San Diego and it begins by heading toward Pioneertown, CA. Pretty boring in our opinion.
Wind Generators
Our route takes us past hundreds of wind generators. We’re not sure we like this landscape mile after mile. And why so many when like 10% are running?
Palm Springs
Driving through Palm Springs is like night and day to go from the somewhat run-down communities of Twentynine Palms and Joshua Tree to this upscale community. Our route has us driving all through this very well landscaped city. Many of the streets are named after celebrities. With traffic and tons of stop lights, it takes a while to finally navigate to back country again.
Palm Springs to Buying Gas in the Indian Reservation
The landscape is starting to improve and now we get treated to less flat land and more color! We are so fortunate to find our route passing through an Indian Reservation with a gas station. Indian Reservations don’t have to charge the same taxes as the rest of the state, so gas was almost $2 less expensive. We only need 1/3 of a tank, but we buy it cheap when we can! Cheap is relevant when gas is well over $7 a gallon in most of California.
Indian Reservation to Ramona
We’re now just driving along winding roads that take us through farming countryside. We pass through towns such as Aziza, Cabrilla, Aguanga, Warner Springs and Ramona. We stop in Ramona for another small grocery run.
Ramona to San Diego
It feels like a longer drive than it actually is, and our GPS finally navigates us through major city interstate traffic to our rental apartment.
Our Old Town Apartment
Thankfully, our apartment is just a few turns off the main road, a short walk from Old Town San Diego and we find it easily. The apartment consists of a small living room, a small bedroom and a kitchen in between. It is actually smaller than the space we just had in Twentynine Pines, but it is more space than we would have had in a comparably priced hotel. We get unloaded and unpacked and decide to head to find dinner in Old Town. For what it’s worth, once we parked the truck, we never drove it again until it was time to leave.
Old Town Trolley, San Diego
One reason we chose to stay in Old Town is because we know there’s a trolley that originates there that has an extensive route through San Diego. We are only a few blocks away from the edge of the Old Town district. We go to the booth where they sell trolley tickets and talk with the clerk to understand where it goes, how long it takes, etc. The trolley travels only in one direction and it takes 2 hours from start and back to where you get on. You may “hop on/hop off” as much as you like all day. A trolley leaves approximately every 20 minutes, but only runs from 9am to 5pm. We end up buying a 2-day pass and discount tickets to the San Diego Zoo.
First Night in Old Town San Diego
This area is filled with mostly Mexican food restaurants and lots of souvenir shops. We walk up one side (about 4 blocks) to the entrance of the Old Town San Diego State Historic Park and make the decision to keep the park for another day.
Rockin’ Baja Lobster
All the restaurants are busy, but none are crowded. We didn’t really see anything that really “spoke to us” on the walk up here, so we decide to go one block over and walk a parallel street. Nancy spots Rockin’ Baja Lobster another 2 blocks over and she remembers the great reviews from her research. We decide to check it out and since it is off the main drag, it isn’t very busy. It feels like you are entering a beach front Tiki Bar with the way it is decorated. We get two seats at the bar and meet our bartender, David. We learn it is happy hour so we decide to graze on some half-price appetizers rather than full price meals. We start with the VERY worth mentioning awesome “bacon wrapped stuffed shrimp”. We follow that up with the also VERY worth mentioning “quesadilla rayados with pulled pork”. Absolutely, positively recommend the food here!
Soon we get some bar buddies – a threesome consisting of a husband (Gary) and wife (Shrenill) plus the wife’s twin brother (Trenill). They are in town looking to buy some real estate to turn into an AirBnB/VRBO. We have so much fun talking with them, but unfortunately, they get a call from the realtor and must leave quickly for some reason.
