Wednesday, September 09, 2009

The Big San Diego Picture Post, Which Is over Two Months Late

The idea of writing a post for each day of our trip collapsed somewhere between day one and day three, so I'm just going to post the rest of the pictures in one big, hopefully reader-friendly blob.

The day that we arrived, we went to the beach by the famous Hotel Something-or-Other, and just before we left, we saw this fellow:


That's actually one of my favorite pictures of Eli 8.0, because of the grin he has on his face.

On our way to dinner, just walking along, I saw something that became my favorite photograph of the entire trip:



You won't be able to tell unless click on the image, but there are helium balloons in the second story windows. There was something wonderfully evocative about the balloons, some promise of a party inside.

We decided this year to spend one of our days at Balboa Park (the "nation's largest urban cultural park"), which adjoins the San Diego Zoo. This turned out to be a great idea, because in addition to seeing the Spreckels Organ being played (which was unbelievable), there were a ton of excellent museums to visit.

For instance, there was the San Diego Automotive Museum, and I'm very sure that we saw the inspiration for the Speed Racer Mach 5. Take a look:


Of course, due to the unconscionable delay between vacation and post, I've totally forgotten what this car was, exactly, just that Eli 8.0 and I saw the car at the same time and both exclaimed "SPEED RACER!"

Next was the San Diego Air And Space Museum, and in addition to a special exhibit of Leonardo da Vinci's inventions, there were a ton of interesting things to see. Here's one good example, which is an exacting reproduction of my college dorm room:



Also, we saw a replica of a prototype of the Horten 2-29 stealth fighter, a WWII-era aircraft designed by Nazi engineers that was decades ahead of its time. The photos I took are not nearly as good as this one, so go have a look. It was so alternate history and futuristic that it looked like something that wouldn't have been out of place in the classic "Rocket Ranger" game by Cinemaware.

We also stopped at the San Diego Hall Of Champions sports museum, where I had one of the finest vacation sandwiches I've ever eaten. It was the "Bill Walton," which I, of course (obscure sports joke alert), ordered with bacon.

Eli was great, like he always is on trips, and the weather was so beautiful compared to the hellish, inferno-like environment we left behind in Austin. I don't really like leaving home, because that's where all my stuff is, but it was (mostly) a good time.

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