161 HOME

I had a heck of a time falling asleep the night before departure.  I was awake until at least 1:00 AM.  I awoke with a start at 5:30 AM and finished throwing the final few things into my suitcase.  Had to wait until I showered to put my toiletries kit in the case.  I left the case open as I headed to breakfast one last time.

I had been debating wearing shorts and a T-shirt for the flight home or to dress “presentable” in slacks and a golf shirt for the business class flight.  I opted for shorts and T-shirt because my legs were still stinging from the sunburn.  However, I quickly changed my mind when I got outside.  It was chilly and raining.

I got to the restaurant and got a surprise.  None of the staff that had been serving me for the last two weeks were on duty today.  Instead there was a nice fellow, who I had never seen before.  But I had my usual breakfast, knowing that there was no Maple Leaf lounge in San Diego airport.  Once I got back to the room, I quickly changed into slacks and golf shirt, but left my jacket packed.

I went and quickly checked out and called for my Uber.  I got to the airport by 8:00 AM, some 4 hours and 40 minutes before my flight.  I figure it was better to kick around the airport than to sit in the empty hotel room with my laptop and iPad all packed.

I went up to the Air Canada Business Class check in and was told that I was unable to check in for my flight until 9:40 AM.  So rather than walking all the way down the airport to find a Starbucks or something, I sat off to the side of the counter and pulled my iPad out.  It had not been a problem checking in 4 hours early on any of the other flights, but, oh well.

Finally, the time came, and I checked my bags in.  I got a great surprise when the Air Canada staff told me I was welcome to use the United Airlines lounge, that Air Canada Business Class has a reciprocal agreement.  That was awesome.

I breezed past a lineup of hundreds of people waiting to go through security, thanks to Nexus and Business Class.  I kept tripping the scanner though and none of us could figure out why.  I was wearing my compression gloves for arthritis and they have copper fibres woven into them.  That was the problem.  Once I took those off, I breezed through.

It’s funny too, because I had taken every precaution to speed things up by putting everything, (wallets, watch, keys, coins) into various pockets on the camera case.  That way, it was just one thing to worry about going through the scanner.  Instead of repeatedly emptying out and refilling my pockets.  Oh well, I’ve learned another thing.  Oh, by the way, the RF blocking sleeves for credit cards etc., trip the scanner too.

Anyway, I ended up in the United Lounge where there was a buffet of food and all sorts of drinks both hard and soft.  There were also some very comfortable chairs, equipped with electric outlets and USB ports.  So, I sat there plugged in and keep myself amused until it was time to go to my gate for boarding.

Once onboard, we were just about ready for takeoff.  I saw something different and appreciate it. The jetway had been pulled back, the door to the plane had been closed and locked. Suddenly, the pilot comes out, puts on a yellow vest, opens the door and goes outside. He gathers several ground crews and they open the luggage hold. After a ten-minute delay, the pilot gets back on board and announces, "some of the luggage was improperly loaded causing a weight imbalance and I went out to ensure it was properly loaded." Pretty impressive. I don't know how he knew, but he did and fixed it before takeoff. we were in a smaller jet, a Bombardier CRJ-900

SIMILAR TO THE PLANE I WAS ON

It was an incident free flight, although a little bumpy at times.  Once we landed at Vancouver airport, I again was able to bypass a lot of the lines with Nexus and business class.  I breezed through customs and then the only delay came in waiting for my suitcase to appear.

I got outside, jumped on the shuttle and got my truck and started the long drive home.  I realized I was going to be right in the middle of rush hour and so I pulled over and grabbed a bite to eat.  It didn’t take long though and I was still in the middle of rush hour, but for some reason, traffic moved at a steady pace and I made it home before the news was over.

160 LAST FULL DAY IN SAN DIEGO

Well., today is the final full day in San Diego.  I had always planned on this being a rest day before leaving, because of all the walking and lifting I’ll have to do tomorrow.  But the rest day won’t mean a do-nothing day.  First and foremost, I must remember to confirm my flight home.  Hopefully today won’t be the day that the internet craps out again.  That’s been my one complaint here.

Today will also be a packing day.  I don’t have a lot of additions.  A couple of baseball caps and some purchased photos, along with just under 17,000 digital photos I have taken.  It’s been a great trip and travelling alone is better.  I can do what I want, when I want and take as much time as I want at a specific location for photography.

I haven’t been lonely at all since I have Facebook to stay in touch, or I can text if I want.  I’ve made friends with some of the staff, but all of them have been the staff at the restaurant onsite.  I’ve only seen the front desk staff when I checked in and one other time when I went to report losing one of my room keys.

The TV in this room has way more stations than the one in Orlando did, and I don’t really watch it.  I have it on in the evening while I’m editing shots from the day’s shoots, but that’s about it.  The room is comfy, and I have the air conditioning cranked up.  It gets cool enough in here that I have a sweatshirt on as I type this.  Sometimes I even must turn it off.

The weather has been great, not too hot, not too cold.  There was one day that got quite hot and there was only one day where it rained most of the day.  There was a couple of days where it had rained overnight and looked like it was going to rain more during the day, but it always cleared up.

The hotel itself is situated near the Miramar Naval Air Base and it was cool watching the jets taking off and doing flybys directly behind the hotel, where my room (105) is situated.  I got some good pics of the planes and helicopters.  It was like having my own private airshow.

TWO F-18'S DO A FLYBY

My favourite places to go for photography had to be a tie between the San Diego Zoo, which prompted this whole trip, and the San Diego Zoo Safari Park.  I went twice to each of them.  I pretty much had to though, because they are so big.  I doubt a person without disabilities could cover the entire parks in one visit.

The zoo itself, I had no idea how big it was or how many hills and stairs there were to walk.  The stairs can be bypassed by strategically placed elevators.  I walked the zoo the first time and only saw half of it and I was hurting badly by the end of the day.  That was nothing though compared to the Safari park which is 10 times bigger.  It really is.  The zoo is 90 acres in size, the safari park is 900 acres.