Day 2: San Diego – The Waterfront Area (day 149 of the overall trip)
Trolley Ride to the Waterfront Area
We catch the first Old Town Trolley of the day at 9:00am and our driver and narrator is Howie. He’s really good at narrating sites along the way and we learn this is the largest marine recruiting and training area in the US (the other training facility is at Parris Island, SC where we stayed on our way to our son’s wedding WAY back at the beginning of this trip 5 months ago). The first three stops are close enough together that we can walk between them. The first stop is at the Maritime Museum of San Diego – but the museum doesn’t open until 10:00am. The second stop is Embarcadero Marina where the USS Midway Museum is location – and it also doesn’t open until 10:00am. The third stop is Seaport Village which is a collection of seafood restaurants and shops. With Howie’s input, we decide to get off at the second stop and walk around until the museums open.
Walking the Waterfront Area
As we disembark, we see massive aircraft carriers off in the distance and other military craft both in the waters and at the docks. We head over to the Kissing Statue that commemorates the infamous photo captured at the end of WWII when a random soldier grabbed and kissed a nurse. Next, we visit the Bob Hope Memorial and then walk over to Seaside Village and walk through that area.
The USS Midway
As it nears 10:00am, we head back to the USS Midway Museum. We have about 15 minutes to walk the Hangar Deck (main floor) to see several aircraft before heading into the theatre for a 15-minute film about the Battle of Midway. The USS Midway was not in the Battle of Midway but was named in honor of that battle. There’s a free audio tour where you wear device you point at a placard and then listen to the narrator talk about the plane which sometimes includes a first-hand account of being in the craft. Docents are also located throughout the museum to answer questions – and most of them served on the USS Midway at some point in their miliary career.
After the movie, we finish walking around the main floor before heading down into the belly of the ship known as “Below Deck”. Here we see and walk among the chow line where 14,000 meals per day were prepared. We also see the chapel, the sick bay, the officer’s dining and social areas and the shipmen’s sleeping quarters. Below deck are many levels housing the engineering aspects of the aircraft carrier. And then there’s the massive laundry facilities where countless clothes and linens were processed.
Next we climb up to the flight deck where more restored fighters, helicopters and bombers are on display. You get to see just how short the runway is for take-off and landings and you can almost sense the hustle and bustle of working on this deck. The deck houses the pilot ready room. One level up was the “bridge” – where the captain oversees flight operations and the carrier is steered One level down was the captains and the admiral’s quarters as well as the high-tech command center where the Midway’s admiral commanded Operation Desert Storm.
Somehow over 2 hours have passed and we decide to grab a quick lunch at the Café 41 on board the USS Midway.
Maritime Museum of San Diego
Next we walk back to the second stop to go through the Maritime Museum of San Diego. This world-renowned museum specializes in restoring, maintaining and operating historic vessels. The tour begins with the 1898 Steam Ferryboat Berkeley. It operated in San Francisco Bay for 60 years, most notably during the 1906 earthquake when she carried thousands of survivors to safety. It was the first successful propeller driven ferry on the west coast. The vessel is now a museum with ship models and signs about their history, restored steam engines plus museum offices and workshops. The upper deck can host 800 guests for special events.
We also do brief walks in and through two more historic sailing vessels. The San Salvador was the first European ship to reach America’s west coast. Under the command of Juan Rodriguez Cabrillo, she arrived in San Diego in 1542. Looking for trade routes, she surveyed the California coastline and established a friendly relationship with indigenous people. This vessel on display is a replica, built in 2015. The Californian is the official tall ship of California. Build in 1984, she launched the fanfare for the 1984 Summer Olympic games in Los Angeles. It is a replica of the 1847 Revenue Cutter C. W. Lawrence which patrolled the coast of California during the gold rush. She has 7 sails, carries 7000 sf of canvas and is armed with four six-pound deck guns.
Next we board the USS Dolphine, a diesel-electric submarine that is the deepest-diving submarine ever. In service for over 40 years, her extreme deep-diving capability sets her apart at the forefront of undersea naval research. In November 1968 she set a depth record that still stands today – over 3000 feet, the exact depth has never been disclosed. In August 1969 she launched a torpedo from the deepest depth one has ever been fired. She also achieved the first two-way laser communication between a submarine and an aircraft.
