The end of May Gray !!!

It's June !!! May Gray is behind us, but we'll still have a month of June Gloom :(

I'll catch you up on the last couple weeks of May:

TWINS come for a visit.

We first met niece Laura's twin boys Robin and Rowen 3 years ago at their home in Denver.

The following year the twins came to visit us.

And now in mid-May they have made a return visit.

Still a bit young (not tall enough) for most of the rides at Belmont Park, so I was in charge while mom, dad and Fran rode on the Giant Dipper Roller Coaster. With sister Lucca, Rowen and Robin at Belmont Park

With Sister Lucca Robin and Rowen

Belmont Park was built by John D. Spreckels in 1925 to attract visitors and investors to Mission Beach.  The Giant Dipper is again showing its age, Fran says "Never Again!"  Too many jerks, no smooth spots.

Walking, talking and running in the surf in Pacific Beach. No cares that the last storm left kelp on the beach. Maybe surfing lessons soon.

ANNIVERSARY CRUISE:

With the Bikes loaded on the truck we went to Liberty Station to take our favorite cruise in San Diego to celebrate our 42 anniversary. However, we might have not left enough time, we have 5 miles to ride, get tickets and board with the bikes in 30 minutes. But we made it! Under May Gray skies we were on the Cabrillo, the Coronado Ferry! Did you think we'd actually take a Caribbean Cruise?

Fran's not sure this counts as a cruise ... but we still enjoy it and it remains a favorite.

We're riding a different route this time, we avoided the traffic of town and rode to Glorietta Bay. The park there is home to an awesome Community Center, Playhouse and parkland

The Naked Warrior is a tribute to the Underwater Demolition Divers of World War II. These 'Naked Warriors' swam unarmed into enemy waters with explosives to clear the way for landing craft. The Basic Underwater Demolition/Seal (BUD/S) training is still held in Coronado. The best of BUD/S can receive advanced Seal Training, also in Coronado.

Naked Warrior, Coronado Bridge on the left

Coronado Bay Bridge from Glorietta Bay.

John D. Spreckles also took ownership of the Hotel del Coronado. During the refurbishment of the hotel he set up Tent City on the sand south of the hotel. There is a 3D collage paying tribute to Tent City.

Tent City with the Hotel del Coronado in the upper-left background.

Tent City had its own 24 hour restaurant.

After returning to the Ferry Landing, we enjoyed some of our favorite BBQ at Little Piggy's Bar-B-Q.  Although we have tried other items there, we typically order the brisket and pulled pork sandwiches. The sandwich comes with a side. Fran typically has fries, but I always have the beans! Best beans with fresh green onion garnish.  BTW the pulled comes with cole slaw, as it should.

We will share the sides, but cut the sandwiches in half and swap halves for dinner.  Pulled Pork for lunch = Brisket for dinner

The view from our table as a member of the Pasha Hawaii fleet sails into the San Diego Bay.

I think this might be Mark Zuckerberg's superyacht, Launchpad, which he purchased here in San Diego last year.

We're looking at the superyachts as the superyacht Hodor is docked at the Embarcadero.  Billed as the worlds largest floating toy box, the Hodor is the companion tender to the superyacht Lonion. Both owned by billionaire Lorenzo Fertitta.

There is a landing craft and a race boat on board, one with 5 massive Mercury engines the other with 7!

It is said to carry a landing craft, 9 jet skis, 4 quads 2 side-by-side ATVs, trail bikes, scuba gear and more. The dive room is equipped with a decompression chamber. That's a lot of toys. So of course it has a helo pad.

We never did see the Lonion.

BARRIO LOGAN

The Barrio has a new park and finally one on the waterfront. Cesar Chavez Park is near the better known Chicano Park National Landmark. Chicano Park is located under the Coronado Bay Bridge at I-5. It has the slogan painted on the bridge pillar “All The Way To The Bay".

That's finally happened, with the opening of Cesar Chavez Park. 

Barrio Logan is an easy trolley ride on the Blue Line, so for less than the cost of gas we hopped on. On the short walk, we stopped to admire sculptures honoring the tuna fleet.

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The park is not large, but has a large grass area for a couple soccer fields.

and a picnic area on the waterfront of San Diego Bay.

There were a lot of local vendors showing off their crafts

For the park opening there was live music, but not mariachis nor Folkloric dancers as I'd think more in theme than Rock and Roll for the Barrio.