I learned my lesson when I went to Seaworld, but then I was forced to.  My body was hurting so much by then that when walking to the entrance I was already in trouble.  I finally broke down and rented a scooter.  This was a boon as it allowed me to see the entire park.  It became a detriment though as it turned out to be the hottest day of my trip.

The scooter had a sun shade, but it didn’t really cover anything.  I guess it kept the sun off my head.  But it left my legs sort of locked in one position, as if I had fallen asleep in the sun, somewhere.  My arms were basically in the same boat.  I didn’t put sunscreen on, because it hadn’t been necessary until that day.  On the final day of the trip, the burn is still evident, but is more tan now finally.

As I mentioned, I’ve had a great time and had a lot of fun.  It’s been a lot of work editing the shots I’ve taken and posting them on Instagram, well at least when the internet was working.  But that was part of the fun in the long run.  I’m sad to be leaving, but really looking forward to getting home.

This will be the extent of my travels for now.  Mainly because, I have no idea where I want to go next yet.  I want to be home for the birth of the first grandchild in June.  I also have tickets to see Paul McCartney in July, on what could be my very last chance to see him as he is getting up there in age.

So, it’s a pause in the travel adventures for the time being.  I may consider a weekend trip to Seattle, but I would drive there.  I may also consider an attempt to return to the lake, but it would be for a short period of time at best, but we shall see.  One never knows what’s coming over the horizon.

159 SAN DIEGO TROLLEY TOUR AND OLD TOWN

When I woke up this morning, I discovered that all the blistering was gone from both arms and legs.  There is a bit of peeling going on from the burn, but it has settled down and turned into mostly a tan, but I think I may peel pretty good.  Oh well, what’s a little burn for all the fun I’ve had in San Diego.

I’m left now with two full days left and not a clue what to do.  I have done all 7 of the activities I set out to do and have managed to photograph essentially all the animals that I wanted to get shots of.  So, now I had to decide what to do today.  I’ve had numerous suggestions to go and visit old town.  I’m not so sure what I’ll photograph there.

Anyway, I decided that I was going to go and look.  I can always turn around and go back to the hotel.  When we got there, the first thing I saw was the hop on hop off trolley tour that people have been telly me about it.  So, off I went.

We got a great narrated tour aboard the trolley and saw all the different areas of San Diego.  Some, of the places that I had already visited.  I didn’t feel like doing the jump off, jump on thing, so just say in the very cramped seats and enjoyed the tour.

Old Town is literally where California got started.  At various times through history, very large segments of San Diego were owned by one man.  These men parlayed their large chunks of land into multi-million-dollar fortunes.  We’re talking in dollars from the 1800’s so you can’t imagine what it would be worth now.  One section where sections of land were obtained for free now sell for between one and two million dollars each.

We went over the Coronado Bridge, which was scary as hell.  It’s 268 feet tall at mid-span.  Sitting in an open trolley, travelling at 70 mph and no railings on my side.  I concentrated on trying to take photos of the harbour area so that I didn’t even think of looking straight down.  Geez, I can’t believe I did that.

Coming back wasn’t as bad since there is a sidewalk and a bicycle lane between the edge and the trolley.  We passed the Coronado Naval Base where the US Navy Seals train.  In fact, I may even have seen a couple out on the water in an orange inflatable boat.  I even saw one of the new stealth Navy destroyers, cool.

I saw the place where Wyatt Earp lived as well as the business where he went broke.  He had moved to San Diego from Tombstone.  He lived in San Diego for awhile before moving to Alaska where he made a fortune selling liquor to miners.

The San Diego Airport has a plane taking off or landing once every 90 seconds, this despite having only one runway.  The airport closes at 11:00 PM every night and re-opens at 6:00 AM every day.  That’s cool when you think about how many passengers come through San Diego every day.

There is a commuter railway, the red cars, called the trolley, even though it’s a train.  There’s a second train which will take you to Tijuana, Mexico, or North to Los Angeles.  The freeway system is amazing as well.  The smallest freeway I’ve been on has been 8 lanes, 4 lanes in each direction.

Once the tour ended up back where we started at Old Town, I decided that I would wander around and see what was around and what was available to photograph.  There were lots of shops and restaurants.  It’s apparently very popular as every restaurant was jammed to overflowing.  I haven’t been eating lunch anyway, and I sure wasn’t going to stand around waiting for 20 to 40 minutes, just to go in and eat.

Finally, my legs and feet could take no more and my sunburn was starting to bubble again.  So, I called for an Uber and headed home.  My Uber driver had a little dog with her who sat very quietly on her lap.  He looked like a tiny version of my Toby and what a coincidence, this dogs name is also Toby.  I also saw a little shop in Old Town called Toby’s.  So, no wonder I’m thinking about the big guy tonight.

I have no idea what I’m going to do tomorrow, but I’m thinking I should probably take it easy.  Make it a rest day, since there will be an awful lot of walking on Tuesday with the trip home.  Walking through both airports.  I know how bagged I was getting here as well as how tired I was getting home from Orlando.

158 BALBOA PARK

So, I’m certainly running out of things to do and photograph, which is a good thing since the trip is ending in a few days.  So, on a Saturday, I initially decided to go to the Museum of Natural History.  It’s indoors and helps keep me out of the sun.  Except, I had spoken to staff at the restaurant and they suggested that I should check out the pond at Balboa Park.

So, I started wandering around and found all sorts of things going on in the park.  There were entertainers and bubble blowers, festivals and other things.  It was all rather interesting and lots of photo ops.  It’s another sunny, warm day and I’m still worried about too much sun with this burn.  So, I stuck to the shade as much as I could.

During my explorations I found a fully functional and working telephone booth.  Although, it now costs 50 cents to make a phone call.  I can remember the days when a call cost 10 cents.  I think the most amazing thing about this, is that the phone wasn’t trashed and covered in graffiti.

Balboa Park is huge.  It contains the San Diego Zoo and 17 different museums including the Air and Space Museum, A Car Museum, Model Railroad Museum, The Natural History Museum and many others.  It also has a neat reflecting pond with lily pads and ducks.