To our delight, the HMS Surprise is docked at the port. It is under renovation, so it isn’t currently available to tour. This ship is a detailed re-creation of a 24-gun British Frigate built in 1970. You might recognize it from the film Master and Commander: The Far Side of the World starring Russel Crowe. It was also seen in Pirates of the Caribbean: On Stranger Tides starring Johnny Depp (as the HMS Providence).
Finally, we get to tour the star of this museum, the Star of India. Build in 1863, this is the world’s oldest active sailing ship. She’s an iron ship, one of the first built at a time when most ships were built from wood. She has never been fitted with auxiliary power. Originally named Euterpe was a full-rigged ship and remained so until 1901 when she was sold to the Alaska Packers Association as a salmon fishing and processing rig. Her early voyages carried emigrants to New Zealand and Australia with an occasional journey to Chile and California. She made 21 circumnavigations in this service.
Trolley Ride to Coronado including the Gaslamp District
Somehow the morning and part of the afternoon have eroded, so we hop back on the trolley at the second stop. Our new driver and narrator is Deb and she too is fantastic at pointing out places and facts. The walk between stops 2, 3 and 4 are short, but the trolley takes a longer route through the town, so we get to learn more about the area. The 5th stop is at the Marriott Convention Center and we just continue on. The 6th stop is at Gaslamp Quarter, a historic district known for its nightlife and historic building. We will save this stop for another day. The 7th stop is at Petco Park, home of the San Diego Padres. They’ve clinched a World Series Playoff Berth and there’s a game tonight and another tomorrow afternoon. We continue on through stop 8, Barrio Logan, a traditionally Mexican restaurant and brewery district.
Coronado & The Hotel del Coronado
Stop 8 is on the island of Coronado, one of the most popular stops on the entire Old Town Trolley ride. To get to this resort island, you travel over the San Diego–Coronado Bridge which is 200 feet high and 2.1 miles long. Coronado was named by explorer Sebastian Vizcaino when he drew its first map in 1602. Coronado is the Spanish term for “crowned”. It was purchased by investors (The Coronado Beach Company) in 1886 with the intention of building a resort community. By 1888, they had built the Hotel del Coronado In 1900, John Spreckels acquired the hotel and added a tent city to the south of the hotel. Tents came down in favor of cottages and even those were gone by the early 1940’s. The island boasts one of the best sandy beaches on the west coast and as we drive by, we see just how spectacular and large it is. As a resort island, it also has several plush golf courses. We’re told the southern side of the island hosts the Naval Base Coronado Complex where there’s a training center for Navy Seals and special warfare combatants.
The Hotel del Coronado is more commonly referred to as “The Del” or “Hotel Del”. It maintains its wooden Victorian architecture and is the second largest wooden structure in the US. The hotel has hosted presidents, royalty and celebrities. It has been featured in numerous films and books and our tour guide lists “Some Like it Hot” with Marilyn Monroe as one of them as she plays “I Want to be Loved by You” on the speaker system.
McP’s Irish Pub
The trolley just drives by The Del and drops us off in front of McP’s Irish Pub. We’re hungry and we rarely turn down an Irish Pub. Our 6’9″ bartender’s head keeps grazing the hanging glasses above the bar as he work his magic mixing drinks. Our food is delicious but we want to walk around before we have to catch the last trolley of the day back at 5:00pm. If you miss that trolley, you’ll have an expensive Uber or taxi ride back.
We start to walk toward The Del but we realize we won’t have time to do it justice. We will save exploring this historic place for a future trip. Instead, we walk around the block and then down the opposite side of the street just to get a feel for this one area. This is definitely an upscale area!
When we reboard the trolley, our new driver (Skip) tells us that the average price for homes on the island $3,000,000 as he points out several on the market in the 24 million price tag range.
