Where the sand glitters like gold

A road trip to San Diego with my sister and our first stop is: the zoo? the Gas Lamp District?

Nope. Macy's.

February is Museum Month in San Diego.  Pick up a flier at any San Diego Macy's and receive half-off admission at 40 of San Diego County's greatest museums.

Except of course the zoo and safari park, which is what you really want and more importantly really NEED half off admission for. 

The San Diego Zoo is $40 for admission. $40. If you want to go to the Safari Park too its $76. PER PERSON. For ages 12+. (Kids aren't that much better - $30 for one park $56 for both). I'm too cheap to pay that. I don't even know how a family could afford it. (Can I point out that at the Columbus Zoo, children are $7.99 and adults are $12.99. And while it varies by list for which zoo (Cbus or San Diego) is #1 in America, Columbus is indisputably just as good and on some lists, better. So what, San Diego, you have pandas?)

 Nevertheless, the Museum Month thing is an awesome idea. It could encourage a lot of folks to actually go to museums they might have otherwise either not known about or not paid full price for.

For example, my sister and I went to La Jolla on our way to downtown. Beautiful beach.

I love the reflection of the trees and birds in the surf.

We walked down to the water's edge and put our feet in. The sand literally sparkled. It was gold and reflected in the sun like glitter.

In addition to the beach, and a lovely Italian lunch on an outside patio, we went up the hill overlooking the coast and pier to the Birch Aquarium at Scripps.

 

Walking up to the aquarium from the parking lot was a big warning sign. "Be aware of snakes - Rattlesnakes may be found in this area. They will not attach, but if disturbed or cornered they will defend themselves. STAY ON THE SIDEWALK!" I must admit, I know I was going to an aquarium where there would be wild animals, but I expected them to be on the other side of a glass tank, not on the sidewalk.

It was a great aquarium. It took you through all different underwater environments from different geographic regions.

 

Warm waters, cold waters...

 

Octopuses, sharks, and eels... jelly fish, lion fish, Nemo and Dori fish.

And there was a huge kelp forest.
Leopard sharks, garibaldi, eels, barracuda, giant sea bass, and more within a two-story, 70,000-gallon tank.
You can actually watch it live from home or the office. They have a camera on it and you can tune in to the Kelp Cam: http://aquarium.ucsd.edu/Education/Learning_Resources/Kelp_Cam/

And a touch tide pool. Aren't these some of the most unique star fish creatures you've seen? Such vibrant colors.

There was also a sea horse wing. All different types of sea horses, even baby ones... and some of the coolest were the varieties of  sea dragons.

Next stop: USS Midway. Also half price for Museum Month. 

 

We got a full tour of the ship, including the living quarters where that night girl and boy scouts were having a sleep over. A cute idea, and I would have been totally down for it when I was a girl scout. But honestly, I found it a little eerie back in those living quarters even during the day. I don't know that I'd voluntarily sign up for an overnight experience.

The best part was obviously the flight deck. I felt like as soon as I stepped onto it, I heard a trumpet soundtrack, followed by "Following in his father's footsteps as a naval aviator, Lieutenant Commander Harman Rabb Jr suffered a crash while landing his TomCat on a storm tossed carrier at sea.... He now fights in and out of the courtroom with the same daring and tenacity that made him a top gun in the air." Maybe I've just watched a few too many episodes of J.A.G.

Either that or a series of Top Gun quotes. "Talk to me, Goose." "Too close for missiles, I'm switching to guns." Or in the case of this plane, a jousting stick? Seriously, doesn't it look like this plane was meant to fly past other planes and knock them out of the air, like a knight off his horse.

(To fully embrace and ensure complete exposure to aviation, we not only toured the USS Midway, but also stopped by Kansas City BBQ, the bar where they filmed Top Gun.)

 

P.S. I had no idea that movie was filmed in 1985. I just realized tonight it was released in 1986. I wasn't even thought of yet! Great classic movie though!

I kept hoping I would be serenaded by a man in dress whites. I would, of course, have to politely decline, but come on, half the reason I went in there was so a Navy man would sing "You've lost that loving feeling" to me. Instead, an old guy asked if we'd like him to show us around the town... Well actually he asked Allie and Elizabeth, mine and Joyce's fake bar names. Allie and Elizabeth were not interested in his tour.

We then headed out to my favorite place in all of San Diego, probably about 3/4 of the reason I wanted to make the trip down to SD: Coronado.

 

And it is definitely one of my favorite beaches out of anywhere in the world.  There is simply a beauty about it that cannot fully be captured by photograph nor fully expressed by words. I find it simply breathtaking.

Walking along the shoreline, found a sand dollar in the sand. :)

And you can't not mention the Hotel del Coronado. Beautiful resort. Fun fact: When it opened in 1888, it was the largest resort hotel in the world and the first to use electrical lighting. Perhaps someday my adventures will include not only seeing the resort, but staying there, and fully experiencing the beauty of Coronado.