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.