Trolley Ride back to Balboa Park
Stop 9 takes us into Balboa Park and we are just blown away at all that this area has to offer. This 1200 acre park has evolved since the land was set aside in 1835 (making it one of the oldest parks in the US dedicated to public use). Balboa Park hosted the 1915-1916 Panama-California Exposition as well as the 1935-1936 California Pacific International Exposition (both similar to the World’s Fair). Buildings were erected for both events that today serve other purposes – such as housing one of the 17 museums on the property. There are over a dozen gardens and restaurants. There are other features such as: a 100-year old carousel, the world’s largest pipe organ (that plays every Sunday), a theatre, and numerous “sport” fields (lawn bowling, bocce ball, archery, frisbee golf, etc.). It is also home to the San Diego Zoo that we’ll be visiting tomorrow and we are looking forward to time in Balboa Park as well.
Trolley Ride to Little Italy
Stop 10, the last stop, is Little Italy, filled with – you guessed it – Italian Restaurants. San Diego was once a huge part of the tuna fishing industry – and people from Italy came there to fish. The first large tuna cannery, the Pacific Tuna Canning Company, was founded her in 1911 and by the mid-1930’s it employed over 1000 people. The industry dried up in the 1980’s and the town has since transformed itself into a focus on tourism. Our driver tells us this is the largest of the 8 or so “Little Italy’s” in North America. He also tells us we can take the transit service bus here from Old Town for a mere $2.50 (which has a schedule that goes later into the evening).
Old Town (ice cream)
The trolley eventually drops us off back in Old Town. As we walk back toward our apartment, we stop for a bowl of ice cream.
Day 3: San Diego – Balboa Park Area (day 150 of the overall trip)
We’re up bright and early and headed out again on the Old Town Trolley for a ride to Balboa Park. We learn there’s a huge cruise ship docked in town today, which only happens 11 days this year. The trolley folks are gearing up for a busy day! Old Town is stop 1 so we have a 1.5 hour ride to stop 9. Riding the trolley 2 days in a row, over the same route – you realize how many of the jokes are repeated and all drivers don’t point out the same places of interest. Our driver does do one unique thing – when we have time to kill at a stop, he reads Dr. Suess books to us. When we reach the waterfront area, where the cruise ship is parked, we understand today will have way more tourists than yesterday.
The San Diego Zoo
The San Diego Zoo has a worldwide reputation for excellence and is the most visited zoo in the US. It began after the 1915-1916 Panama-California Exposition as a place to continue displaying the animals brought in for that event. The zoo was a pioneer in building “cageless” exhibits so animals could live in something closer to their native habitat. The first such exhibit was the lion exhibit built in 1922 that kept animals enclosed via a large moat rather than wire. Some habitats feature multiple animals that naturally live together in the wild. The zoo’s Center for Reproduction of Endangered Species was founded in 1975. The zoo is also home to numerous plants and the spend as much effort on plants as they do on animals.
Some special notes about the San Diego Zoo
- There are over 650 different species of animals housed here.
- Until 2019, the zoo had the largest population of giant panda bears outside of China. They no longer live at the zoo.
- The world’s only known albino koala was born here
- It boasts the largest collection of koala’s outside of Australia
- An orangutan nicknamed “Harry Houdini” escaped numerous times
- In 2013 two hyenas escaped their enclosure while a private party was happening at the zoo. They were quickly captured with the aid of tranquilizer darts.
The zoo has a guided double-decker, open-air tour bus included in the price of admission that covers 75% of the park. We arrive at just the wrong time and end up waiting and finally board the fourth bus. In that whole time that we wait, very few passengers get in line behind us (enough probably for the next bus). Our 40 minute tour begins by heading into the “Lost Forest”, an area modeled after the rainforest of Congo in Central Africa. We spot some beautiful tigers. It heads next to the “Northern Frontier” for a look at a Polar Bear, mountain lion and other animals that live in the Arctic. The next area is “Elephant Odyssey” which has both African and Asian elephants and all of them are out roaming their habitats and provide quite the show. The bus then passes the outskirts of “Outback” (nicknamed “Koalafornia”) where we not only see Koala’s but other marsupials. Our last are is “Africa Rocks” where we see leopards, baboons, lemurs and even African penguins.