After wandering around and watching some of the entertainers, I decided to continue with my original plan and see the Museum of Natural History.  There were all sorts of exhibits ranging from prehistoric times to modern days.  There are some cool animal exhibits that are so very well done, they look like they are still alive.  I got a nice shot of a cougar, that could have been in the zoo.

So, after a nice break out of the sun, but still a lot of walking, I headed back outside.  After looking around a little more, I headed towards the old carousel to look.  On the way I was intercepted by another photographer, who was also a Nikon shooter.  Things took a bit of a weird turn though.  I will say, he seemed a bit "off"'.

I have my D4s with Tamron 150-600 clipped to my chest on my imitation cotton carrier. I had some other photographer stop me and ask me about the carrier. He had his camera clipped to his chest on some kind of carrier as well. This is where it got strange. He proceeded to tell me that his setup was much superior to mine for shooting. I didn't want to get into an argument and his wife was trying to drag him away.

His setup is the D7100 with a kit lens. I have no argument with the D7100, have one myself. Debating, which is better, is kind of non-productive. Heck, they're both Nikons and it all depends on what you can afford and what kind of shooting you do. I could understand debating Canon and Nikon, but... I will give him one thing, he did it to my face and didn't play keyboard warrior. But, holy cow, I would never dream of criticizing someone else's choice of gear, well, of course, unless they had Canon, and it was someone I knew, and it would be done in jest.

Anyway, once his wife managed to pull him away, I continued to wander.  I found a miniature railway train going by, so I stopped to photograph that.  By then though, I was getting pretty worn out and decided it was time to call Uber and head back to the hotel.

When I was sitting in the Uber, I noticed that my left knee looked kind of bumpy and I thought it looked kind of strange.  I couldn’t figure out what it was.  As soon as I touched my knee and several broke open, I realized my knee was blistered.  It didn’t hurt, it wasn’t itchy.

Once I got back to the hotel, I discovered that it wasn’t just my left knee.  Both legs and both arms that had been sunburned were now blistered.  It made me kind of concerned, thinking I wasn’t going to be able to go outside for the last few days in San Diego.

However, later in the evening, almost all the blisters had mostly disappeared.  So, that’s a good thing.  Other friends on Facebook told me that they get the same thing and it is nothing to worry about.  Anyway, that out of the way, I went and had dinner and then came back to the room to edit the days shots.

157 LA JOLLA PRONOUNCED LAHOYA BEACH

So, today, I really had no idea where I was going to go or what I was going to do.  All I knew for sure is that it would be somewhere I could take photos.  I just didn’t know where.  I checked Google and saw several selections but had no idea where any of them were in relation to my hotel.  So, I went for breakfast to try and figure it out.

So, while I was having breakfast, I was asking the staff and one other customer.  I told them I liked to take photos of wildlife etc. and that friends on Facebook had suggested I go to the beach.  The waitress actually follows me on Instagram, so she has an idea of the photos I like to take.

The consensus of opinion of all of us seems to be to go to the beach.  They suggested that I go to La Jolla Beach.  It is actually pronounced La Hoya.  They told me it’s great for scenery as well as wildlife including, seals, sea lions and birds.  So off I went.

Once I arrived, I made the long trek down the stairs to the beach itself.  I knew it was going to prove difficult, especially walking on an uneven surface like sand.  While I was walking on the loose sand it was painful and I was having difficulty with balance.  I finally made it to the wet and solid sand and walking became immensely easier.  However, I had to keep an eye on the breaking waves so that I didn’t get my feet soaked.

The cove area was impressive with all the seals and sea lions around.  It was also full of stupid people.  There are signs everywhere warning that sea lions can be dangerous, and yet there were people walking out on the rocks to be close to one or two, to get selfies.  How stupid can people be.  There was one seal way up on the dry sand that had a nasty wound on the shoulder of his left flipper.  Hopefully he’ll be ok.  The stupid people all seemed to survive as well.

The one thing that was not impressive, in the cove area, is that it absolutely stinks.  Likely from all the seal and bird crap, not to mention the seals themselves.  The crap also brings flies and they swarm you.  They are annoying as hell.  They don’t bite, they just land on bare skin and I hate it.

While down below I saw up on the cliffs a section with about 100 cormorants and farther down the beach a section with a bunch of pelicans.  So, I started up the long flight of stairs, with people passing me by, since I can’t walk up stairs too quickly.  Then I started walking.  The cormorants were a lot farther away than I figured.  I would guess over a mile.

I got to them and discovered they were all nesting and there were little baby cormorants underneath their moms.  I got some great pictures and then started down the street to where the pelicans were hanging out.  This would be another mile or so.  The bonus is that the farther away from the cove I got, the more the small improved and flies disappeared.  There was quite a wind blowing and now I could smell the clean sea air.

Finally, I headed back, and after doing the 2 plus miles to my starting point, I just kept going.  Finding more things to photograph, including what appeared to be a pod of whales.  However, later in the hotel, when I downloaded and magnified the photos, I discovered them to be masses of seaweed.  Too bad.

I walked all the way to another cove; this one called the Children’s Pool.  It used to be just that, a protected cove where people could bring their kids to swim.  It has been taken over by seals and sea lions and the beach is closed because the animals are “pupping”.  I got more great photos here, including squadrons of pelicans in flight.  All in all, a productive day.

I’m back to being able to walk after three days of using the scooters.  It’s a good thing too, because there were no scooters available here.  One thing that did surprise me, is that there were no restaurants, vending machines or people selling cold drinks.  There were a few stalls selling T-shirts, but I needed to get some liquid in me.

Finally, at the point of exhaustion, and I would say about 5 miles of walking, I finally called it a day and called for my Uber.  The guy must have been right around the corner as I barely had enough time to get my gear stowed back in the backpack.  I got another driver who didn’t speak English, so conversation was at a premium and it makes for a long ride back.

