4 go La La in La La Land - Day 8: Highway to the Danger Zone

[Pumba75]

Wednesday 8th August 2018

The day began with me adopting my now regular spot on the balcony, overlooking the downtown skyline, drinking my coffee and catching up on news, twitter etc whilst waiting for the girls to wake up.

In the short time we’d been here this had become the place where I tended to start and end the day (albeit with a beer at the end of the day, rather than a coffee!). To the left of downtown was the international airport, so I could sit and watch the planes coming in there, across the bay in the naval base the helicopters would be buzzing about, and every now and again a big boat would come sailing by - honestly, I could probably have sat there and been kept amused for the rest of my life! Anyhow, this morning was a treat because as I looked down towards the entrance to the bay there was a massive (and I mean massive) naval aircraft carrier being led in - I sat and watched as it made its way up into the harbour, with all the naval personnel stood on the deck.

Once this had passed, it was time to get ready - we’d obviously become quite acclimatised by now as, after a week, we felt ready for a heavy-duty, full-on American breakfast - having done some research we decided to head to the downtown area and a place called Richard Walker’s Pancake House, which had very good reviews. The original plan had been to visit USS Midway museum today but due to time, we ditched this plan. Next time!

We parked up by the Midway - where we did have to pay ($10).

It was about a 20 minute walk to the restaurant.

We arrived there about 9.55am. It was obviously a popular place as it was packed out and there was a queue back up the street, however, we were all very hungry and the line appeared to be moving quite quickly so we joined it.

The staff were clearly quite adept at dealing with this situation as they turned tables over relatively quickly and made sure everyone in line had menus so there wouldn’t be much time wasted in making decisions once seated.

Was initially concerned about an "eggy waft"

After about 15 mins we were at a table and orders were being taken.

The food came out quickly and all looked good - especially Melissa’s apple pancake which was HUGE! This was their signature menu item - they obviously do something to it in the kitchen to give it its rise, as it started to “deflate” quite quickly, but it was still massive!

Chocolate explosion crepe & strawberry waffle

My corned beef hash and eggs

The food was all really good! Melissa could only manage half of hers and took the rest boxed, which she later gave to one of the many homeless people that were in this area of town.

We spent the next couple of hours exploring the area - I have to say, it really is a nice downtown area, compared to some cities we’ve visited around the world, and there has obviously been some significant investment over the past few years.

We saw the bar where the famous scene in Top Gun was filmed.

We then wandered through the Seaport Village complex, where we also stopped for a drink.

We then walked back along the waterfront to the statue of “the kiss” - based on the famous photo taken of a sailor kissing a woman at the end of World War 2.

It was now very hot, so we headed back to the car.

Our next stop was Coronado. This was a relatively short journey across the bridge from downtown to the island city.

Immediately you could see that this was a more “exclusive” area. We wanted to visit the Hotel Del Coronado - said to be the inspiration for the Grand Floridian at WDW. As we approached, it’s influence on the Grand Floridian was immediately apparent as it looked virtually identical!

On her fantastic Dibb thread, San Diego resident Aims had recommended the ice cream parlour here, and we’d decided to pay it a visit. On arriving at the hotel car park we learned that it was $5 to park for 3 hours - which seemed fine, however, to get that price we would need to spend $50 in the hotel, or the car park cost increased to $30! Now, we like our ice cream, but even allowing for upscale hotel prices, I wasn’t confident we’d meet the parking criteria so we decided to take our chances with finding street parking - in actual fact, this was quite easy, and we parked just a few minutes from the hotel. We walked back and found our way to the ice cream parlour where we proceeded to order a couple of scoops each - there was no seating in the parlour itself, but we found a place to sit outside and proceeded to eat the ice cream as quickly as we could before it melted!

Just one more. Melissa loves chocolate & ice cream. And taking photos!

Thank you Aims.

We then explored the hotel grounds and beach before deciding to call it a day and head back “home”.

Lots of walking and exploring accomplished today.

We’d already decided that dinner tonight would be at Fathoms, the hot dog kiosk on the fishing pier across the road from the hotel as no one was overly hungry. We’d learnt about this place through a recommendation on Aims’ thread from another Dibber, Tocpe321, so thank you very much!


We popped across the road about 6pm.

The food was really good and the guy working there was great. And they served beer - bonus.

We sat on the pier eating our food again just appreciating our surroundings and the fact that we were all there together. We had the following:

E &M. Pizza Hotdog. Does not look much but they really enjoyed this.

Melissa - Wedge Salad (if any of you are Modern Family fans, that will probably raise a smile!)

Me - Shrimp Po Boy

Food finished, there was time for the girls to fit in an evening swim before we went to bed (after a beer on the balcony!).

Tomorrow - a tour of the local beaches on our last day in San Diego.

Thanks for reading.

[Eeyorefanuk]

Hi 👋
Loving all this and today’s especially it sounds like a perfect day

[Aims]

Originally Posted by Pumba75

Thank you Aims

See more...

You are welcome!


