cruise ships and midway |
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We (ok, I) approached San Diego with quite a bit of trepidation: would the exams arrive? As I mentioned at the beginning of this trip diary - I had been roped in to teach a course and had made it clear that I would be taking this cruise. While we were gone the students took an exam and I made arrangements to have the exams delivered to the ship in San Diego so I would be able to grade them on the way to San Francisco and thus would be able to return them the day after we came back. Arranging the shipment was rather complicated and I was worried. But lo and behold everything worked out and I got my homework for the next two days. Our ship docked across from the aircraft carrier Midway - as can be seen on the picture on the left. On the right is a picture of the Midway when she was decommissioned and brought into San Diego to become a museum. The Midway was launched in 1945 and served in a variety of theaters including Vietnam until she was decommissioned after the first Iraq war in 1992 |
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USS_Midway_san diego skyline |
saigon embassy evacuation - evacuees boarding helicopters (Hueys) which the flew to a flotilla of war ships like the Midway. The picture on the right shows what happend to most of these choppers once the landed - pushed overboard to make room for new arrivals. |
However, the Vietnamese Huey above is being pushed overboard to make possible the landing of a Cessna |
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Major Buang lands his 2 seater Cessna (with wife and 5 kids!) on the Midway - it's a hell of a great story |
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Just could not resists adding this picture: The Midway and three othere carriers somewhere during the first Iraq war: US_Navy_Battle_Force_Zulu_carriers_overhead_view_in_1991 |
Balboa park - it may look like a church but it is not - I think it is a theater. The park is dotted with rather elaborate buildings, dating to some expo a long time ago. |
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We had planned to spend some time in "Old Town" San Diego (a collection of historical homes and exhibitions) but there was some kind of festival and car show and it was zooish. |
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So, all we did was wander through Bushyhead house (;eft)moseyed on to the Robinson-Rose_House which now is the visitor center and contains some interesting exhibits from the days when San Diego was a new and contested city |
visited the Casa de Estudillo (entrance) |
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We spent a bit more time exploring the Casa de Estudillo - a restored adobe house that had been built in 1826 for Jose Maria Estudillo the commandant of the presidio of San Diego in the early part of the 1820s. |
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Casa de Estudillo - inner courtyard |
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Estudillo had been born in Andalusia Spain - unclear when or where exactly. As can be seen from the picture below, like all adobe houses this one required extensive restoration - rain and weather take their toll on burnt clay and straw bricks. Not to mention the odd earthquake |
Casa de Estudilla oven |
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Casa de Estudilla circa 1890 |
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case de estudilo spinning wheel |
Channel Island map with shipping lanes and ventura county tow |
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And on to San Francisco and home. Originally we had planned to spend a few days in San Francisco - hey, retired people have time to do that - right? Of course that plan died once I agreed to teach Acct 352 one more time. So, not only did I grade papers between San Diego and San Francisco but as soon as we docked in San Francisco we jumped in a taxi, raced (ok, crawled) to the airport and flew down to LA. On the left and right are a map of the Channel Island National Park which also shows (see the right picture for details) the shipping lane and the Ventura County coast, including Camarillo. We sailed through the area in the early morning hours and I waved to the islands and home. Thinking all the while "the ship could have made a brief stop in Port Hueneme" (which is used by container car ships, i.e., could easily handle the cruise ship!) and I could have been home two days earlier. No such luck. We reached San Francisco in the early morning hourse. |
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map with camarillo and shipping lanes visible |
We came through the Golden Gate at about 5 am and it was barely distinguishable in the usual fog but still quite impressive - I am used to driving over it or seeing it from a distance but this was a first - going under it. |
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And then something loomed up ahead and I thought at first it was another cruise ship but actually it was Alcatraz only less distinguishable than what is visible in the picture here. |
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And then we hurried through customs, grabbed our luggage and a cab and hotfootted (ok, crawled through gridlocked traffic) to the airport and flew back south where we could have been a day earlier (see above...)
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