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Perry's Cafe sounded like my kind of place and indeed
it was. As you can see, my breakfast, the
"Combo Frittata", came from Georgia. I don't know the cook's
name but just had to include that smile. He was one of four kept quite
busy filling orders.
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Since I was near Old Town, I decided to pay a visit even though I wasn't
sure just what it was. I did a little drive through then pulled into a
free parking lot near the state park. There are plenty of old building here
though many are reproductions. There are lots of shops and restaurants,
often in historic buildings, mixed in with, and sometimes containing,
museum-like displays. The most historically significant thing I found was
a plaque marking the spot where the U.S. flag was
first raised in southern California.
My favorite attraction in the park was the museum operating inside the
reconstructed Seeley Stable. That was partly due
to the coaches and such displayed and partly due to Anthony. Not only was
he familiar with and willing to explain every thing in the stable, he was
familiar with the building across the street. Something he called
"California's first tourist trap". It may be debatable whether
or not it was actually a first but La Casa de Estudillo certainly became
a tourist trap a long time ago. Anthony explained how parts of the home
honestly date from 1827 and how Helen Hunt Jackson had set a wedding
there in her 1884 novel Ramona. In 1908 the badly dilapidated
building was made into "Ramona's Marriage Place" to attract
weddings and tourists. It became part of the park in 1968.
There were several groups of school aged children in the park and one such
group can be seen seated near the flag pole in the last picture. Each
group was lead by a costumed docent who shared San Diego history in an
entertaining way.
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My only real target for the day was the Cabrillo National Monument and I
headed there next. My first stop was at the site of an old
army radio station where a trail led to some
wonderful overlooks. I followed the trail to an old lighthouse. Along the
way I passed the fellow peering out to sea then took his picture looking
back from the lighthouse. Only when I looked at the picture on the
computer did I realize that another fellow
could be seen also watching intently on the far side of the bushes. I
imagine both were looking for whales.
The original Point Loma Lighthouse operated from 1854 through 1891. Water
came from a cistern filled with the runoff of a large concrete slab.
Downtown San Diego can be seen beyond the slab. Except for the very top
floor with the lens, all of the lighthouse is accessible though the
keeper's living quarters are behind plexiglass.
There is a small museum right next door in what was possibly the fuel
storage building.
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Next to the actual monument, the Cabrillo National Monument Visitor Center contains
some nice displays and offers some great views that include the submarine
base and San Diego. There were lots of helicopters out today but the only
reason I've included a picture of one is because of the Coronado Bridge in
the background.
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Point Loma also holds
Fort Rosecrans National Cemetery. The tall monolith is
for victims of the 1905 explosion on the USS Bennington who are all buried
here.
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I then headed for Coronado but got distracted by a lot of little cars on
the way. Fiat is returning to the US in the second coming of the 500 and a
media introduction event, with one day to go, was in progress. These are
events where a bunch of automobile journalists and such are brought together
to flog a new car in hopes that they'll say good things about it. I got
lucky and found the cars when they were being pampered rather than flogged.
The last three cars in the line are competitors thrown in the mix for
comparison. The Fiat 500's competitors include the MINI, the Ford Fiesta,
and the Toyota Yaris. That 500 sure is cute, isn't it?
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I did make it to Coronado and stopped at McP's Irish Pub. When I first saw the name, I thought
it was McD's which is the name of a pub a friend and I spend time in back
in Ohio. I was a little disappointed when I realized it was a 'P' rather
that a 'D' but in the end it didn't matter. They had a good selection of
beer and a place to get rid of it.
I saw lots of what appeared to be fat-tired single-speed bicycles in
Coronado. I don't know if they were rentals or just more classy Coronado
behavior. The last shot is a much closer view of the Coronado Bridge seen
three panels previous.
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I'm ending the day fairly close to my motel with the
World's
Largest Lemon.
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