Loving all the wonderful photos! Another day perfectly spent. I have watched so many of those Navy ships coming in after a tour of duty and it amazes me every time. My dad served in the Navy out of San Diego, so this sight always has a lot of personal meaning for me too.


Richard Walker's- can't beat it for pancakes. That line is always long whenever I've gone. That apple pancake stuns everyone when it comes out- you have to not mind being the center of attention when you order one, because EVERYONE will be looking at you when it comes to the table! The waffles look good, haven't had one of those yet. Wonderful thing your wife did giving her leftovers to a homeless person.


Glad you enjoyed your day downtown and on Coronado! Those hot dogs look good, too!

[jengibbo]

Hi,
Really enjoying your report especially as we are doing a very similar trip next April. We are doing the Aerial tramway it looks fab. We have booked the same hotel in SAN Diego following Dibb recommendations and I’m so pleased it looks great in your photos. Do all rooms have a balcony?

Jennifer

[StorybookCircus]

That pancake! No wonder you couldn’t finish it...my MIL went to a restaurant in Kentucky where they actually had a box outside for you to put your wrapped leftovers so homeless people could have them. Surely it would be nicer to serve smaller portions but operate a system where a homeless person can come in and have a freshly cooked pre-paid meal?

[flo-tinka]

Wow awesome pancake!
Loving the view from your balcony
Loved it around the Seaport area. We hired a couple of those Lime/Bird scooters here and had a great time (I then found out the kids weren’t old enough to ride them ooops)
Ice cream parlour at Cornado also does fab sundaes 🍨🍧🍦

[slow.jo]

Wowser those breakfasts looked good.

We saw the bar where the famous scene in Top Gear was filmed.

See more...

That really tickled me - I could imagine Jeremy Clarkson in full US Air Force regalia

I can’t believe how much the Grand Floridian looks like that hotel! How lovely.

Loving the report so far

Jo xx

[i love jack]

Lovely day that apple pancake! Huge!
Glad you managed to find some free parking!
Love the sign outside Fathoms

[Pumba75]

Originally Posted by Eeyorefanuk

Hi 👋
Loving all this and today’s especially it sounds like a perfect day

See more...

Originally Posted by Aims

You are welcome!


Loving all the wonderful photos! Another day perfectly spent. I have watched so many of those Navy ships coming in after a tour of duty and it amazes me every time. My dad served in the Navy out of San Diego, so this sight always has a lot of personal meaning for me too.


Richard Walker's- can't beat it for pancakes. That line is always long whenever I've gone. That apple pancake stuns everyone when it comes out- you have to not mind being the center of attention when you order one, because EVERYONE will be looking at you when it comes to the table! The waffles look good, haven't had one of those yet. Wonderful thing your wife did giving her leftovers to a homeless person.


Glad you enjoyed your day downtown and on Coronado! Those hot dogs look good, too!

See more...

Watching the boats coming in and out was one of the highlights of each morning - not quite sitting on the dock of the bay, but on the balcony

Originally Posted by jengibbo

Hi,
Really enjoying your report especially as we are doing a very similar trip next April. We are doing the Aerial tramway it looks fab. We have booked the same hotel in SAN Diego following Dibb recommendations and I’m so pleased it looks great in your photos. Do all rooms have a balcony?

Jennifer

See more...

Thanks for reading, glad you're enjoying it. Not sure about every room having a balcony, but certainly did in the block we were in.

Originally Posted by StorybookCircus

That pancake! No wonder you couldn’t finish it...my MIL went to a restaurant in Kentucky where they actually had a box outside for you to put your wrapped leftovers so homeless people could have them. Surely it would be nicer to serve smaller portions but operate a system where a homeless person can come in and have a freshly cooked pre-paid meal?

See more...

It was huge - tasted really good though (I may have tried a bit )

Originally Posted by flo-tinka

Wow awesome pancake!
Loving the view from your balcony
Loved it around the Seaport area. We hired a couple of those Lime/Bird scooters here and had a great time (I then found out the kids weren’t old enough to ride them ooops)
Ice cream parlour at Cornado also does fab sundaes 🍨🍧🍦

See more...

We loved all of the downtown area.

Originally Posted by slow.jo

Wowser those breakfasts looked good.



That really tickled me - I could imagine Jeremy Clarkson in full US Air Force regalia

I can’t believe how much the Grand Floridian looks like that hotel! How lovely.

Loving the report so far

Jo xx

See more...

Ahem - yes, thanks for pointing out the typo Giving you proof reading duties from now on! (I have now corrected!)

It was just like the Grand Floridian, it was quite strange as we drove towards it!

Originally Posted by i love jack

Lovely day that apple pancake! Huge!
Glad you managed to find some free parking!
Love the sign outside Fathoms

See more...

Ha - yes, we saw a number of amusing signs in and around San Diego, seemed to be very much in keeping with the laid back atmosphere of the city.

Thanks for reading all!

[mrsdjh]

You are making good use of that lovely balcony.

Im glad there was no actual Eggy waft at breakfast – that pancake is huge!