I had not been to San Diego in a while and since my last visit, the USS Midway was docked in the harbor and available for tours.  We walked over there from our hotel and spent several hours touring it.  It dates from the late 1940s and was interesting to see for both its design and engineering.  The ship is a city at sea. 

We waited on line for a guided tour of the Bridge (the only way to see it).  Most of the tour guides were former military, if not former Midway sailors.  While waiting on the line, I asked if photos were allowed in the bridge.  I didn’t want to be accused of being a spy and put in the brig.  The guide replied, yes they are allowed for $5 each”.  I said, “no, no, you don’t have to pay me for my pictures”.  It’d be rude to take money from a veteran.  The bridge tour was neat and they had a cutting edge GPS box the size of a VCR. 

We left the ship and walked along the waterfront back to the outdoor shopping area we were last night to have lunch.  Since we were already near the harbor, we decided to take a boat trip to Coronado.  I thought Coronado was an island, but it is in fact a peninsula.  The point where it connects to land is pretty far from here, so a boat or trip over the bridge is the way to go.   We hopped on  a bus to go across town to visit the famous Hotel Del Coronado, which has been home to presidents, celebrities, and now us.   We wandered around, checked out the beach, and then took the bus back to San Diego.

The trip back was nice in that we went over the bridge for better views.   San Diego is a big military town and Coronado has a base on it.  On the bus ride, an older guy who was clearly a regular, asked the bus driver if he could talk to the bus.  He went to the front and asked who were veterans or in the military.  A fair number of people raised their hands and then he asked for a round of applause to thank them.  Next, he lead the bus in singing “America the Beautiful”.  USA!  USA!  

When he sat back down behind us I mentioned I went to Georgia Tech so he then proceeded to sing the Tech fight song, which I was impressed he knew.  All in all, an entertaining ride back before our evening of dinner and jazz in the Gaslamp district.

View the photos from toady:

http://sanjoseabrams.com/photos/SoCalJuly2012/Day%206%20-%20%20USS%20Midway%20and%20Coronado/index.html