URBAN CULTURE WITH AN OCEAN VIEW…

We decide to take the scenic route to Chula Vista, down past the Salton Sea, bouncing over the whoop de woo (You know those undulating roads that put your stomach in your throat... really fun in a sports car... but problematic towing a trailer?  ) fault lines that riddle the Coachella Valley, winding over the costal mountains and across the Anza Borrego Desert. The drive is picturesque and reminds us why we enjoy “moving days.”

The Chula Vista Marina and RV Resort at the south end of the San Diego Harbor is our home for the next month.  The Marina is modern and attractive with grassy parks, two restaurants and docks filled with luxury yachts. The adjoining RV Park is packed with their land based counterparts.  Our space is oriented toward the sun with hedges dividing the spaces that give us a bit of privacy. A newly completed bicycle path winds around the harbor. Not a bad place to spend part of the winter eh? (See we are learning to speak Canadian, must be the snowbird influence LOL.)

The San Diego area has a lot to offer and we immediately start by making the list-o-things to do.  During our research we see that Macy’s is giving away passes for a 50% discount off entry fees for most of the museums in the area so our first stop is the Chula Vista Mall to pick one up.  This ends up saving us a bundle!

Seaport Village presents some fun shopping and we make a few small purchases.  Of course, seaside shopping also entails cocktails by the water. (Big surprise huh?)

Flight Crew

We spend a whole day at the USS Midway Museum, which is the USS Midway aircraft carrier.  Part of the admission includes a self-guided audio tour with spiffy mp3 players that play information about numbered stops around the vessel.  Easy to use menus let us switch back and forth as we explore the ship. Additionally there are docents who give additional information and insight into life on an aircraft carrier.  One of the highlights is a talk by a retired pilot outlining the process to land a plane on a moving airfield.  Short explanation it’s a controlled crash… fascinating. There are great photo ops all over the ship including one that we just couldn’t resist...  

Balboa Park

The 1,200-acre Balboa Park is the largest urban cultural park in the nation and the gem of San Diego.  In addition to the world famous San Diego Zoo, the park is home to fifteen major museums, gardens, performing arts, hiking trails and restaurants. Here we take full advantage of out Macy’s 50 % off museum admissions discount card. 

Yes that's a water
pipe in the front seat

The Automotive Museum has a special exhibit of low riders that sparkle and shine.  They are fun to check out and tricky to photograph.  They also display some beautifully restored vintage vehicles.  But the piece de resistance is “Louie Mattar’s Fabulous $75,000 Car.”  Louie retrofitted this 1947 Cadillac with every convenience he could imagine (mobile phone, TV, stove, washing machine, shower, chemical toilet and more…) so he could travel NON-STOP, fueling, changing oil and tires on the go.  This vehicle may be the first motor home ever built and certainly the most unique.  He and his crew traveled (without stopping for anything) 6,320 miles across the US in 1952 and 7,482 miles from Anchorage Alaska to Mexico City in 1954.

Botaical Building
alive with orchids

This month Orchids are the stars in the Botanical Building.  Inside one of the largest lath structures in the world, thousands of blooms are nestled under palms and ferns and piled high in breathtaking chromatic displays. A light mist hangs in the air under the lath. Stunning!

Bill Traylor 1982

The Mingei International Museum is dedicated to art of the people (mingei) from all eras and cultures of the world.  The exhibit “TRUE BLUE” a collection of turquoise, Lapis Lazuli, Indigo and cobalt draws us in, but we are blown away by the art of Bill Traylor, a self-taught artist from Montgomery, Alabama, who began drawing in his early eighties and produced over 1200 works during the last decade of his life. The works are done in graphite, colored pencil, poster paints and crayon on shirt cardboard, cast-off signs and wrappers. We are captivated with the emotion and storytelling of his works. There is also a wonderful exhibit of musical instruments.

The Museum of Man offers an in-depth installation on human evolution.  There are also Egyptian mummies, shrunken heads and lots of ancient artifacts.  A special exhibit; Instruments of Torture is a chilling installation of implements cruelly engineered to inflict unbelievable pain and suffering. It forces us to explore how we, as humans, respond to events and take action. (Are people the real instruments of torture?) It examines how, in some situations, even those who swear that they would never torture another person, do exactly the opposite. Ultimately, we are encouraged to contemplate our own human frailty, the conditions that lead to torture, and how we can be “upstanders”– people who stand up for others – in a world that has too many bystanders.

On Sundays the International Cottages representing 32 nations are open and we explore international heritage and culture.  These charming Spanish inspired haciendas display information about the various countries and ethnicities, and offer culinary samples of their national cuisines.  After visiting the cottages we stop by the Speckles Organ Pavilion for a free concert of ginormous organ music. The music may not be our cup of tea but the mood is festive and light hearted.

And then there is the ZOO! 

Monkeys Rule!

The 100-acre Zoo is home to over 3,700 rare and endangered animals. Their mission is to preserve and protect rare and endangered wildlife and habitats.

After almost a century this pioneer of “cage less” exhibits is still one of the best in the nation.  It is one of only four zoos in the country, which have giant pandas on display, and is the most successful in terms of panda reproduction. (Unfortunately when we visited one panda was face down asleep and all we could view was his derriere, the second panda was quarantined because he decided to remodel the habitat destroying some of the artificial trees – bad-bad panda!) But here’s a link to the Panda Cam so you can check them out here:  PANDA CAM!

Mama Koala
with baby

It is also home to more Koalas anywhere outside of Australia and they will soon be opening a new spectacular Koala habitat. The modern Elephant Odyssey features a display of extinct animals from Southern California's history, and their living descendants: elephants, lions, jaguars, sloths, camels, tapirs, pronghorn, California condors, and more! The Polar Bear Plunge offers the opportunity to watch these giant creatures from above and below the water. And for those at home there is also a Polar Cam!

And Turtles... lost and lots of turtles... because they are the most endangered vertebrate on the planet!

During this time we eat out a bit… but this post is already getting too long… so  restaurant reviews will have to wait until the next post.

k