Coronado

Monday, April 17, 2023

On Wednesday we made another trip to the beaches. This time we checked out Silver Strand Beach and Coronado beach. We had heard that they were good beaches for seashells.

Silver Strand did have a lot of seashells, but they were all the same kind of shell. We wanted a wider variety of shells. The shells at Silver Strand were mostly this very pretty clam shell. They were very pretty shells but how many do you really need?

We decided to move on to Coronado. We went a bit north of the Hotel Del to a part of the beach we had never been to. At first, I thought it was going to be a bust. The beach was a beautiful beach but there were not very many shells and the ones that we did see were not particularly nice ones.

And then I saw a sand dollar. We don’t see many sand dollars in San Diego and the ones we do see are usually broken so I was kind of excited. I then found another sand dollar but this one was completely intact. And then I found another and another and by the time we left I’d found around 25 sand dollars and at least a quarter of them were completely intact. We didn’t find many other shells, but the sand dollars made it worth it.

We then decided it was time for lunch, so we had a wonderful meal at this cute little bistro on the main drag of Coronado. If you look carefully, you can see me sitting on the right-hand side of the sidewalk eating area.

After lunch we walked through the downtown area to check out the little shops and then headed home. It was another great day.

Spring Break

 Friday, April 14, 2023

This week is Lisa’s spring break and while she has plans to complete a lot of unfinished work around the house, she also wants to do some fun stuff so on Monday this week (April 10^th) we played. Lisa is in a marine science class this semester and the students have been assigned to collect 15 different species of some kind of animal. In a show of support to the teacher and the students she is collecting shells along with them. The first thing we did this morning was to go the beach and look for unique seashells.  

Lisa looked up the best beach for collecting shells and Tourmaline was high on the list so off we went. It was a dingy and cold day, but it is always great to walk on a beach and it was good to get out for a change. I have been so focused on getting my smoker working properly that I have not been running or taken any breaks for a long time.

The water was just as cold as the air and after ten minutes my fingers and my feet were numb. We were able to find some cool looking shells but there wasn’t a whole lot of variety. She definitely has more than 15 different species though. She’s going to make a shadow box to hang in the bathroom. I think it is going to look nice, so I’ll take a picture when she’s done.

When we were sufficiently frozen, we then headed to the Midway Museum. I can’t go to that place often enough. It is so huge that every time we go, we see new things. This trip we focused on the talks they have on the top deck. They have one for launching and one for recovery. I think it is funny that they don’t say take off and landing but launch and recovery. I suppose that is more appropriate though because they shoot the plane into the air with a catapult and catch it with a wire.

This trip we spent most of our time on the top deck. In the past we have spent a lot of time down in the engine and boiler rooms and up in the tower, which they call the island.

The presentations were fascinating, and it always amazes me what a bunch of kids barely out of high school are able to accomplish. They can launch a plane every 45 seconds.

When we were too hungry to focus on the Midway anymore, we left the ship and ate tacos at the Carnitas Snack Shack located on the waterfront right in front of the Midway. This is one of our favorite places to eat Taco’s. They are delicious. It was a fun day.