156 PANIC AT THE ZOO

When I went to breakfast this morning, I had nothing planned and had absolutely no idea what I was going to do.  Just the same as yesterday.  I knew I had to make one more trip to the San Diego Zoo and I know I only have 5 days in which to do it.  I’m figuring that the weekend might be busy as hell and I’d kind of like to avoid it and Monday, I probably shouldn’t push my luck the day before departure, so today became that day.

I showed up at the zoo with the goal of catching the areas that I missed last week.  I had some priorities to accomplish.  Once I found out there are Orangutans at the zoo, I absolutely had to see them.  The polar bears were another priority.  I wanted to try and catch the tigers being active and so that was my mission for the day.

YOUNG ORANGUTAN PLOTTING

My feet and legs are still hurting me and so is the burn, so I opted to rent another scooter.  I’ve gone from being embarrassed to use one to almost dependant on them, well at least for mega-walks like these.  It’s interesting to note that it is actually slower getting around.  Partly because they don’t move too fast, but partly because you must constantly slam on the brakes as people step right in front of you, or just stop for no reason.

Certain animals I have a soft spot for, and they are hard to get photos of, so I like to make the best of it.  Yesterday was over 400 shots of elephants and babies.  Today I quickly found the Orangutans and shot 335 shots of them and another primate and her baby in their enclosure.

Moving on to the tiger enclosure, they were both fast asleep as usual.  But I was in no rush, so I parked the scooter next to the glass.  There was a tiger sleeping right against the glass.  After quite some time, he started to get active, but he was too close, so I got shots with the iPhone and then when he moved off, got more with the big camera.

From there I started touring and came to a penguin enclosure, which included a waterfall you could go behind.  I used the iPhone there to video the waterfall front and back in normal and in slow motion.  That is truly the last time I can say I had the phone.  I kept exploring and found the polar bears.  They weren’t very white anymore though as they kept rolling in a mud puddle and then in the dirt.

ONE MUDDY POLAR BEAR

When I got to the end of that segment, I reached for the iPhone to record some more video, and it was gone.  I checked all my pockets.  I checked the floor of the scooter and even checked the camera bag.  No luck at al.  The phone is missing.  A moment of panic set in.  There is a lot of sensitive info stored on the phone as well as photos.  I need it for booking Uber and I especially need it for the return trip home.

So, I started retracing my path, with no thought I would ever see the phone again.  It didn’t dawn on me that the phone is locked and can only be opened with facial recognition, but still, it was a panic-stricken time.  Normally, there are zoo employees everywhere, but of course now that I needed one, there are none to be found.

I finally made it up a huge hill.  The scooter stalled out twice and I had to turn it off and let the battery recover slightly, however, the scooter wasn’t the same after.  Just not the same speed.  At the top of the hill, I found three employees and reported the loss to them.  They immediately called guest services/lost and found for me, and discovered there had been a black iPhone X turned in.  So, before I even reported it, someone had turned it in.  Well, at least I hope it’s mine.

The quickest path to guest services was to go across a very high bridge that I had been avoiding, due to my fear of heights.  Thankfully it is very wide, and I drove right down the center of it, never looking to either side.  I finally got to guest services, they presented me with the phone that I was certain was mine.  But I had to unlock it first to prove it was mine.  That was easily done, and I had my phone back.

I was so grateful, I asked for contact info for the person who found it.  They either didn’t have it or wouldn’t tell me.  I don’t know which.  So, I purchase two general admission tickets and asked that they be given to the person who turned it in, or if they didn’t know that, then to donate them to a person in need, so that they might visit the zoo.  A pay it forward scenario.  So, being very relieved I called Uber and came back to the hotel.

155 SAN DIEGO ZOO SAFARI PARK - THE RETURN

When I got up this morning, the sunburn was sort of iffy at best.  It looks slightly better and it doesn’t hurt quite as much, but I discovered how wrong I was when I jumped into a hot shower this morning and jumped is a very relative turn.  I very carefully and slowly stepped into the shower.  If I was still asleep when I did so, I surely wasn’t when the hot water hit my legs, ouch!

I have absolutely no idea what I am going to do today, although I did pack up all the camera gear and headed over for breakfast as if I had a mission.  I had an omelet while I was reading my book and just basically a leisurely meal, with nowhere to be.

The burn is still tender, and my legs and feet are still sore.  Walking was a bit of a challenge just going from my room to the restaurant.  Breakfast over I went and sat on the bench outside the office, where Uber picks me up.  Even to this point, I had no idea where I was going.  I pulled up the screen on my phone and impulsively typed in the safari park, so the decision is made.

What a fortunate choice for an Uber driver I got.  He is a professional photographer and videographer and drivers Uber on his down days.  Helping to pay off his student loans.  Anyway, we happily discussed photography and gear for the entire 40-minute ride.  It would be kind of cool if you could order the same driver, but if there is a way, I don’t know how.  I gave him my card and he’s going to check out my Instagram postings.

Once inside the gates, I was determined that I was going to walk the park this time, again.  Despite what I know about the size of the park from the previous visit.  I had some specific targets in mind today.  Elephants are the priority, but I also want to see the Butterfly Jungle, and tigers.  I wouldn’t be opposed if time permits to get more gorilla shots.

I got about 20 minutes into the walk and realized that I was in trouble again and that there would be no way to be able to finish the walk.  So, I trekked 20 minutes back to the gates and broke down and rented another scooter.  It costs as much to rent the scooter as it does for admission, but at this point, I don’t care.

I brought along a long sleeve T-shirt to help protect my arms if need be and I am well slathered up with SPF 30 sunscreen.  However, if a fit of semi-brilliance, I pulled the shirt out of the camera bag and rigged up a shade to protect my legs, since they are the most badly burned.  It worked very well I though, but more on that later.

