Big City Adventure- San Diego! Day 1

Needless to say we were exhausted from the twelve hour journey the day before.  So, when we emerged out of our comas and headed for the breakfast room, coffee was in order for sure.

This was the view from our dinning table in the hotel breakfast room.....

And here is Scootard not having had his coffee yet.....hahaha.....

After we slug down a bit of java and some breakfast, we were ready to start our adventure! I had never been to San Diego, so I was excited too.....:-)  Yay!!

When we were leaving the parking lot, it ocurred to me that I had not noticed the big white bears that had greeted us when we came in worn out and tired the night before....

The train station was just about 3 blocks away.  We decided to drop the car off there and head off to the wild, blue yonder.....

  and there we were, yet again on the wrong side of the tracks...haha.  But this time we didn't run for it.  We took the elevator back down and crossed over.

They had these day pass thingees too kind a like San Francisco.

I think they cost us about $5.00 a piece.  Not bad to ride all of the rails anywhere you wish for the full day...

And you had better have a ticket too cause they come around and check randomly.  The trains were always on time and frequent, but not as smooth as the ones we road when we went to Europe.

Just a few blocks later, we hit our first adventure.....

And this really was a town that had been preserved or restored to its period with furniture that had been passed town through the years or donated from those into antiques.....

There were so many of these little places that we decided not to go in all of them.  But since I was in the beautifying mode, we decided to get a peek inside of this one.

 I'm always amazed at how so many colors put on so many objects can make so many beautiful things....:-)

The building that this pottery store was in used to be the home of a native lady who married into money you might say.  The house was quite large for that time and she had a large backyard in which she planted many things including rosemary and oregano.....

Now, why on earth she planted this thing is beyond me.

And I had to wonder if the house was built and this tree was already there?  Many of the things that we saw had been there for almost 200 years.  So, maybe the tree was there when she settled in....??

This is the back of the house turned pottery store......

and here are what appear to be some prickly pear cactus....

this house was right next door to hers....

I couldn't figure out if these green things were olives or avocados.....??

This stove was an original, but they had to stop using it as it was causing damage to the other building next door.  Everything on this site is owned by the state and they get to say what stays and what goes.

I guess it was a good thing anyway.  It may have ruined all of the boots and shoes that this little house was
now carrying.  Cute shoes, but I don't like stuff between my toes!....:-(.

The dinning room was set up as it would have been for a typical entertaining situation for "important people" with all of the fixings for a meal.

And it was very common to have native servants in those days to help tend to the guest and the home.

The kitchen area was very no frills, but was well stocked with whatever was needed to prepare the meals.  These cast iron pans are from the same period in which they were used.  I like the one in the front as it is very deep and hard to find something like that today unless you are willing to sell you kidneys to pay for it!

In the back of the house was the biggest Blue Agave plant I think I have ever seen.  They used these to make the agave nectar that we have still today and to make Tequila I am told.

Along with the various plants and cacti the original owners had this grill or stove in the back of the house.  Most of the cooking was originally done outside of the home and later moved inside.
I saw this and thought of my grill back in Oklahoma which is in need of repair or replacing and this gave me an idea of what I think might work.  Its simple and I like the way it is set up.....:-).

This one is the house right next door.  Not quite as big as the previous house, but well stocked just the same.  I couldn't help but notice the pantry area suspended from the ceiling by ropes on the left and right sides of the picture.

Unless this is all you know, this would be very challenging to anyone who is used to having a lot of shelf space..

And then of course there are the frequent visitors like the one pictured here...!

Next stop was a pipe and tobacco shop.  They had pipes that dated back over 150 years for sale in the original cases and the name of the person that it used to belong to.  Even the cases they were in were originals from 1870.  We did come out smelling like cigars, but it was interesting that the sales clerks were all dressed in period clothing as was everyone in the park.

I'm sure the most of us if not all of us have heard of Wells Fargo Bank.  Well, they have been around a mighty long time it seems.  Here is one of the original stage coaches used to transport money and goods for the bank.  The guide in the photo was explaining to a group of elementary kids about how it was done back in the day....:-)

here is another view of the same stage coach.

Here is the write up of the wagon pictured below it.  Very nicely preserved to be so old- eh?

But still took wayyyyy longer than a plane....haha

They really dressed up in those days to go places.  Nowadays folks jump in a cab or drive their own cars and travel isn't that much of a deal.  And it doesn't take us nearly as long as it took them to get around.

It was really something to feel that you had stepped back in time when you see these documents that have been preserved for us to see today......

these prices seem cheap today, but it wasn't that cheap then.....

and of course there were those pesky stage coach robberies.....haha

So, they were "packing" when they delivered the goods in order to ensure their arrival, but it wasn't a fool proof method.  Many times they were out gunned.

Women were very instrumental in helping to establish the famous business.....Unfortunately, I was not able to get close enough to get the documentation with the camera...but anyway..there they are.  You go girl!!

This was the courthouse....yep.  One little room or at least a replica of what used to be....

Now I thought this was interesting.......I mean there was only one of them too!

And here it is!  How would you like to spend a day in that thing??

Next stop was a little (but not too little) store that sold all manner of fudge and candies.  The one on the left was Red Velvet Fudge; like the cake and the one on the right was Orange Cream.....:-).

And they put most of them under a thing that looked like the top of a covered wagon....very cool.

This is a taffy pulling machine.  When it is done doing what it does.......

You get something like this..

or this......

