San Diego

We've just returned from a week in San Diego. We were there for a fund-raising conference and took a couple of extra days to explore the area. Here's the view from our hotel - right beside the marina.



La Jolla is an upscale community just north of San Diego and it is famous for it's shoreline caves and families of sea lions. Brian had quite the experience trying to get this picture. He was on the beach when a particularly large wave rolled in and while trying to outrun it, he tripped in the sand, fell down and the wave rolled over him. You have to get him to tell the story - quite funny!!




Torrey Pines Golf Course is located right on the coast and was the site of the 2008 US Open.


On the first day of the conference, the sponsor - Grizzard Communications arranged a number of different outings for the delegates. Brian went golfing and Anne went whale watching. Here are some pictures from the whale watching trip - no whales but lots of interesting sights.


The USS Midway aircraft carrier is docked in San Diego as a floating museum. Here's a view of the anchors from the water - we also toured the ship later in the week.

The ocean was too rough for our little boat to go too far out, so we spent a lot of time in the bay - here's the America, after which the America's Cup is named.


The sea lions are everywhere. These floating docks are used by the fishing boats to prepare bait - and by the sea lions to sleep and soak up the sun.


This marker and fog horn is as far as we went into the open ocean. The water was rough - according to the Captain we had three-foot swells, although they felt much higher.


Just to give you an idea how far we were from shore - see the picture below. Before the tour we were told to bring our passports with us in case we crossed over into Mexican waters, but because the water was rough we never got that far.



San Diego is home to a large naval port and several Navy bases. This military cemetery is located on a large spit of land with the Pacific Ocean on one side and San Diego Bay on the other. As you can see below, there are thousands of white headstones all lined up with military precision overlooking the ocean. It was a very moving and humbling sight.


Great trip - the weather was cooler than we expected, but we had a fair amount of sunshine. San Diego was great with lots to see and do. It would be great to go back with more time to explore. The food was great and we had a couple of new experiences. We went to a restaurant called Slaters 50/50 and their signature dish is a burger that is 50% ground beef and 50% ground bacon!! We both tried and it and it was good (and not as gross as it sounds) but we both agreed that next time we would order a 100% beef burger and just get a couple of crispy pieces of bacon on top!