First stop was the Butterfly Jungle.  It was a 40-minute wait to get inside but having a place to sit made it that much easier.  Once inside, it was like entering an oven.  It’s like a greenhouse in there, but I guess these butterflies like that.  There are thousands of them inside.  They are harder to photograph than birds, because their flight is unpredictable.  There was one young girl that they seemed to particularly like and at one point she had 20 of them landed on her.  I made a point of having my photo taken by the staff photographer.  It’s a bit of a rip-off what they charge, but hey, it is a holiday and a way to get some shots of me on location.

From there I made the long “drive” to the elephant enclosure.  I never would have made it walking today.  The big bonus to this is that the elephants seem to like the heat and were active today.  There were two very cute baby elephants.  One about 8 months old, who weighs 700 pounds and a considerably smaller one who is only a few weeks old.  I guess you could say, I’m hooked on the elephants as I could not stop taking photos and ended up with over 400 shots just of them.

The next part of the mission was the tigers.  I had to drive past the lion enclosure.  One female was sitting up but had her eyes closed.  The other was completely flaked out and the male nowhere to be seen.  I also went past the gorilla enclosure, but they were all hidden away and sleeping.  Good thing they were active last week.

Finally, I got to the tiger enclosure but that was a disappointment.  Not only were they sleeping, but they were well hidden in the jungle of their enclosure and there wasn’t a photo op to be had.  I got some good photos of the bighorn sheep though.

My arms and legs were burning pretty good, despite my shade and sunscreen, or at least it felt and looked that way.  However, once I got back to the hotel, I could tell there had been no further damage done.  My Uber driver this time was a fellow named Duck, from South Korea.  He has lived here 19 years but was very quiet, so the 40-minute drive back seemed to take forever.

154 HOTEL REST DAY

Well, it had to come.  I needed to take a rest day.  I don’t know why I’m so driven to be out there, working hard at taking photos.  As someone pointed out, vacations are for relaxing too.  I guess because I don’t really consider it a vacation per se.  Each trip so far has been a mission to take photos.  I can sit around and do nothing at home, quite easily.  But, even when I was hitting the gym and playing hockey, I always made a point of taking one day to rest.

Anyway, I was pretty much forced into doing it this time.  I was still hurting big time from the huge walk that was the USS Midway exploration and then the very next day doing the SeaWorld mission.  Then I was pretty much forced to use a cart to get around.  My body was still hurting, and walking was more difficult than usual.

Unfortunately, the SeaWorld tour turned into the hottest day of the trip so far.  I’m not complaining about the good weather; I just don’t tolerate heat too well.  What happened is that, I had not put on sunscreen since I’ve been here, I haven’t need to.  But even though the cart had a sunshade, all it protected basically was my head.  With my legs and arms sitting in the same position all day, it was just like lying on the beach.

So, here I am today, with a nasty and painful burn on my legs and arms.  All things combined and discretion being the better part of valour, I decided to take a day off and catch up on the editing which was starting to fall behind.  I also wanted to stay out of the sun and give the burn a chance to settle down.  So, I just stayed in, sort of.  Between applying cold compresses and liberal applications of Solarcaine, I just rested.

OK, not totally rested.  I worked hard on editing a couple of thousand photos.  I did find time to take a snooze, even though I had no idea when housekeeping would show up.  In addition to the intermittent internet, so is the housekeeping.  I absolutely do not mean that the service was poor, just that I couldn’t predict when they would come.  Early on, they were here at 9:00 AM each day.  Lately it’s been closer to 4:00 PM.

Normally I am out until that time each day so not a big deal.  Not a big deal overall, as I just grab my camera and iPad and sit on the bench outside.  It’s well shaded, I’m out of the way and I get to watch the ongoing airshow.

So, even on a rest day, I managed to take over 500 photos.  Some of the planes, mostly F-18’s, but I also wandered around the grounds taking macro photos of the unusual flowers around here.  There is one flower that looks distinctly like a bird when viewed from a distance, but I can’t get a photo which really does it justice.

There are also a variety of birds around the hotel including a dove, which sings its mournful song.  But all of the birds are very skittish and elusive.  I guess because of the fighter jets going by all the time.  I still have not managed to get photos of any of them.  I’m having more success with the big metal birds.

As I sit here, I’m planning out my next missions.  Although, I had set 7 things to do before getting here and I have sort of accomplished all seven.  I’ve only seen half of the zoo and half of the safari park.  The secondary part of those missions though was a list of animals I wanted photos of.  I have most of them, but not all and some of the animals I only have pics of them sleeping, so it doesn’t quite count.

Anyway, day of rest accomplished and by evening the burn has sort of settled down.  It’s a new experience really as I can’t recall the last time, I have gotten a sunburn.  I’m usually pretty good about either staying out of the sun, or in liberally applying sunscreen.  But I don’t usually sit in one position either.

153 SEA WORLD SAN DIEGO

I woke up this morning and was so stiff and sore that I could hardly move.  It was a gorgeous sunny day and I was seriously considering staying inside because of it.  However, it was not an option, since I had already purchased non-refundable tickets to Sea World San Diego.  This would be kind of cool, having seen Sea World on the opposite coast just a couple of months ago.  I’d be able to compare the two.

However, I still had to be able to deal with not being able to walk.  The Uber driver dropped me off at the designated spot, and it was quite a long walk to get to the entrance gate.  I very slowly made my way there, and let me tell you, it was difficult.  Once inside, and through the second bag check in two days, I wasn’t sure what I was going to do.

Then it hit me.  There was a souvenir stand close to me, which also rented those little scooters for people with mobility issues.  I was very reluctant to do it, as it will really be acknowledging my disability, but it was the only way I was going to be able to see it.  So, I rented one.

SCOOTER KING

The first order of business was to try and figure out how to get my heavy backpack, and me onto this thing.  Plus, I needed to have my camera out to be able to photograph the displays and such.  I finally figured out that I could put the bag between my feet on the floor and balance the camera on the handlebars.  Holding it for dear life with my left and the strap around my neck.

Off I went.  Except, I ground very quickly to a stop.  One of the straps from the backpack was hanging over and I ran over it.  I finally got all the straps properly tucked away.  The park itself may have been open at 10:00 AM when I arrived, but none of the exhibits were open until 10:40 AM.  Oh well, on my neat little scooter, I went all around and checked out locations.

