A day in San Diego

          I love exploring San Diego and the ocean but the horrendous traffic can really get on a persons nerves. First stop was the Living Coastal Discovery Center in Chula Vista, formally known as the Chula Vista Nature Reserve.

        At the front door of the discovery center were three or four large green back turtles swimming in a closed tank.
  

          One main reason for heading to the discovery center was the advertised raptor exhibits. Other than this beautiful barn owl that a worker was exercising, I was very disappointed with the center. All the raptors were behind a heavy, dark mesh screen cages and outside which made them all but invisible to the naked eye. The rest of the bay or ocean exhibits were either disjointed or non-educational. I found the Ocean Institute a few months ago at Dana Point much more interesting, hands-on and educational and gets my vote for a great place to take the kids.

      There are some trails at Living Coast that allowed me access to some of the back bay areas that are mostly controlled by the military.

       One interesting tidbit is that in the early part of the 20th century they made gunpowder out of "kelp"...I never knew that?

          Good ocean breezes offered these dare devils in wetsuits quite a ride.

         I find it hard to visit San Diego without looking up our old boat. For ten years we kept "Quick Turns", only we named it "Moonstruck", in the bay. So many fond memories and great times were had going to the boat, especially when Vegas sat in 100+ degree weather. I will say that my wallet thanked me profusely when we sold her.

              I ate a burger at the famous Hodad's where the saying is "no shoes, no shirts, no problem!" Great hamburger. I say Rocky's Crown Pub burgers are the best, but Hodad's is a close second.

            Besides great burgers you can also get a fancy "bong" at one of the many dope stores in Ocean Beach.

          Makes no difference if it is January or February...if it is a warm day there will be girls in bikinis on the beach.

       Rain or shine...the guys will be out catching waves as long as the swells are big enough and the girls in bikinis are on the beach.

        Penelope the pelican was a perfect "model" for me. Why she even has beautiful blue eyes!

You can't visit the ocean and not say hello to the daredevil of daredevils "Jonathan Livingston Seagull".

       My brother was with me a few days ago and told me the story of these two quonset huts on Coronado Island. Seems he was doing some electrical work in them and they held the huge Mark V fast attack Navy boats that can be shipped in a plane anywhere in the world on short notice. At 82 feet in length but still able to do 65 knots it surely is a wonder just what 4 million can gets you today.

                                      Speaking of Navy ships........
This is AWESOME! Two navy ships passing each other in San Diego Bay. The one on the left is the USS Howard a Arleigh-Burke destroyer at 509 feet in length. The one on the right is the very new 378 foot USS Fort Worth. The Fort Worth is a LCS-3 (littoral combat ship) with a shallow draft for working close to shore.

       One last bit of San Diego history that my older brother Jack imparted on me before leaving the Point Loma area are the lamp posts in the middle of the street in this old neighborhood. I found this community, Loma Portal, was started in the 1920's and all the houses in the subdivision were custom homes. Odd that nowadays there would still be a touch of history, undisturbed, although I might think twice about driving home after a cocktail or two if I lived in the neighborhood. I looked on Zillow, all the houses start at 750K and go well past a million...this means I can drink all I want!