 Next stop was the potty market section thingee......

Ever hear the expression "When pigs fly!"  Well, if you ever said that, you just lost the bet!  If you look at the top of the picture, you will see one doing just that....haha

Scootard has a fascination with wind chimes for some unknown reason.  Every time we go into a store that has them, he has an urge (that he will satisfy) to "make them sing" if you will.  I decided to go the other way and act as if he "wasn't with me"....haha.  I mean look at how many of them there were!

meanwhile, that ant brigade looked like it was marching around on the floor in a circle.....haha.  I almost stepped on one of those things!

Not too far away were these very stunning bird baths that made my make shift ones back in Oklahoma pale in comparison.....:-(.

But mine cost about 12 bucks to put together and these were more like $135-200.00 a piece.  I don't think the birds will know the difference.....:-).

and of course there was all manner of kitchen stuff.  Here is a picture of one of the many things that they had.

I thought this was a riot!!  hahahaha

Now, since I have purposed to try and restore my back yard in Oklahoma to its former glory, every time I see something like pottery or bird baths I want to take it with me and put it somewhere in the yard.

I kinda liked these because I could picture some trailing something or another coming out of the little holes....
 

But I also know that I cannot cram everything I perceive to be beautiful into one space lest I become a horder!

My brain was getting entirely to stimulated looking at all of this stuff, so Scootard decided that it was time for ice cream....

I liked the colors that are everywhere in this mostly hispanic culture.  I have been to Mexico a few times and the one thing that stand out to me is their use of colors.  California is like Mexico in that since....:-)

and of course this chair caught my eye as it is almost the same color of my last project in Oklahoma....:-).  But my chair was a prettier style than this one.

The icecream did us both some good and staved off the hunger until we could find somewhere interesting to eat dinner..

after finishing our snack, we mozied on down the street to see what else might catch our attention.  I thought this arrangement was nice.  The streets were littered with this kind of thing....

And I love doors, hallways, and the such...:-)

I don't know where I have ever seen so many cacti in one place like in California.  I didn't even see this many when I was in Mexico.  But I like what they do in regard to the arrangements...:-)

We came across this shop that had all of these light thingees hanging from the ceiling and sitting on tables.

This church was done in a typical style for the culture there.  I wanted to inside to see if the inside was the same as what I expected.

It was, but not nearly as ornate as the churches in Mexico or Europe who are overladen with gold.

after our visit to the church, Scootard found a collectible penny machine....

this is the end result of the machine eating over a buck to get it.

Scooooooter!!! Not too many scooters to be seen in this town.  I think we may have seen 2 the whole time we were there besides this medical one.

We started to go to eat at this place, but decide not to.  But I liked the way it was set up.....:-).  Very cool!

I don't know what these flowers are.  If anyone knows what they are, please let me know.  I think they are beautiful and would love to have them in my garden.   I know! I know!  I can't put everything in it....:-(.

I know that these are some kind of a daisy, but sure what variety.

We were standing outside of this restaurant looking at the menu and trying to decide if this was the place where we would have our dinner.

when we met "Ann Marie"; a very nice lady from Manitoba who was waiting for her husband to fly in and join her on her vacation.  She was very nice and we chatted with her for a few minutes before moving on down the street.

This was another icecream store and although we were not looking to have more icecream..

I really did like the way they had decorated it.

By this time we are scortched from the heat and need some water.  TWO DOLLARS FOR WATER!?
I think next time or some time in the near future we will be using our backpack again for things like that.
 

Can you find Scootard?

This is a stick up!!

We decided to visit one of the recommended sites on our tour map.

This was a very special place in that there were so many still buried beneath the very street that many people were walking on as I read this plaque.

This lady was one of them.

and this grave site was so old that the top was disintegrating.

ok, enough of that.  It's really time to eat now!  We fond this place.

and tried to exist on chips and salsa until our food arrived.

This is mine.....:-).

and this is Scootard's.....:-).  He was very happy with it too....:-).

ok.  Bellies are full.  Time to go again.....:-).  There was still a lot of beauty to see, but far too much to put in one blog!  Gotta love those flowers!  I want that in my backyard! haha

 And it was a very musical place too.....:-)

see......

and lots of decor in the oddest places....:-)

I love wrought iron.  I think it just does something to a place.

By now, we had walked our feet plum off and it was time for a coffee.....

We thought after a bit of a rest, we would get our feet walking toward the next thing in our path.

 Just in case you are ever in the area, this is the place where we had the coffee...
 

 We ran across two donkeys on our way back to the entrance to the park....this was liked me, but was a bit skiddish.  I don`t think either of them where well cared for though....:-(.  They were the property of the state.

 another pretty view.....:-)

and so we made it back to the station.  We decided to ride the rails from one end to the other just to see what was there.

we settled in for what seemed to be about a 40 minute ride in one direction.

after drinking some water that we purchased before boarding the train, Scootard decided to crush the bottle.  Well, you know what kind of noise that makes right?  hahaha.  Several people turned and looked alarmed as if to have heard gun shot...haha.  One guy had just been on his cell phone telling someone that he had just been released from county jail.  So, I can imagine that it was a bit un-nerving to hear that!  geeze....

and so the night came to an end.  It was a long day and believe me I left out about 20 plus pictures so as not to drone on and on.  After all, this is just day 1 and I'm running a whole day behind with all of this stuff!

 Stay tuned for Day 2 of Big City Adventure- San Diego!