The first to open was the sea lion and otter show.  I wheeled into the spot designated for handicapped seating.  There was one other guy in a scooter as well.  But the show was going on and neither of us could see a thing.  So, we both quickly abandoned that.

I was driving around and quickly found the Killer Whale show, which was already in progress.  I pulled into the designated parking spot and had a great view.  Yes, San Diego still has Killer Whales and has no intention of bowing to the pressure to shut it down.  All their whales have been born in captivity and would not be able to survive in the wild if released.  The show was impressive and the kids and adults sitting down low got absolutely drenched.

I moved on from there to numerous other exhibits all wheelchair and scooter accessible.  Even the bathrooms, I was able to drive in and drive right into the handicapped stall.  I did notice that there were lots of souvenir and food stands that were not open during the time I was there.  It’s kind of odd, but the park was not at all crowded and the shows that I did go to there was lots of empty seats.

I couldn’t figure this out since it is spring break for the kids in San Diego, however it is Monday.  Apparently, Mondays are their least busy day at any time of the year.  I was kind of grateful for that. Maneuvering the scooter around was easy, but you really must pay attention because, as always, people are totally oblivious to their surroundings or just don’t care.  Even on this less crowded day, the number of people who would walk right in front of me was mind boggling.  I don’t know how many times I had to slam on the brakes and on a crowded day it would have been near impossible.

The other thing I started to become painfully aware of, is that this is the hottest day since I have been here.  I could feel my arms and legs burning, and I was trying to drive in the shadows as much as I could.  I didn’t bother wearing the sunscreen I brought with me to San Diego and of course it was back in the hotel.  But really, with the way the weather has been, I have not needed it until now.  Even in Florida I never needed to wear it.  Well, I’m paying for that oversight now.  My arms and legs were pretty red and stinging by the time I got back to the hotel.  But I was in for the evening and I applied generous amounts of Solarcaine.  Some cool compresses helped as well. 

After dinner I got back and the private airshow from Miramar began.  Two F-18’s were circling and they came so close that the window in my room was vibrating.  I quickly grabbed the camera and went outside to watch.  This was the closest the planes had been in the week I have been here.  I blasted off over 100 shots trying to get the two jets framed between two palm trees.  I got the shot, but it’s not particularly great due to the low light.

They must have been practicing night maneuvers as they were still flying at 10:30 PM.  Didn’t bother me though as I was sitting and editing photos and writing the Blog.  The noise however from the new people in one of the other rooms was really annoying.  It sounded like they had a heard of kids and were letting them run free.  Running back and forth on the long balcony above.

152 USS MIDWAY MUSEUM

After the aquarium visit yesterday where I didn’t do near as much walking, I’m feeling pretty good today.  So, it was off to breakfast, carrying my camera backpack as usual.  For some reason here, I keep the camera pretty much hidden away until I get onsite of my photo shoot.  In Orlando, that thing was out on view all the time.  I guess because I have no relationship with the staff like I did in Orlando.  There, I saw staff every day and had conversations with them and ended up on a first name basis with a lot of them.

Here, I have seen the front office staff once when I checked in and once a few days later when I stopped in to complain about the lack of internet.  That was a different set of staff members.  I also talked on the phone to someone again about the internet.  I think the ones I have had the most contact with is the serving staff in the restaurant, but I think that’s an independent organization.

Anyway, I digress.  An Uber ride later and I was staring up at this huge aircraft carrier.  The lady at the ticket booth seemed determined to save me money.  She asked me a series of questions.  They included, was I over 62?  Yes, discount.  Did I have AAA?  BCAA, good enough, discount.  Was I a current or retired member of the military?  No, ok.  Are you or were you a member of law enforcement?  Retired, discount.  It ended up only costing me $10 to go in.

This is the first attraction I have attended where a mandatory bag search was conducted.  Understandably so, since this is a military installation, albeit decommissioned, but it is a museum.  A quick check, and the retired sailor, who was impressed by my array of gear let me pass.  I looked up this long flight of stairs and the staff member there could see my hesitation and directed me to the elevator which took me up to the hanger deck.

Inside, there was an impressive array of aircraft, mostly from WWII.  Some hanging from the roof, others parked as if they were ready to be wheeled onto the aircraft elevator and sent into battle. There was a photo booth setup, where they take your pic in front of a green screen and then superimpose you onto various backgrounds.  It cost $39 US or translated into Canadian $51.  No matter, I’m trying to make a point of getting some photos of me.  You get one large print (5x7) and three smaller prints (2x3) and digital copies of them, emailed to you.

I continued walking, front to back of the hanger deck and I did that about 4 times and went side to side as well.  I’m not normally a shopper, but I did go into the souvenir shop and purchased some stickers for my suitcase as well as 2 baseball caps.  One is a Top Gun hat, both from movie fame, but also because the actual Top Gun school, Miramar Naval Air Station is in San Diego.  In fact, I get a private air show at the back of the hotel, every day.  The other hat is a US Navy retired cap.  I just liked the logo.

Now it was time to head up a second elevator onto the flight deck, where I was greeted by another impressive display of aircraft.  They spanned the ages from Vietnam era jets, prop planes and helicopters, right up to F-18’s.  I’m assuming they are decommissioned aircraft as the catapults have been removed from the deck and there would be no way to launch them.

Again though, I walked the deck front to back and side to side about 4 times, all the while taking photos.  It’s a beautiful day, with a breeze blowing off the water, keeping the temperature at a very pleasant level.  When I finally had seen all, I needed to see.  It was time to go up to the bridge and/or down to the engine room, I was unable to do so as there were no elevators to either level and I didn’t feel confident enough to do all those stairs.

So, off I went.  As if I didn’t have enough walking, I walked all the way to the end of the pier to take photos of the bow, then walked all the way to the stern of the ship for more photos.  From there I walked over to a park I had seen from the deck, where I could see the iconic statue of a sailor kissing a nurse marking the end of WWII.  I wanted a photo of that, since the #metoo movement is so pissed off about it and who knows if the statue will survive.

