Inside the whale's vagina

Firstly, I'm sure everyone gets the reference, and for those of you who don't... See: "A whale's vagina"

TUESDAY

Today was travel day, which meant an early wake up.  The early wake up was so that I could be dropped off at a Los Angeles subway station rather than having to fend for myself.  My gracious host Sarah even gave me a tap card (kind of like London's Oyster card or Melbourne's Myki) which saved me some money for a fare and I got on the subway.  I caught the subway from one end of the line (essentially from Universal City/Hollywood) all the way to Union Station (which is the Amtrak station in LA).  There isn't anything especially interesting about riding the subway, but I did see a woman get on the train, then put on a mask (like a surgical mask) and stand as far from everyone as she possibly could and then try to touch nothing... Not interesting, just weird... It did make me wonder how filthy the subway was, but given that she was the only person worried about it I took it to mean that she was just overly worried...

From Union Station I got a cab down to the Greyhound bus terminal, which was kind of in the middle of nowhere transport-wise, but I'm sure there is a good reason for it... It just escapes me... I arrived at the bus station at 8:35 AM, and was on the next bus out at 9 AM.  If I had booked online it would have saved me $8 (on a $20 fare that is fairly significant), next time I'm booking online I think.  The reason I didn't was that I wasn't sure what time I would end up being at the bus station, so it was easier just to show up (buses to San Diego left on the hour).

Misunderstanding of the Day: (Presenting bus ticket to Latino driver)
*hand ticket to driver*
Driver: Thank you
*I stand there waiting for him to hand it back to me or to give me some direction*
Sam: ........
Driver: ........ *makes eyes towards the bus*
Sam: .........
Driver: You cang go to the bus... *thick Spanish accent*
Sam: .... Ah, OK, sorry, I was expecting the ticket back...
Driver: ....... *goes about his business*

Jumping on the bus I was pleasantly surprised to notice that the bus was virtually empty.  Of the 48 seat coach maybe 10 seats were taken, so I was able to spread out and put my feet up and read.  This was a good result.  We headed out onto the LA streets, across the LA river, and off to San Diego.  The Latino bus driver said that the bus would be ending in Tijuana, Mexico, which surprised me a little, but it did explain the people we picked up when the bus stopped in Santa Ana, CA.  When we stopped there was about 10 people who jumped on who, short of sleeping, wearing ponchos and selling oranges on the side of the road, looked so stereotypically Mexican.  The further South we went the buildings and architecture became much more stereotypically Mexican as well, this was an interesting wrinkle to the trip and made the scenery passing by very colourful and interesting.

About 2-2.5 hours after leaving LA we drove into the heart of the whale's vagina, San Diego.  The bus station was right across the parking lot from Petco Park, the home of the Padres.  I jumped on a local bus and headed over the causeway to Coronado Island, going past a US Navy base and ending up at the beautiful Hotel del Coronado.

View from the beach side of the Hotel

Pool deck

Upstairs bar above the pool deck

View from the upstairs bar out towards the Pacific Ocean

The story behind the island and the hotel is fairly interesting.  These two blokes, Babcock and Story, bought the island for not much money from some guy, then decided to build a luxury beach resort on it, but had no money to finance it... They decided to sell off lots of land on the island and use the profits to build and furnish the hotel.  They ended up with profit of something like $2.5m, which in 1880s money is 'a fucking shitload'.  So they built this hotel in a Victorian style, which has hosted something like 10 US Presidents, is one of the largest wooden buildings in America, and one of the few remaining beachside resorts of this kind that remain in America.  It kind of reminds me of the shit you see on Boardwalk Empire, even though it isn't really the same thing at all... I don't know, It is old, and really, really swanky...

After getting my room key I took to finding the room, which was an adventure unto itself.  The reason I am staying here at such a hotel is because my father is here on business and there is a conference on hosted by a large accounting firm (not one that I have worked for).  It took me 4 attempts to find the room, so I accidentally walked past the conference room my dad was in.  He later commented to me that he thought he saw me wander by aimlessly, but didn't want to jump out of the session to check that it was me.  I got to the room, Dad walked in bearing gifts (a brownie and a chocolate chip cookie from the conference... See the meaning of 'junket'), sat and wrote the last post of this blog, then headed out to the pool to enjoy the Southern California sunshine (and on direction from my mother, get some vitamin D).

Dad had a meet and greet kind of dinner thing to go to, but before he took me to that we went for a walk down the main street of the island.  I found the time to expand my empire further:

Expanding my retail empire... How else do you think I'm paying for this?.... If you answered 'cockfighting', you'd be right

We eventually got to the dinner/drinks show and met a few others from Adelaide and we all got to talking... Without going into any detail there at all and jumping right to the highlights, it was a massive spread.  I had this brisket thing with mash, but I had about 5 plates... Then after the desert bar opened I went there... Below is the photographic evidence of the awesome power of the desert bar!  (People seemed surprised by me taking a photograph of the desert bar...)

Amazing times!

