San Diego

I had planned this side trip from LA after reading about San Diego, and how many people consider it to be the most pleasant and attractive city in the US. I’d also thought that we wouldn’t really enjoy LA, so we would need a few side trips to get out of there. But even though we did end up enjoying LA, we are so glad that we went to San Diego.

We started off relatively early on a Sunday morning heading south, thinking the traffic wouldn’t be too bad then. But the fabled traffic problems of LA started to make sense to us, as it took a good hour and a half to make it through Orange County, past a pretty horrible landscape of suburban sameness caked in car fumes. We made use of the Car Pool lane (only available to cars with more than one passenger) which helped us make slightly quicker progress, and eventually escaped the conurbation and hugged the coastal freeway travelling southwards, under a blanket of cloud. We stopped for a break in Carlsbad, a low key seaside town (where we had had an offer of a home exchange), and got talking to a woman from Chicago who had with her a gorgeous little stray kitten she had found, and an Armenian woman who was visiting her relations who ran the café we were in. Miriam and Catherine were delighted by the kitten, and indulged by the Armenian woman, who was all sweetness and light until I asked her about how she had come to America. Her family lived in Turkey, and she harboured still a loathing of Turks for their massacres of Armenians during World War One.

Arriving in San Diego, we found the Youth Hostel after a bit of hunting around, and settled ourselves in. We decided to spend out first afternoon there in Balboa Park, a huge park right in the middle of the city, home of the San Diego zoo and liberally sprinkled with ornate Mission-era building that now house a range of museums and galleries. Barbara and I had a bit of a falling out as she wanted to stay to let the kids play in a wilder area of the park, with grass and trees, whilst I wanted to explore the buildings and fountains, so we each did our own thing for a bit. I found them later and led them to some really beautiful areas, best of all being the large lily pond, where nearby a mature lady was standing alone on a lawn, singing operatic tunes for her own, and our pleasure. The park was very restful, after a long day on the road.

We headed off for a meal on the island of Coronado, reached by one of the world’s most astounding bridges, curving high above the bay to allow ships to pass beneath (to and from the huge naval base), and giving stupendous views of the city and the water around which it is built. The only problem for me as driver was that it was difficult to look at the view and keep the car going smoothly around the curve. Coronado is a pretty part of San Diego, and we had one of the first of a series of lovely Mexican meals there.

Back at the Youth Hostel we planned an early start the next day for our visit to Sea World, and went to bed. I woke about 2am on hearing a group of people in the common room downstairs, who had probably just come back from a club. There was supposed to be a keep quiet after 11pm rule, but I probably could have gone back to sleep had it not been for one particular voice, of a bloke from Bolton who I’d talked to earlier that day. The trouble with him was, I could understand what he was saying, and he was talking about Wayne Rooney and his granny-shagging antics, and analysing Man United’s game. There was no way I could have slept through that, so I had to go down in my pyjamas and tell him (and the rest) to keep the noise down. The next day, though, I took no chances and bought some earplugs, which were fantastic – I’ll be taking them with me wherever I travel now (and when Miriam’s friends sleepover!) as they almost guarantee uninterrupted sleep. They also reduced the noise from planes due to San Diego’s airport being right in the centre of the city. Despite the occasional noisy Bolton fan, the Youth Hostel was great, with free pancakes for breakfast in the morning, free films in the TV lounge, lots of guidebooks in the library, a table tennis table, and very helpful staff.