Continued from Yesterday Cabrillo and Rosecrans

After the nice lunch at Point Loma Seafood we traveled up the hill to the Cabrillo National Park and the first stop was the tidepools to observe the behavior of humans in and around ocean cliffs observing ocean life in trapped pools of water called tide pools. Well needless to say the humans were running today as the Winter Tourist Season was in full bloom. Nice ocean view and lots of people milling about.


This woman and her daughter were a perfect example of east meets west when it comes to traditional dress.


Down on the lower reaches of Point Loma is the working lighthouse run by the Coast Guard a wonderful organization loaded with real heroes we rarely see praised but who save many lives every year and protect us in many and varied ways.


On the top of the hill at Point Loma is the old and no longer used Historic Lighthouse. The Old Point Loma Lighthouse stood watch over the entrance to San Diego Bay for 36 years. At dusk on November 15, 1855 the light keeper climbed the winding stairs and lit the light for the first time. What seemed to be a good location 422 feet above sea level, however, had a serious flaw. Fog and low clouds often obscured the light. On March 23, 1891 the light was extinguished and the keeper moved to a new lighthouse location closer to the water at the tip of the Point.


Near the historic lighthouse is the Cabrillo ( pronounced CAB-RIL-O) Monument. Point Loma was discovered by Juan Rodriguez Cabrillo sailing for Spain in 1542 as he led the first European expedition, a three vessel armada, to explore what is now the west coast of the United States all the way up to Oregon.


Point Loma is a peninsula formed by a rather high hill that juts around and encloses San Diego bay.


So the views are spectacular.


And the channel below the point sees all the traffic from the bay into the ocean. From small motorboats to Aircraft Carriers.


Across the bay you can see the Del Coronado hotel on Coronado and all the way into Mexico.


An old lighthouse lens makes for a cool picture....


Even better with a little boy's face staring back at you.


Immediately below is the Submarine base, to the right is North Island Navy Base and Airfield with the channel running in between ......


The high and long Coronado Bridge is very visible from 400 feet above the bay...


There are walks all along the point and at this rest area I took a picture and added magic mist to simulate a foggy day.


North Island Airstrip and beyond the Bay is Lindberg Field, the San Diego Airport.......


On the way back we passed the Fort Rosecrans National cemetery honoring many of those lost in battle.


This is a huge cemetery you are only seeing a small section


So many lost heroes are buried here that deserve our gratitude.


There is a lot of weird science going on at the Naval Base on Point Loma and I'm not even going to guess what this parabolic syclogenic sub-atomic laser enhanced phaser (PSSALEP) does but I like to imagine it has saved the world several times over since I first saw it 15 years ago.


Now back on the Mainland we saw an Old Town trolley and ......


......... the very successful metro trolley (As seen in the movie Little Nikita) Staring River Phoenix and Sidney Poitier. River Phoenix was born 5 months after my eldest son Steven in 1970 in Madras, Oregon and died October 31, 1993, just 5 years and 10 movies after making Little Nikita. The exciting finale of the movie takes place on this very same trolley run from San Diego to the Mexican Border. Also obscured in the background is the Kansas City BBQ used for some shots in Top Gun.


This shot looks a bit commercial like an artist's rendering of a project. It is a shot this humble photographer took while stopped at a traffic signal.


I also go a quick picture of Petco Park Baseball Field, home of the San Diego Padres just before......


Being hit from behind buy a guy who was pushed into me by a girl driving the car behind him. This all took place in front of this muraled wall outside of the convention center. While it felt very hard there was no real damage to any of the cars or occupants, we all lucked out. But then how much can go wrong when you are having another day in paradise.



No Scrabble Score.

Quote of the Day "I can't on my own change the regime in South Africa or teach the Palestinians to learn to live with the Israelis, but I can start with me." ~ River Phoenix Deceased Actor and older brother of Joaquin Phoenix. Joaquin (Leaf) Phoenix (Walk the Line and Gladiator) may well get a well deserved Academy Award for his role of Johnny Cash in Walk the Line.