After the tour we walk to an area not covered by the bus – the “Urban Jungle”. This is where they have giraffes, zebras, cheetahs, flamingos and hippos (to name a few) although we never find the hippos. The park also offers a hop-on/hop-off bus with 4 different stop in the park (no narration) as well as a Sky Tram. There’s also a companion Safari Park located 35 miles away. We check food options for lunch and after seeing $14 beer prices and long lines, we decide we’ll eat outside the zoo. While this zoo has a well-respected reputation, we went to other zoos this summer and feel our time would be better spent exploring Balboa Park.
Walking Balboa Park
The grounds of Balboa Park are well manicured and filled with glorious magnificent architecturally rich buildings. We are on the hunt for food, but not all the restaurants are open and those that are, don’t have much appeal. While there are 17 museums here, Nancy doesn’t feel like going to the Air & Space Museum (associated with the Smithsonian) because we’ve already spent a lot of time on aircraft on this trip. We bypass the Automobile Museum too because of that fabulous one we saw in Fairbanks (not even sure it was open). We don’t enjoy art museums so that counts out a few too.
Comic Con Museum
We finally decide to visit the newly opened Comic Con Museum. For those that don’t know, San Diego is home to the world’s large conference dedicated to Comics. Comic Con is short for Comic Convention and has been going strong since 1970. The annual 4-day event brings an estimated $140 million each year to the city of San Diego and is the largest conference held here. The museum has so much potential – yet falls incredibly short, especially for its hefty $30 entrance fee. The museum has 3 floors and the main floor is its sole worthwhile attraction with a display devoted to Spiderman. This display is very well done going over the history of this superhero as well as his evolution over the years from comic to films. There’s also a room with multiple Pac-Man machines you can play for “free” – but is Pac-Man really considered a comic? The upper floor offers a preview of a future display dedicated to Ernest Hemingway comics. We did not know he was ever featured in comics, but frankly, it gets repetitive and boring – AND – he’s not who comes to mind when we think of a Comic Con experience. The bottom floor has 4 cool Marvel costumes and one statue – that’s it for now.
Hunger takes the best of us and we run from the museum to the trolley that’s sitting there so we don’t have to wait another 20 minutes for the next one. The trolley is packed and the driver tells us there’s a completely empty one behind her, about to pull up.
Little Italy
The next stop is our next stop – Little Italy. We’d love to watch the last San Padres baseball game of the year, so we attempt to find a bar with TVs. Little Italy isn’t exactly a place for sports bars. They really try to immerse you in the Italian culture of small outdoor cafes all along the streets. We walk up and down the boulevard and finally settle into Bar One. Nancy had really been craving amazing pizza or some succulent pasta dish – but Bar One it is. Tired from all the walking today, we “sit a spell” and enjoy our food and the game.
Old Town Saloon
Once the trolley takes us back to Old Town, we decide to slip into the Old Town Saloon on the walk back to our apartment. It is a good old-fashioned saloon with a few pool tables and we enjoy a few beverages and the ambiance.
Day 4: San Diego – The Old Town Area (day 151 of the overall trip)
We spend the morning in the apartment catching up on bills and blogging. We’re ready to find some authentic Mexican Food and explore the Old Town Historical State Park and do some souvenir shopping.
Casa Guadalajara
It is time for lunch and we’re going to go to a place off the main drag that was highly recommended by some folks we met. Google Maps seems a little confused but after some persistence, we finally find Casa Guadalajara way on the back side of the park. It has typical brightly colored Mexican décor and we sit at the bar and chat with the bartender as we share a phenomenal plate for two. It has a carnitas steak, cheese enchiladas, pork tacos and chicken empanadas – with rice and beans. We can’t even finish everything and we’re glad we’re on foot today to walk off some of these calories.
