SoCal Trip {2/27 - 2/28: Beach, Beach, Ships, Beach}

We have been absolutely buried by snow this winter, so we've been looking for a way to get some sunshine. We decided San Diego would be perfect, so we booked a few hotels and made our plans. And then it snowed in Southern California. So we canceled those hotels and waited for the weather to look a little better in the forecast. (Thank heavens for flexibility!) We found a window that worked, so we booked again and set off from the Wihongi's house after a Blanchard family dinner and spa pool evening on Sunday, February 26th. We only drove a couple hours south from Murray that evening, but it got us out of the snow band and we got a good night's sleep in Beaver, a couple hours closer to Cali.

The next morning, we woke up and hit the road. Drove, drove, drove, stopping to picnic and play at a park in Vegas, but it was pretty windy and chilly so we didn't stop long. We arrived in Carlsbad at our La Quinta suite (holy cow! game changer to have two rooms, two bathrooms, and a bunkbed for the kids! so nice!) at dinner time. We ate a cooler dinner in our room and then headed out to catch the sunset at the nearby beach (South Carlsbad State Beach). We barely made it (and it wasn't much because it was pretty cloudy), but it was fun to see the ocean again before dark. Back at the hotel, we changed into swimsuits for a dip in the hot tub before bed. (You know you're from snowy Utah when it's 56 degrees and you're excited to get wet! Ha!)

Best hotel room ever!

That's all the sunset we got.

Lots of great rocks to find on this beach.

Happy Callie in Cali.

The hot tub felt great, and the kids actually were brave
enough to hop in the pool!

On Tuesday morning (28 February) after breakfast we made another visit to another beach (called South Ponto State Beach) just down the road the other way from the night before. It was sunny and beautiful and we found lots of rocks and shells and cool seaweedy plants. We walked over to the jetty and watched the waves and just soaked up the ocean breeze and sunshine and an epic rainbow while we waited for the morning commuter traffic to clear on the highway nearby.

Good morning views on the walk to the breakfast room.

This girl was the queen of shell finding.

Even though the beach was mostly (really cool, smooth)
rocks, they were able to spot some shells and fragments, too.

Not seaweed (these grow on the cliffside)
but still cool. These leaves are triangular!

Oh look at that cool rainbow!

Oh wait! It's even cooler!

Double rainbow!

So awesome!

Look at these treasures!

After the traffic made its way south, we headed south, too. Destination? San Diego Bay to tour the USS Midway aircraft carrier turned museum. I had wanted to come to San Diego in February partly to get away from the snow, but also because I learned there is a deal with all the museums in the city for half-price admission all month long. When we decided to reschedule our trip, we knew we'd have one day to use that deal, so Tuesday the 28th became museum day by default. :)

We were all excited to check out the aircraft carrier most, so that's where we started. I didn't know how long the kids would last, but we just went for it and I was happy to be content with whatever we saw. We saw practically everything there was to see, I think. We walked all the hallways and climbed all the stairs and ladders; we peeked in all the rooms and touched all the knobs and buttons; we listened to all the audio tour blurbs (well, all the ones necessary to answer the scavenger hunt questions for the kids to get their Jr aviator wings at the end ;). It was awesome! We were on the ship for almost three hours!

Welcome aboard!

On the hangar deck they had jets we could
sit in. And of course everything is Top Gun themed.

They called this the "ejector seat theater" where you
could sit to watch a video (or just sit and pose for a photo).

Down a level, we're off exploring.

The galleys and dining areas were fascinating.

As was the laundry room. One of the stories on the
audio tour was from a sailor who had spent a week on
laundry duty and hadn't even seen the sun in that time!
Another interesting part of the tour were the smells and sounds
they had piped into various areas - down here smelled
like laundry detergent!

Lots of kettles to make lots of navy bean soup!

Everything was bigger in these kitchens.

Even the recipes were bigger.

We kept going lower, down into the one open engine
room. There the kids are halfway underwater!

Such a complicated network of vents and pipes. There was
a vet down here who answered lots of questions and blew
our minds with info about the fuel usage and storage capacity
on the ship. Long story short: these carriers need a constant
fleet of ships to refuel and restock them every few days
while they were out at sea! Mind boggling!

Throw him in the brig!

The dentist rooms.

Braving the clear floor looking down many levels
of an elevator shaft from the hangar deck down into 
the depths of the ship.

Out on the flight deck.

Radio control room - so many buttons and knobs!

Up to the top in the bridge.

I just noticed the name Bowditch on that big red book
and thought of the Newbery winner I read a few years ago
called Carry On, Mr. Bowditch.

That radar plane was used to fly above the ship and 
send signal down to give it a further horizon.

In the control room (I don't know its official name)
where the ship is steered. (We couldn't see
out the windows since this part of the ship
was under renovation and they were all boarded up.)

Cal and Sam visiting the cardboard cutout guys
to get some more answers to their scavenger hunt.

We were amazed to learn that these modules on the side
of this helicopter represented the Apollo astronauts that were picked
up after re-entry by this very chopper!

And we got to go inside! So cool!

Prep rooms back below deck.

That big ship out in the bay apparently is a car
carrier. And apparently it was having some trouble
because it had been in the bay for a few days without
moving.

Awarded their wings by this nice fellow.

After our explorations on the ship, we went back to the car for lunch and to rest for a bit. I thought the kids would enjoy seeing the other nearby ships that are part of the Maritime Museum, but I wasn't sure they'd be up for more onboard explorations. I figured we could walk down and see them and make a decision there. The kids wanted to go on! So we bought tickets and hopped aboard the Star of India, the steam ferry Berkley, the submarine USS Dophin, and a couple other tall ships the Californian and San Salvador and a steam yacht Medea. We were off and on ships for another couple of hours! We were pooped by the end!

Steering the Star of India.

Watch out for that shark jaw!

Part of the sea monster exhibit on the
Star of India.

Sam loved the submarine!

Look at the size of these wrenches and tools on the 
Steam Ferry.

Another cool engine room.

This main room on the ferry was really pretty.

All original benches and windows, someone told us.

And a dance floor!

The HMS Surprise was closed to tourists because they
were filming a commercial on it that day. It was fun to
see all the actors in costumes milling about on deck.

I think this was San Salvador?

And this might be the Californian?

Back on the sub!

We could really see out of the periscope.
That was pretty cool.

Tuckered right out!

We made our way back north to Carlsbad and had another hotel room dinner via the microwave. The evening was shaping up to be lovely, so we headed back to South Ponto Beach to watch the sunset (and collect more rocks and shells). Then it was back to the hotel for another swim. (If you're keeping score, we're up to 3 swims in 3 days at this point - best vacation ever!)

 What a marvelous day! Check!