USS Midway and the Pacific Ocean

Today we planned to go to see the USS Midway Museum in the morning and then to Coronado Beach in the afternoon, then head back to our campsite. Both turned out to be even better than we anticipated.

Carson and I woke up really early, so we went exploring around our campsite. Took some more palm tree photos and also discovered what we presume is a Native American reproduction of a wigwam. There were no signs though so I have no idea the purpose of it in that park.

We didn't see any rattlesnakes, but we did wake up to ants crawling all over the outside of our tent with some getting inside through the tent seams. A drawback to setting up the tent in the dark? Perhaps, though when I looked up comments on Tripadvisor afterwards, all the campgrounds in San Diego had ant issues. 

We stopped at Denny's for breakfast then got to the USS Midway right when it opened about 10 am. The USS Midway Museum is an aircraft carrier that was retired and turned into a museum. If you are interested, here is their website: http://www.midway.org/

They have an audio tour throughout the entire ship so we all picked up our headphones and remote thing. They have kid-level audio and an adult level one with more details about the different areas of the ship. Spencer loved the audio tour and listened to every single track! He was even punching in random numbers in hopes of more snippets of information. Carson didn't like it hanging around his neck so he walked around and asked millions of questions (Mom? Mom? MOM?)

One of the veterans told us to go to the top and get the tour of the control tower because that line gets long.  The kids got to sit in the Captain and co-captain chairs. The control tower is just like the control tower at an airport.

We stopped to have a snack/lunch and call Opa to wish him a Happy Birthday. Carson loves to make faces for the camera.

We saw and learned about lots of other cool things on the ship.

An early computer. 

Lots of planes and helicopters on the deck.

The boys in the Brig!

Jeff and Spencer trying all the different knots that were used on the ship.

There was also a Young Pilot's program similar to the Junior Ranger program in the National Parks. The retired veterans were so great with the kids, as were all the veterans that worked or volunteered at the Museum. Many of them had served on the USS Midway or else served on similar ships that the USS Midway oversaw.

We ended up staying until about 4 pm and learned so much about the Navy, how airplanes could land on a ship in the middle of the ocean, and how the men lived while at sea. It was definitely a happy surprise that it ended up being such a fantastic activity.

After that, we walked along the boardwalk where there were great shops, street performers and restaurants. I even met Tom Cruise!

The boys didn't know what to make of the Human Robot Statue. Put money in his tip
jar and he moved and sounded like a robot.

Crabs crawling on the rocks.

This man balanced these rocks which were just part of the shoreline. Amazing!

During dinner we saw this huge ship full of Dole containers. That is a lot of bananas!

Swoon!!!!

We ate dinner (pizza for the boys, ravioli for me, and a gyro for Jeff), then headed to Coronado Beach to watch the sun set. Very swanky houses, but the beach itself was public so we parked and went to explore. The boys had a blast playing in the waves and then in the sand.  I wish we lived closer to the ocean.

As the kids were playing, I was exploring with the camera. 

Bird footprints in the sand

The sand had gold specks in it so the whole beach was glittering.

And ending the day with a beautiful sunset!

Seeing the sights around LA then down to San Diego

Today was planned as a much more relaxed day for us. The only thing that was scheduled was our campsite in a county park near San Diego at the end of the day. So we slept in, packed up and basically drove around LA most of the day in our nice air conditioned truck.

We did have to fill a prescription, since our insurance company would not let us fill it early before we left. The Walgreen's near us in LA did not have it in stock but called and said another one in a different area might. So we called to confirm and they told us that they couldn't tell us if the prescription was in stock over the phone, hence our first stop was at this Walgreen's. Once I went in and showed them the actual prescription, they told us that they couldn't fill it because it was not written by a doctor in California. Sheesh! Good thing it's not a life-saving one or we would have had to go to an Urgent Care to get a new prescription.

After that wild goose chase, we drove to Beverly Hills to have a look around. None of us wanted to get out of the vehicle because this:

So we happily drove past the Chinese Theater and saw the stars in the sidewalk. Definitely a tourist trap area too. 

We finally saw Mickey Mouse though. We didn't see him at all in Disneyland (though the boys didn't seem to mind). 

There were homeless people on many corners, especially the tourist areas. They always sit in the sun. I wonder what their stories are and how they ended up in such desperate situations. So sad.

And then we were in the opposite end of the financial spectrum. Rodeo Drive. I used the Zillow app to look at home prices and they ranged from 15-20 million dollars. The cars on the streets changed too. Jeff was checking out all the people at the stop lights, looking for celebrities,  while I was ogling all the gorgeous houses because I wouldn't recognize a celebrity if the person came up and told me who they were!

We drove up and down Rodeo Drive where Julia Roberts shopped in Pretty Woman. I'm glad that we didn't even consider getting out and "shopping". I wasn't dressed in nice enough clothes (I don't even own nice enough clothes) to even walk down this street! 

Before we left LA, we also took some time to drive past locations that were used in shows and movies that we liked.

Jeff watches Sons of Anarchy and this is the gate to Teller-Morrow.

We both were excited to find the Walsh's from 90210.

Jeff found the Troubadour's, the place where the Eagle's got together.

And lastly, the house from It's a Wonderful Life.

We made our way down to San Diego and set up our campsite just as the last light of day was fading. I grabbed some pictures of the palm trees by our site with the sunset in the background. Did I say that I just love palm trees? They are fascinating!

Before we crashed for the night, the kids played with their light up swords that they chose for their trip souvenir. They got them at Disney but there wasn't enough room in the hotel room to properly duel with them.

Even though we basically drove around all day, we were exhausted!