Old Town San Diego Historical State Park
We wandered through part of this area over the past few days, but we haven’t done any real exploring. Old Town Historical San Diego State Park showcases life of the Mexicans and early Americans who lived here between 1821 and 1872. San Diego became California’s first Spanish settlement when a mission and fort were established here in 1769. Later, it passed into the hands of the newly made Mexican government before gaining statehood in the United States after the Mexican-American War. The plaza contains restored historic buildings, reconstructed buildings and stores built to look as if they belong in the era.
We saved the park for today since most of the museums are only open Thursday through Sunday – and today is Thursday. Our first stop is the Robinson-Rose House Visitor Information Center, hoping to get a feel for what to tour in the area. James Robinson, a lawyer, built this 2-story structure in 1853 to serve not only as his residence, but to house the San Diego Herald newspaper and the offices of the Railroad. When he died in 1857, his wife sold it to Louis Rose who used it as his family’s primary residence. A fire in 1874 destroyed the roof and after years of neglect, it fell into disrepair. As the visitor center, it now houses a scale model of the town built by one of the former residences.
The Mason Street Schoolhouse is closed but we can peek in the windows; it was California’s first public schoolhouse. We wander into the McCoy House; it was the residence of one of San Diego’s sheriffs who later served as a senator. We also walk through two “casas” filled with period furniture and belongings reflective of life in this time period. We explore the San Diego Union Printing Office, the site of the city’s oldest surviving newspaper office. One centerpiece of the plaza is the Cosmopolitan Hotel & Restaurant, once again open to welcome overnight guests. It began as an adobe home in 1827, evolved into a modern two-story hotel, restaurant and stagecoach office in 1869 and then became an olive cannery in 1900.
Near the back of the plaza, a man is singing in the plaza gazebo, entertaining tourists eating and drinking in the surrounding small cafes. The plaza is decorated for “Day of the Dead” holiday that falls on November 1st and 2nd. The holiday originated in Mexico as days to remember and honor the dearly departed. All the area stores & restaurants are gearing up with decorations as well – lots of orange marigolds, brightly colored skull and skeletons dressed for celebrating.
We find the blacksmith shop in the back behind other buildings. The area also has several antique carriages and buggies.
Rockin’ Baja Lobster – Take 2
We’re thirsty and we can’t think of a better place to grab a happy hour beer than Rockin’ Baja Lobster where we ate the day we arrived. We aren’t hungry enough to eat, but we enjoy the atmosphere of this place. And we have time to kill until a tour that we booked begins at 5:00pm
Whaley House Tour
The Whaley House was built in 1857 and is the oldest brick structure in southern California. It was built on the grounds formerly used to hang “Yankee Jim” for stealing a boot. It claims to be America’s most haunted house where 33 different spirits have been documented to reside in their afterlife. Built by Thomas Whaley, the house is said to have “witnessed more history than any other building in the city”. We are greeted by the energetic and informative Chloe who begins the tour in the entry hall where we first learn that Thomas and his wife had six children. The first room we see is one used as a courthouse – Thomas Whaley was a very enterprising man who was always finding ways to make money by renting space in his home.
We move next to a room where Thomas had a small general store. This is the area where folks have reported smelling the smoke from Thomas’s pipe and/or seeing ghostly images of someone hanging. Nancy and one other person get a brief whiff of tobacco smoke.
Next, we see the nursey where his namesake son died of scarlet fever at age 18 months – and is purported to haunt the room. Visitors sometimes hearing the sound of a baby crying. As Chloe mentions the crying – almost on cue – Nancy hears a baby crying from outside the window. She asks a few folks around her if they heard it and none did.