It's kind of funny, the statue is huge and the nurse’s skirt billows out, but I saw numerous men walk by and avert their eyes as if the statue was a real woman.  The funny part is how many women walked under the skirt and looked up.  I don’t know what’s under there, whether it’s anatomically correct or not, since I was one of the gentlemen who averted my eyes.

Finally, I walked all the way to the other end of the waterfront, where the maritime museum with tall ships and a submarine are located.  These I did not board.  The biggest reason is that the waters were really wavy with the wind and the ships were bounding up and down, and I had no desire to get seasick at the dock.

151 BIRCH AQUARIUM AND ABBEY'S REAL TEXAS BBQ

This morning I woke up early at 5:00 AM and looked outside.  It was raining so hard that I didn’t think I would ever see the sun again.  I crawled back into bed with the laptop and did some more editing of the photos from yesterday.  It’s now night-time and I still haven’t finished them and now have another 900 pics to edit.

By the time I went for breakfast it was still raining lightly and I had no opportunity to research what I was going to do today.  I figured though, that with the rain, it would need to be an indoor activity.  I was already thinking of going to the aquarium and I was able to use cellular data to find an address and call Uber.

When we started out it was still raining enough to use wipers, but by the time we got to the aquarium, not only had it stopped raining, but the sun was shining.  I was wandering through the aquarium and taking videos with my iPhone and had not even taken out a camera or lens yet.  I got all the way through and went outside.  I got more photos with the iPhone and got a random stranger to take my photo in front of The Pacific Ocean.

Afterwards, I decided I should probably take some shots with the Nikon, so I opened the backpack and pulled out the “big” camera, which immediately provoked a conversation.  It ended up with a couple more followers on Instagram.  Those cards come in handy.  When I went inside, I ran into another photographer and we got chatting about gear.  She’s using Canon and me Nikon.  But even that resulted in another follower on Instagram.

I went completely through the aquarium again and ended up taking 900 shots.  Once done with that, I stopped and had lunch at their café before calling an Uber to take me back to the hotel.  It was then that I discovered that I had forgotten to change the shutter speed and all the shots were under-exposed and mostly black frames.

This is going to result in a lot more work in editing, to recover at least some of the shots.  I had some good ones too, I think.  We’ll see what happens.  I’ve done it before where I have rescued a prize-winning photo from a near black frame.  This is all as a result of shooting RAW or in Nikon’s case NEF.  Recovering a JPG file in this condition would be impossible.

The hotel internet finally came back on, so I tried to catch up on email, bills etc.  It only lasted about 45 minutes before dropping out yet again.  By now it was getting to dinner time and I really have a craving for BBQ Ribs.  Last night I had asked for ribs at the hotel, but the owner of the restaurant said that they don’t do ribs.  However, he recommended I try Abbey’s Real Texas BBQ.  He said they have the best BBQ ribs in the city.

So, I called another Uber and the restaurant is only about 4 miles away as the crow flies, but with all the freeways, it was really a big circle route to get there.  Once I got inside, It’s a quaint place with a bunch of young people behind the counter.  It turns out that the restaurant has been in operation for 37 years and all family owned, and all the employees are family members.  The current ones are the Grandchildren of the original owners who brought it from Texas.

I ordered the full rack of ribs, thinking they would be the small pork ribs like at home.  I was wrong though.  These ribs are huge.  They are almost the size of beef ribs but are pork.  They came with two buns, spicy fries and coleslaw.  Plus, complimentary chips and salsa to snack on while waiting for the order.  I even had root beer instead of water for a change, and it turned out to be bottomless.

After dinner, I called another Uber and headed back to the hotel.  Once in the room I discovered that the internet was still down.  So, I started to write this out.  Within about 45 minutes, the signal came back on, but who knows for how long.  It’s a bit frustrating.  So far this is pretty much the only negative to the trip so far, well, ok, the rain isn’t great either.

150 SAN DIEGO AIR AND SPACE MUSEUM

Wow, if I thought I was sore yesterday morning, today has brought a new level of pain into play.  I hate like hell to admit that I might be doing too much, and I don’t know why I seem to be trying to get it all done in the first few days.  Lordy, I have 2 weeks, although, I do want to go back to both the zoo and the safari park.  See if I can catch up on animals I missed in both parks, or who were sleeping when I was there.

I think on the return visits though, I’m going to book special safaris where I get driven around in a cart.  I’ll research it first though.  I don’t want to go if it’s like the train tour I took yesterday.  It was nice to see the different animals that I did, but it was hard to get good photos, and that’s the whole point of being here.

My right foot was very sore and badly swollen, especially around the ankle area.  So, I resolved that if I was going to go anywhere, I would tape the foot and force the swelling down.  An ice pack would probably help, and I’ll have to see if I can come up with a plastic bad from somewhere.  Then a quick trip to the ice machine.

I was very seriously considering calling this a forced rest day today, just because I was hurting so, but when I looked out the window and saw it pissing down rain, that pretty much sealed the deal.  Although, when I thought about it, I could go visit the Air and Space Museum.  It’s going to be all flat surfaces and should be an easy walk.  So, photos presided over common sense, and I went.

When I arrived, by Uber, I was surprised to see the entrance flanked by an SR71 Blackbird and another jet of some type.  I don’t know what impression I had but the SR71 is about 10 times bigger than I expected.  That would come into play later as well.

I went inside and paid my admission ad the lady gave me the seniors rate.  Even when I told her I’m not 65 yet, she just said “close enough”.  So, I got inside for $15, pretty much what happened at Gatorland in Orlando.  It’s very impressive inside with aircraft and spacecraft sitting on the floor and hanging from the ceiling.

The actual Apollo 9 Command Module is there.  Some of the other highlights include a Spitfire, a P51 Mustang and a Messerschmitt 262, the world’s first jet airplane.  Another thing that caught me by surprise by how big it is, was a mock-up of the Mars Rover.  I don’t know why, but I had always assumed the Rover was the size of an R/C controlled car.  This thing however is the size of a small SUV.