And numerous food trucks that honored vouchers provided by the Barrio.

I'm checking out the fresh cooked Lumpia.  The voucher is for 3 lumpia.

Fran checking out the taco truck. The voucher was for two Birria Tacos.

No picture, but the best voucher was Fran's teriyaki chicken on rice.  Wish I'd selected one!

A fun/scary lightening storm started up while waiting for the tacos. With 3 seconds between flash an the noise makes about 6 miles away.  After getting caught in heavy rain after taking the trolley to Little Italy, we have to skip those trolley rides.  But we left then and it never did rain!

That's the end of May, and we are planning for a mid-June departure for road trip 2025.

Yupper Coast-to-Coast!

I'll leave for now with bit of advice from the ocean.

Gaylord Pacific

Finally the Gaylord Pacific had a public opening on Friday May 16 … and of course we had to check it out!. We loaded our bikes up and headed to Pepper Park on the National City side of the Sweet Water River. Last tine we were here Phase 1 of the Pepper Park improvements had just begun. Now they are in full demolition mode.

Pepper Park

I do not see anything on their web site that would require that massive concrete pump. Perhaps an adjacent project?

It's a short bike ride to Sweetwater Park in Chula Vista, which opened a couple weeks ago, but this is our first visit.

On the park map the bike path is the black line on the right, and we're riding down the map.

Gunpowder Point and the Wildlife Refuge are to the left.

Some cute signs to protect the new landscaping. Much nicer that the KEEP OUT signs seen in our park areas.

Sweetwater has a fairly decent sized parking lot. A reasonable place to park for a stroll to the Gaylord.

It's just a guess but I say it's about a ¼ mile stroll through the park to catch the bike path at the southern end. Past a few picnic ramadas.

A fun swing set where the play mat is in the colors of the beach

A massive sand box

For sand castle building and climbing

And than KaBoom it's right there!, just off the bike path

A crosswalk leads to the Gaylord property

We worked our way up to the lobby, yup it's on the 2^nd level! But we enjoyed the walk past some of the water features

Wave pool

Lap pool

and into the lobby

The palm trees are legit, the different textures in the marble somehow really work well together. The big screen TV was looping a relaxing water video,

More mis-matched marble flooring outside the PCH (Pacific Coast Highway) Cafe and Gift Shop.

Need a new T-shirt?

Grab-and-Go selections within the PCH

Pretty reasonable prices on their panini sandwiches

The PCH also includes Oregon and Washington … but no huckleberries here!!!

This picture is of yet another floor covering, A rug from the beach dunes, to the dry sand, the tide washed sand, a red tide?, shallow to deeper water. Amazing to see, but had to get a worthy picture .

There's currently 11 dining areas open with another to open soon. This is Growlers, a sports bar.

Too many TVs! But if it's on TV it'll be on a TV here. Ohio State Softball was on! (I didn't tell Fran ;))

Look at all those brews on tap!

But we relaxed with a glass of wine

My red wine was presented in a white wine glass, but the wine in front of me is my new favorite regardless of the presentation. $11 each, not bad.

And with this view from our table …

The lawn is so perfect we thought is was artificial. Nope! How do they control their gophers??? The cars in the foreground are on the property, but the cars and the shade just beyond are in Bayside Park. It's really a very short walk.

The lighting must be really eye catching after dark  ... in the lobby

The structure on the left is a waterfall … in the lobby!

Recessed seating for a private time … in the lobby

A view from the other side. The palm tress are so cool to see … in the lobby

There are 4 acres of water features in the park.  I've already mentioned a few but there's more!, that includes:

A fun speed slide

A high twisty slide

A Jacuzzi

There's also a Lazy River ride, but no pictures …

The use of the water features for non-guests requires a $12.50 day use pass Google search 'Gaylord Pacific day pass' and select Beach Time Reservation. They do not make it easy!

But this very well could become our new lunch stop on when we ride in South Bay.  It would be time for a break and a shot after lunch ride to Pepper Park.

And back on the home front The Gopher Wars continue!

Gas bombs disappears too fast, this one was back on this side of the grass the day after I set it off on the other side of the grass.

Solar noise makers work iffy when there's sunshine

No pictures of my Dry Ice bombs since I had to work fast with heavy gloves. The idea is as Carbon Dioxide is released, which is heavier than air, it will settle in the lowest point in the tunnel. That may have been my most successful. The gopher should scamper from the cold and just fall asleep.

I'm still looking for ideas!