We then hear the tragic tale of Violet who married a con man that her father forced her to divorce – which was quite the scandal of its day. She became very depressed and soon attempted suicide by jumping into the well, but her father managed to see her do this and grabbed her just in time. Put on suicide watch, she was then guarded 24/7, with the exception of time in the outhouse. One day she slipped into her father’s study under the rouse that she forgot her pen. There, she grabbed his revolver and headed to the outhouse where she shot herself. Her father carried her to the master bedroom where she expired about 20 minutes later. Chloe recounts a story told by a former police officer of being called to the home at midnight because of a woman crying the courtyard. He spoke with her but she wouldn’t respond. He turned his back to shine his flashlight briefly in the surrounding area and when he looked back at her, she was gone.
We learn that the home has a stage where Thomas opened the first commercial theater in San Diego. After just 15 days, the lead actor took ill and soon died in the house. During her time in this room, Nancy twice felt someone lightly playing with the hair on top of her head.
Throughout the tour Chloe manages to effectively scare us with popping into a room through an alternate entrance, slamming the piano cover and other tricks. The tour ends outside in the courtyard with a few more ghostly tales of other deaths and hauntings. This tour was well worth the price of admission!
Ghosts & Graveyards Tour
We have a 7:00pm tour that is partially by trolley and partially walking. The Ghosts & Gravestones Tour begins with boarding the trolley and our narrator host is dressed in period costume and zombie make-up. She tells us her name is Amy and she recants the life and death of her character. After about 10 minutes, the trolley stops at Pioneer Park and we all get off and walk across a grassy field to a row of headstones . Here we learn this park was the site of the a cemetery where over 600 early settlers were buried. In 1968, the town wanted to turn it into a park and with permission of the Catholic Church, they removed all the headstones – but left the bodies where they lay. Most of the headstones were thrown in a ditch and subsequently ground up to be used to pave the nearby street. Amy points out 4 or 5 of the remaining gravestones and tells us the stories of their gambling, gunslinging owners. She also tells us that neighborhood residents often see the ghostly image of a woman walking the old cemetery grounds at night.
We reboard the bus and head back to Old Town and get off the bus at the half acre El Campo Santo Cemetery. A low brick wall serves as the perimeter of this place with several white crosses at the head of burial plots marked by ovals of stone. Some of the plots are marked with a very small white picket fence. Amy tells us the legends of a few famous residents, including “Yankee Jim” who is buried here. She points out areas where people have seen ghostly images or felt a sudden drop in temperature. Neighbors report appliances and lights turning on and off “by themselves” and cars parked in front of the cemetery will sometimes inexplicably have their car alarm go off.
We also learn this graveyard was one much larger, however, when building the road through town, they just removed the crosses and headstones and lay the road on top of the buried bodies. In 1996, a team of students from a local university took radar equipment to try to identify where everybody was buried, whether in the cemetery, the sidewalks or the street. They placed a 1.5″ brass coin with the words “grave site” in the sidewalk and streets to mark every grave they found. There are numerous such coins for a stretch of a block that we had not previously noticed – that were now shining in the light of the moon.
Our tour ends in the courtyard of the Whaley House and we’re once again told the stories of Yankee Jim, young Thomas Whaley and of Violet Whaley. We learn a few new tidbits of legend and hauntings. All in all, a fun tour although it is a shame it overlapped so much with the Whaley House Tour.
Day 5: San Diego – The Gaslamp Quarter (day 152 of the overall trip)
We really have been on the go for the last few days! San Diego has been way more fun than we thought, but we only have one more day. We know we can’t do all that we haven’t done yet – many things will be left on the table for a future trip. After a morning of blogging, bill paying and planning more of the way home, we do have to eat, and we know Gaslamp Quarter is where we want to go. Having checked bus schedules that would require a few bus changes, we realize that Uber is about the same cost as two bus tickets and Uber is much more convenient.
