Side Trail to So Cal?: Sunshine in San Diego

So what does it take to spawn a trip to the West Coast?  A wedding invitation from a friend and the possibility of some face time with the boy (our son, Win) just might do it.  So last Friday M and I were off.  Now, in the spirit of adventure the wedding stands alone and is documented by others, but M and I aspire to our own when in a different place.  So Saturday morning (wedding in the evening) we struck out for a day in SD, beginning with a trolley ride to The Embarcadero.  Now, I believe that angels particpate in all our adventures and this one is no exception:  as we approached the ticket booth for the SD harbor cruise, Julie from Oregon approached us with an offer of two gratis tickets for the complete harbour tour (north and south).  She had been compted some for business and was looking for willing recipients, which we were, given the price.  She joined us on the two-hour cruise and with the weather near perfect we set out. 

The tour was much more informative than expected; we learned much about the history of SD and, in particular, the significance of the naval presence throughout.    We saw a wide variety of military vessels and aircraft in port but on active duty; no mothball fleet here, it's the real thing.  Coronada Island beckoned us but that will have to wait for another adventure.  Shore birds and sea lions were prominent.  As we toured a fleet of sailing vessels (at least 50) left the harbour for a day of ocean racing.  Stiff breeze would make for exciting competition.  But our choice was shoeless lounging on the aft deck, deciding whether or not we needed to put on that jumper (on and off a few times), and soaking up the sunshine. 

After the tour, we were back on the trolley to Old Towne, for a lookabout and lunch.  The state park and concessions provided all we needed for refreshment and an enjoyable north-of-the-border trip to Mexico.  Since I am infatuated with all things associated with public transport, I observed that the trolley system went all the way out to SD State University and then looped back to our morning starting point.  Not knowing the distance I convinced M we should view SD and environs more broadly.  This was more of an adventure than we planned.  We traveled back down Commerce Street and observed where and how the less fortunate of SD denizens spend their time.  That and the trolley motion rattled us a bit, but we still returned to our hotel in just enough time to spruce up and meet up with folk conducting us to the wedding.

The wedding was quite enjoyable but the band left us in an unadventurous mood; jumping around the dance floor with young girls in their cocktail dresses who had extraodinary height achievments just was not going to do it.  We weighed in on a slow one and then after the cake cutting (marvelous bundt style - moist and a bit fruity) we hoofed it back to the hotel to ready ourselves for the next phase of our SoCal adventure.  We were quite satisfied with making a day of it and a full one at that, our time being short.  We did walk quite a bit; must keep those legs in shape for the AT.