A Walk Through San Diego

Even though I spent over five hours in the USS Midway Museum, I still had a nice, long walk back to the hotel. I love walking around towns where I’m visiting. I feel like it provides an awesome opportunity to see things that might be missed by car.

This particular walk from the Midway to my hotel, according to Google Maps, was 4.0 miles. Yikes! I started at the Midway (Point A) and ended up at the not-so-Quality Inn (Point B).

This is the fish dock at San Diego Bay. Anthony’s Fish Grotto is famous for having the freshest catch. None of this even caught my attention, however, since I don’t like eating fish of any kind except Swedish Fish.

I’ve seen this sign in many pictures of San Diego, so I knew that I had to take a picture of it as well. Fish or no fish, this proves that I was enjoying my visit of the city.

San Diego Bay is next to downtown San Diego, which is gorgeous. This particular week was hosting Comic Con, so the entire city seemed abuzz with tons of fans and tourists alike. I kept my distance from downtown for just such a reason.

Before I headed to the museum, I grabbed a quick lunch across the street. Chicken salad sandwich and pasta salad. It was yummy, but I was hungry. The pasta salad was so crazy salty strong that I could only muster a few bites!

While on my walk to the Midway aircraft carrier museum, I got a view of an active aircraft carrier across the bay. They are even bigger and better now, and it was fun to see it next to a closer sailboat for size comparison.

San Diego is a city of the sea with tons of docks along the busy streets. Being a dock for boats meant that there were many photo opportunities. Perhaps growing up land-locked aids in my lack of knowledge of all things sea, but it was still fun to document pretty boats with my camera.

Who says you have to know anything about them to take pictures of them?

It was a big lighting difference from when I arrived in San Diego earlier that afternoon and when I left the museum for my walk “home.” I love the evening sun and how it can make fun pictures even better. The bay is full of boats just waiting to take visitors out for a bay tour.

San Diego Bay is breathtakingly beautiful. I never got tired of admiring it while walking along this evening.

This is the Star of India, which has been used in several movies. You might recognize it from Master and Commander. At least, that is what my shuttle driver from the airport mentioned about it when he dropped me off.

From previous experience, I have found that boat knowledge of shuttle drivers can usually be trusted.

And this pirate ship was also used in movies, but I couldn’t find any reading information to prove it. It was parked next to the Star of India, so that was promising. Other than that, I got nothin’.

I love old boats like this. Supposedly, this gem is the second-oldest ship still sailing. Again, you can’t always believe everything you hear. But I have no reason not to believe it. Up close, it looked ancient!

They also have retired submarines based here in San Diego for interior tours. I had just been on a giant ship for several hours, and I am not a fan of tight spaces, anyway. So this sub got a wave from me, and that was about it.

Submarines fascinate me. But usually not enough to board them.

Luck was with me since I timed my walk during a beautiful sail boat race in the distance. Dozens of boats filled the waters of San Diego Bay.

These are just some of the tour boats awaiting tourists for local trips. One kept blowing its ridiculously-loud horn, scaring me every single time. Then I laughed because of something startling me like a little ol’ boat.

No one was around to witness this, thank goodness.

This was one of my favorite pictures from my evening stroll. Check out that bird perching on top of the light. There is an alarmingly-huge bird population in San Diego.

Another favorite shot. I just love the slight silhouette provided by the setting sun. It smelled like the ocean, too, which isn’t exactly pleasant for a non-fish lover such as myself.

As I turned the corner to head further west, I passed the Coast Guard station. Several helicopters were taking off from this area all day, so it was fun to see where their base was in the bay.

Did you know that I almost joined the Coast Guard to fly about six years ago? I’m glad that it didn’t work out for me. No offense, Coast Guard. I’m just madly in love with my present job.

Oh dang. Another pretty sunset shot. The weather was certainly perfect for a little walk home. And I had a great walking path for most of the trip. San Diego seems to be a very pedestrian-friendly town. Which was lucky for me!

Hmmm, this is about my half-way mark to the hotel. So maybe two miles in? I had to cross some very busy streets but got to see the belly of a freeway overpass. The airport is just to the right of this road.

In fact, these large signs tell drivers which lane to enter for specific terminals at the airport. I thought the sunset was prettier than old airport signs, so I focused on lighting that would enhance that and lose the lettering.

It’s how I roll, yo.

This was really neat to visit. It is a memorial built by several survivors of cancer. Along the way, several motivational and inspirational quotations were found that helped get them through their ordeals. I am certain that such inspiration also helps people currently going through a battle with cancer.

 

Can you see the plaque to the left? That was one plaque of about twenty. I also loved the modern canopy above.

And this statue was to honor people in all phases of life battling cancer. The concept behind the statue is to pay tribute to those who make it through. It was beautiful.

Here is the running walking path that continued next to the boat docks on my westward walk. Every view was incredible! I could get used to this!

The Maritime Museum is building a replica of the San Salvador, which was the first European ship to reach the American west coast in 1542. It wasn’t very big, as you can see in the background. They have the construction site open to visitors, but it would be fun to visit again when the boat is finished.

I love museums.

My feet were just about to fall off at this point, so I was happy to see some lights that resembled hotels. I knew that my hotel wasn’t too far from this beautiful Marriott Courtyard Hotel. Aren’t those reflecting lights pretty?

This is a 2/3-scale replica of a battleship that once sailed from the San Diego Bay. When I was walking up to it, I was trying to figure out how on earth they got a boat this far in land. But then I discovered that they built it on the spot, and that made more sense to me.

I didn’t pay much attention to it, since I was tired and hungry.

But luckily I found dinner just a few stores away. I got a pork carnitas rice bowl from a Mexican food place. It wasn’t as good as I was hoping, but I’m sure that I enjoyed it more because of an empty stomach and aching feet. I was on those silly feet all day!

After dinner, I made my way to the hotel. It felt great to have seen so much of San Diego, but it also felt nice to finally be in for the night.

What a beautiful walk!