I wandered around taking tons of photos and talking to the volunteers.  I also got chatting with a paramedic from Florida.  Every so often, he would say things like “I smell something” and when I asked what he meant, he said, “I smell the pile” and I wasn’t quite sure what he meant.

Two rooms further on, we spotted a badly damaged New York police car.  Of course, the car was damaged in the aftermath of 9/11.  He told me that he had worked on “the pile” for 2 months after the attack and it has a distinctive smell.  He could smell the remains of the police car from 2 rooms away.  I guess its part of an air museum, since the disaster was caused by two crashing airplanes.

It took me about 2 hours to go through the museum, and even with the easy surfaces and leisurely walk, I was again hurting pretty well by the end of it.  So, I made the decision to go back to the hotel.  While I was sitting on the park bench though, I noticed that aircraft heading for the San Diego airport all passed directly over the Air and Space Museum, which I think is a cool touch.  So, I spent some time taking photos of planes coming into the airport.  When I got back, I discovered that the Internet was down yet again.  So, while I was waiting for it to maybe come back up, so I could make yesterday’s blog post, I fell asleep.  When I woke up 90 minutes later, the internet was back up and I managed to get the previous blog post up as well as some photos.

I went to the usual restaurant and had a great steak and shrimp dinner and they were setting up for another live performance, but I decided that I was too tired and sore to stick around.  I did finally capture a few images for my own private airshow, with a couple of F-18’s doing a flyby.

149 SAN DIEGO ZOO SAFARI PARK

First off, one thing I have noticed is that the wi-fi signal in the hotel is hit and miss at the best of times.  It’s been difficult to post Blog updates and even more difficult to post updates to Instagram.  It was even playing hell with editing, because I couldn’t upload photos to online directories.  Even when it is working, the connection is not that fast.  Other than that, I have no complaints about the hotel.  It’s clean and quiet, except when the airshow from Miramar is going on, but that is just plain cool.

Anyway, when I woke up this morning, I was hurting pretty good.  My back and legs and more so my feet.  Why I didn’t tape my right foot, I couldn’t say.  I have the supplies with me.  It was cloudy and looking very much like rain, so I was trying to decide what to do.  Air and Space Museum or San Diego Zoo Safari Park.

By the time I finished breakfast, it still had not rained and was looking a little brighter.  So, like an idiot, I ignored what my body was telling me and went on safari.  I had absolutely no concept.  I figured it would be more open, but less hills than the zoo itself, but roughly the same size.  I should have gotten a better idea when the Uber ride to 35 minutes to get there.

I still had no idea until I got inside.  I was standing chatting with a San Diego police Sergeant who was working overtime.   After a bit, I headed off on my trek, I even bumped into him several more times.  I had several animals that I was targeting on this “mission”.  Lions, tigers, elephants, rhinos, gorillas and so on.  There is also a huge butterfly exhibit I want to see and photograph as well.

There is plenty of space and lots of walking.  I found several primates, and birds and there was the gorilla enclosure.  These ones were somewhat more active than the ones in the zoo yesterday.  I can’t remember all their names, but the one that sticks out for me, was “Frank”.  Probably because that was my Dad’s name.  Frank is apparently the “boss man” and I found him lounging in a tree in a hammock.  Some of the others were keeping busy, while a couple of the big “Silverbacks” were hiding and sleeping.

FRANK IN HIS HAMMOCK

By now, the sun was trying to come out and it was warming up quickly, compounding my misery.  It’s only a couple of hours in and I’m hurting and limping big time.  I made a point of stopping and resting and drinking a Gatorade.  That helped a bit.

It was around this time that I got talking to one of the employees.  I mentioned that I had been walking about as long as it took to see the zoo yesterday, but it didn’t feel like I had covered much.  This is when I learned the difference.  The zoo is built on about 90 acres of land, while the safari park is on 900 acres, so it is 10 times bigger.  Who knew?  No wonder I was so worn out, especially with starting at a disadvantage.

GOLDEN EAGLE, HE'S HUGE

MACCAW IN FLIGHT

He suggested I take the “train tour” around the outer perimeter of the African section.  It came up in conversation that I am now considered disabled.  He directed me to the ticket booth, where I showed my disability card.  I got the ticket free and with priority boarding, so I didn’t have to stand in the lengthy line. 

The tour was great and got lots of information, I even got some decent photos of giraffes, and the rhino with a few others.  The tour lasted about 30 minutes and it was good to be off my feet for a bit.  Once back, I resumed my walk and discovered a bird show.  Where they had several different species of birds showing off.  Again, it was good to be off my feet.

RHINOCEROUS

Finally, though, at the 7.5-hour mark of mostly walking, I decided it was time to head back to the hotel.  It was then that I discovered how far away from the entrance I was.  I also discovered that I was absolutely spent.  There was no way that I could make it back.  It was hell to admit that to myself, but even harder to admit that to another staff member.  She assured me it was not a problem and it happens so often, that they have a special shuttle just for these occasions.  Long story short, they drove me back to the entrance and I limped out.

Once I got back and had a rest, I went over to the restaurant for dinner.  Boy if this isn't an awful sign of the times. I'm eating dinner in the restaurant and a young family walks in. There is Mom, Dad a young boy maybe 5 or 6 and a baby, maybe 3 months old. Mom and Dad sit on one side. Little boy sits next to the baby in its carrier seat. Mom and Dad break out their cell phones and start doing whatever they're doing. They just weren't paying attention to the two kids. Baby starts to cry, neither parent reacts. Little boy gets up and very tenderly picks the baby up and cradles it. He rocks the baby, gives it the soother and continues to rock it and pats it on the back. The poor kid is trying everything to console the baby, again, no reaction from parents. Finally, after about 10 minutes, Mom slams down her phone, takes the baby away from the kid and glares at him like he did something wrong. Geez!