Thurs. Dec. 30th 2010 San Diego

Join us as we travel North America in our Holiday Rambler Vacationer,

 since August 2006

      After a rainy wednesday it was cool overnight and we woke up to a very heavy frost on our car in the morning. Something we haven't seen for quite a while.

Frosty car roof

      But its going to be a sunny day and almost warm enough. We started the car to defrost it and headed out to San Diego at 8:00am this morning, a nice one hour drive thru the winding mountain roads, very scenic. Today we are going to take a sightseeing tour with Vizit Tours . We located their sales office in Old Town San Diego and were directed to a free parking lot 2 blocks away. We have never been to this area before so we find a sightseeing tour is usually a pretty good bargain. We chose this tour for the good price and flexibility of it. When we arrived we find that for $15.00 each we can get a pass for the two loops for two days, half price. So this is a deal, an open air bus, narrated by John, a jolly fellow with lots of information. Oh and we can hop on and hop off anywhere along the route and pick up the bus and hour oh so later.

Suzie by the Bus

      We have a nice day ahead of us and we have another bonus as well The Port of SanDiego Big Bay ballon Parade, this is billed as America's Largest Ballon Parade. The Parade route is of course right where we want to go and slows us down somewhat but, hey we got to see more sights at a slower pace and up close view of the parade from the vantage point of the open air bus right from the beginning. Then we were detoured around the Parade thru downtown to Seaport Village, at the south end ofthe parade. We got off our bus here and enjoyed some more of the balloons and bands for a while. With Seaport Village right there we decided it best to begin our walkabout before the parade ends to avoid some of the crowds. The souvenir shops, restaurants scenic walkaways and waterfront view was very nice. We grabbed a snack at one vendor to hold us over until we had lunch. As nice as this place looked it was just an expensive tourist trap, So after about 90 minutes we were ready to move on. Next to the village was an aircraft carrier that we could tour " The USS Midway"  , but thats a day all to itself.

We saw this beautiful flower in one of the gardens,
does anybody know what it is??
It is the Bird Of Paradise, Thanks Sharon!!

      Now Shortly after 12:00 John returned and we hopped on the bus for a nice narrated tour of  the Gas Lamp Quarter downtown, Horton Plaza, ( both have high end restaurants and shopping). Then on to Balboa Park,  the famous San Diego Zoo ( this will another day of sightseeing) and back along a different route to Seaport Village to pick up another couple. Then a different route thru Little Italy then to Old Town. Here we got off the bus and we shared a nice late lunch at Miguels Mexican Cantina. From the free chips and salsa, a coupon for a free appetizer ( tasty, tender calamari), then a delicious appetizer of ceviche (raw fish, scallops and shrimp in lime and onions) and bacon wrapped camaron (shrimp) tortillas, spanish rice and beans. So good (a little spicier than Suzie likes thou), After this a walkabout Old Town for a bit then decide its time to head home about 4:00pm to avoid some of the traffic that is coming into town for the football game tonight.

      Now with so much fun sightseeing and information to absorb after a great day of sightseeing and full tummies, we can relax at home and reflect on what we saw and did with the couple hundred pictures that I took for the day. An maybe plan another excursion into town at some point before we leave the area.

Lots more of Todays pictures

Visitor Number

Caribbean Cruise, 2008

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