Tuesday, August 15, 2017 – USS Midway Museum and Coronado Island
Mooney and Brian drove Carmen and me to the airport at 8:00 this morning so Carmen could catch her flight and I could pick up a rental car from Advantage. You don't get a very good deal on a two-day rental, but Tom and I wanted the flexibility of our own vehicle rather than taking a series of Ubers from point A to point B.
Back at the Airbnb, the four of us packed up our vehicles, ate leftover giant pizza and doughnuts for breakfast, and went our separate ways. Brian and Mooney headed back toward Oklahoma, but Tom and I are staying in San Diego till Thursday. We stopped by the hotel we'll be staying in the next two nights, but it was too early to check in, so we went on over to the USS Midway Museum, at the Navy Pier in San Diego Bay.
The USS Midway
The USS Midway was America's longest-serving aircraft carrier, in service from 1945 to 1992. It opened as a museum in 2004 and houses 29 restored military aircraft. The USS Midway Museum has been voted the #1 tourist attraction in San Diego. Entrance is $20 each for adults, or a few bucks less with a AAA discount or for retired military. We spent 4 ½ hours touring the immense ship. Someone with a lot of interest in either aircraft or all things military could easily spend all day.
SBD Dauntless, World War II Navy dive bomber
SNJ Texan, World War II Navy advanced flight trainer
Upon boarding the ship, we started in the Midway Theater with the “Voice of Midway” movie (complete with holograms), that takes you inside the Battle of Midway, a great victory for the U.S. Navy and the inspiration for the ship's name.
After the movie, we picked up headsets for the self-guided audio tour. At over 60 locations throughout the ship, you can push a button on your headset and learn about life aboard ship, narrated by former Midway sailors. At any one time, the Midway housed a crew of 4,500, making the ship a veritable floating city. The living quarters were crowded and spartan.
Spacious accommodations
Air traffic control
Creepy animatronic captain
Very knowledgeable docents were located throughout the ship, giving talks and answering questions. There were fascinating presentations on the flight deck explaining the takeoff and landing of the aircraft on the ship. The phrase “balls of steel” comes to mind. Not only the pilots, but anyone working on the flight deck has a very risky job. I think I'd volunteer for laundry detail. It's an honorable profession!
F/A-18 Hornet, Navy and Marine Corps fighter-bomber
SH-3 Sea King, Navy helicopter used in Apollo astronaut recovery
Coronado Bridge from the USS Midway
Mid-afternoon, we checked into the Vagabond Inn San Diego Airport/Marina, located in Point Loma, on the America's Cup Harbor. It was basic but clean, with a king-sized bed, refrigerator, a heated pool, 24-hour coffee, and a free but minimal breakfast. Best of all, unlike the Super 8 we stayed at in San Diego in February, the Vagabond Inn was bedbug free! Yay!
Pleasant pool
Sounds like a good policy...
We relaxed for a couple of hours at the hotel, feasting on a lunch of yet more leftover pizza, then drove out to Coronado Island, which is not an island at all, but rather a peninsula. It once was an island, until the narrow strip of water that had separated the island from the mainland was filled in by the military when the island was taken over as a naval base before World War II.
Coronado Island is reached via the striking Coronado Bridge. Interestingly, the Coronado Bridge is the second deadliest bridge for suicides in the United States, trailing only the Golden Gate Bridge in San Francisco. They are both surpassed, however, by the Nanjing Yangtze River Bridge in China. And that's your terrible little factoid of the trip.
In any event, we proceeded without incident to the Hotel del Coronado, a Victorian-style beach resort which is the second largest wooden structure in the United States. When it opened in 1888, it was the largest resort hotel in the world. Now it's a Hilton, though the name hasn't changed.
Hotel del Coronado
Dragon tree
Hotel del Coronado
Lovely landscaping
Coronado Beach
We continued driving south on Coronado Island, stopping at Imperial Beach, the southernmost beach city on the West Coast of the United States. The late afternoon sun was beautiful as we walked out onto the pier and watched the surfers and fishermen.
Imperial Beach
Pier at Imperial Beach
The road finally dead-ended at the Tijuana Slough National Wildlife Refuge Shoreline. From here we could watch helicopters patrolling the border and see as far as the bullring in Tijuana. We strolled out onto the beach and waded in the cold Pacific surf as the sun set.
Tijuana Slough
Tijuana bullring
Border patrol
Pacific sunset
Back at our hotel, we cleaned up and then walked a few short blocks to the Harbor Town Pub in Point Loma for dinner. They had a nice selection of craft beers, pub grub with a California spin, and tonight a great guitar player. The Red Trolley beer was especially tasty.
Harbor Town Pub
Pinball at the Harbor Town Pub
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