Gaslamp Tavern
Harrison picks the Gaslamp Tavern as a starting place. It offers TVs for watching the start of World Series Playoffs. It is a gorgeous day and they have outdoor bar seats. The folks to our right are rooting for the Philadelphia Phillies, so we ignore them (archrivals of our home team favorite, the Washington Nationals). With our team out of the running we’ve decided to adopt the San Diego Padres for 2022.
We meet a couple from Chicago that is visiting San Diego for a few days. They stayed in the Gaslamp Quarter last night but that area has pricey lodging, so they are transitioning to staying in the Balboa Park area tonight. This means they have their luggage in tow. This is their first time in San Diego too and since we’ve been here a few days, we’re able to help them create a plan for using the trolley and where to focus.
Whiskey Girl
We can’t just stay at one restaurant with all that the Gaslamp District has to offer. We look to find another place with lots of TV with sports on and walk just a few blocks to Whiskey Girl. Wow, if we only had a place like this back home. We learn this place is a popular place to watch sports and at night, it is quite the 20-something live music with dancing party zone. In fact, all of Gaslamp Quarter is the 20-something party zone after dark. The acoustics in here make it tough to hear beyond talking to the person next to you. Harrison meets Connor on his right and Nancy meets Jacob on her left. Both men are in town for a conference called Twitch. We learn that Twitch is the world`s leading video platform and community for gamers. Conor doesn’t drink but still enjoys watching sports in sports bars. He’s rooting for his home team the Seattle Mariners and tells us he has tickets to the third game in a few days. Jacob is about dive into a lifelong dream of opening a “combat academy” that teaches defensive skills primarily to women and children. He’s from central California and is rooting for the Padres too.
Walking Gaslamp Quarter at Night
And with all the places to eat in this area, we only manage to get to two, giving us yet another reason to return to San Diego on a future trip. It is dark by the time we are ready to leave. As we walk outside, we can hardly believe the transformation with all the lights and all the eager 20-somethings ready for a night on the town. We schedule an Uber and after a little challenge finding him, we’re on our way back to the apartment. We have a very long drive ahead of us tomorrow. Between packing and long drive, it is earlier than this area deserves, but you gotta do what you gotta do.
Summary
San Diego was a wonderful surprise. As you know, we rarely go to large cities. We don’t like crowds, we know large cities can be expensive, driving a large truck and finding parking is always a challenge, they aren’t always safe to walk around and quite honestly, we don’t like areas with homeless folks begging on the streets. San Diego’s public transportation made exploring this city easy. With the exception of the day the cruise ship was in town, the crowds were reasonable. We always felt safe walking around (although one always keeps their radar up). And we saw very few homeless folks. The city is rich in history and offers a wide variety of things to do one can’t possibly take in in one week. Loved the waterfront area and Balboa Park. We’ll be back, although we’ll look to stay in an area other than Old Town, just to be different.
Up Next
Time to start our eastern journey home to Virginia. Our next two stops will be in Arizona.
Prior Legs of the Journey
Part 1 – The Trip to Key West is located here.
Part 2 – Cross Country to Bellingham Washington is located here.
Part 3 – The Alaska Ferry Inner Passage to Juneau is located here.
Part 4- The Alaska Ferry Inner Passage to Haines & Skagway is located here.
Part 5 – Haines to Fairbanks Alaska is located here.
Part 6 – Three weeks in Fairbanks is located here
Part 7 – Fairbanks to the Arctic Ocean is located here.
Part 8 – Denali National Park is located here.
Part 9 – Denali & Richardson Highways (Central Alaska) is located here.
Part 10 – Wasilla Alaska Area is located here
Part 11 – Homer Alaska Area is located here
Part 12 – Seward Alaska Area is located here
Part 13 – Girdwood Alaska Area is located here
Part 14 – Kodiak Alaska Area is located here
Part 15 – “Back to the Lower 48” is located here
Part 16 – “The Volcano Legacy” is located here
Part 17 – Northern California is located here
Part 18 – The Nevada and California Desert Adventure is located here
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