Alright, for those of you playing along at home... That is Haagen-Dazs vanilla and chocolate ice-cream, there is whipped cream, crushed oreos, M&Ms, sprinkles, crushed nuts, banana slices, hot chocolate fudge, and two other bowls which I can't remember what is in them... God damn this was one hell of a spread... I only went back 3 times...

After this party started to wind down, I headed back to the room and went to bed.

WEDNESDAY

Wednesday morning began late with a trip to the hotel concierge and a discounted ticket on the Hop-on Hop-off Trolley Tour of San Diego.  I left the hotel, but turned around and went back to the room to change into shorts, which was an inspired move, the weather being a warm and sunny 82 degrees... Or 28... I can never quite tell...

I got on and took the vacant seat on the right hand side of the bus, we drove over the causeway back into San Diego.  The view from the causeway gave brilliant views of Downtown San Diego and some US Navy ships, however these were visible from the left hand side of the bus... Ah well, I'm sure I'll get that shot on the way back...

View of San Diego Harbor looking South towards Mexico

We were driven through Balboa Park, up near the Zoo, and then on to the San Diego Old Town.  This was where we were forced to leave the bus (as this was the beginning of the tour and the bus I was on was not continuing).  I figured if I was being kicked off the bus anyway I may as well have a look around the Old Town.  This was a good decision, as if you're into history, as I claim to be, you can get lost in a place like this. 

Entrance to Old Town

Main square in Old Town

Now, I will concede, this is a very touristy area, and I will also concede that normally seeing adults wearing period clothing is kind of tacky, but I really didn't find either of those things to be a problem here.  Everything here was free to enter and walk around and enjoy the history.  There was a school house, there was the courthouse/jail (which was a single room), there was the bank house, and my personal favourite, the tobacco shop.  I am not a smoker, but it was one of the nicest smelling places I've been thus far (and I spent 20 minutes in a candy shop two days ago).  There was a guy at the front door in period garb, smoking a fat cigar and just generally looking like a scene out of a Western, there was all manner of pipes, cigarettes and cigars inside the store, there was a smoking room out the back, and there were jars of different tobacco (which they invited you to lift the lid and smell), and let me tell you some of the smells were brilliant... I didn't take notes on what each jar was, so I can't give you any examples, but it was amazing, just take my word for it... If not for the fact that I am not a smoker (and more so, didn't want to take it up today) I'd have spent more time in this store, it seemed very intriguing and very much in the right place for a period Western township.

Bank House (Wells Fargo)

Tobacco Store

The guy behind the counter was completely in period clothing and was smoking a cigar... A perfect advertisement for his own products

Smoking room

Pipes for sale

Tobacco Store interior

Tobacco Store interior

From there I took a look through the Mexican portion of this village, which included this very Mexican product:

Mustache Combs... How very useful for your average Mexican

There was a blacksmith shop which had a demonstration going on... But they weren't interested in me, so I took my token photographs and moved on.  I walked through the rest of Old Town (outside the State Park portion of the area) and had a look at the Sheriff Museum, which had a whole lot of police equipment and memorabilia over many years of service... It also had a rather large firearms collection.

Just a portion of the gun show they had going on

Badges over time

Cop cars over time

I headed down the hill on the bus and got off in the Gaslamp District, and had a walk through this historic part of downtown San Diego, and ended up at random walking by Petco Park.  Given the off-season for the baseball the back end of the ballpark was open and I was able to walk right up to the wall on the warning track.  It was pretty sweet.

Gaslamp District

Petco Park

For whatever reason the backside of the ballpark was open

View from the warning track

Petco Park

I hopped back on the bus to make my way back to Coronado, and was not able to get a seat on the good side of the bus... I was also stuck listening to some very loud, very large, very obnoxious Alabama family the entire way home... I guess that explains why the bus was near empty...

I got back to the hotel and was about to jump in the pool to cool off after a warm day spent in the sun, and before I did got pulled aside by my Dad.  He invited me to a free afternoon tea (which was attended by next to no one) where I had about 5 bowls of Mac & Cheese with ham... It wasn't as good as my Mac & Cheese, but it was pretty good, and the price was right... Given that I had barely eaten all day this was a welcome surprise.  Had some cake, had some free soft drinks (and took a few cans for the road) and headed back to the room.  At least that saves me paying for dinner tonight.

Dad was going to a US Navy/Air Force show, which you need a security clearance for... A clearance that I didn't have, so he had some time to kill... We went to the beach and took a swim in the Pacific, then went off to the hotel pool and spa and hung out there... On our way back the sun was setting and everyone was clamouring for space on the rail to take their photograph of the event.  This was the best I could do coming back several minutes later:

I'm sure that would look better if the sun were actually still up!

I'll try to get a better photo of that tomorrow... It really is a wonderful setting for a hotel...

Dad went off to his shindig, and I was left to the newest episode of South Park on Comedy Central and this blog.

Tomorrow I expect I'll go to the zoo or something equally touristy in San Diego... Open to suggestions...

As always, I hope that this was enjoyable and I look forward to next time!