The art of leaving the driving to someone else

Wednesday. October 10. 2012~Your dad (rob) has been looking forward to this day ever since he was a little guy......growing up loving trains.  Whenever he talks about trains, train trips he remembers, train adventures he wants us to take.....his face 'lights up'........ so there was a kick in our collective step as we assembled a day pack, anticipating anything we might need on our day-long excursion from this sleepy beach community of solana beach 30 minutes south to the embarcadero area of san diego........

we had looked forward to this train trip (of which we have three planned during this two week stay) for several reasons: the joy of getting there and back without the issues of navigating I-5 (which, at times, encompasses 7 lanes, various mergings, and oh well, you know the drill), the joy of getting to take in the views, and just to experience this Coaster ride, which turned out to be sleek, smooth, so comfortable, and, as you can see by the picture, there is seating on three levels~naturally we opted for the upper deck and, to tell you the truth, there's not a bad seat 'in the house'.  What we hadn't expected were the delightful conversations in which we'd become engaged with our fellow travelers both on the 'to' and the 'return' trips.  People just want to be 'heard', y' know, just want to connect.....and it was so sweet to be part of that in those moments.  All this for $5.50/person for the round trip and for frugalistas like us, you know that's gonna make us smile.

 

We stepped off the Coaster around noon at the Santa Fe Station in downtown SanDiego, all art deco and beautiful tile walls....walked out into the sunshine and headed further south about six blocks to the Embarcadero~ shops, restaurants, some good coffee and a spontaneous sea lion show on the pier...

 

 

Another thing that had been on our 'list' was a meal at The Top of the Market, a place where we'd eaten when we were here 5 years ago and definitely a 'splurge' for us.....it lived up to our expectations!!  After that delicious experience we headed toward the aircraft carrier Midway for a two hour tour and, on our way, stopped by a very neat bronze statuary tribute (complete with original audio soundtrack) to Bob Hope's USO tours.....

 

then we boarded the Midway for an outstanding tour, part of which was self-guided, part of which was augmented by audio headsets we wore and part of which (the best part) was conducted by a veteran (early Viet Nam era, probably)....we went up on the Bridge and other areas of the mighty ship and this certainly brought back memories to you dad (rob) of his ship-board experiences.  My main 'memory imprint' of Midway was that that was the movie we were watching in San Diego  (one of the first theaters to advertise 'sensoround') in 1976 when I first felt Laura 'kick' (june 21, 1976).  Needless to say, after this tour, altho I will still carry that 'precious memory', I (cathie) have a much deeper understanding of the significance and impact of Midway;)

 

Luckily, I had enough cash to spring this handsome sailor from the 'brig'......memory escapes as to why he ended up in the slammer;)

 

Soon it was time to head back to the Santa Fe Station to board the 5:34 Coaster for the 30 minute ride north to Solana Beach.....enjoy another conversation and the beginnings of the sunset over the water and look forward to the hot tub;)