Farewell San Diego

The last two days in San San Diego were spent sightseeing and preparing for the upcoming cruise.

A Must See is Old Town

Considering our previous adventures with parking in San Diego, we found parking at Old Town easy and relatively inexpensive.

Old Town is the site of the first European settlement in California, therefore it is the oldest neighborhood in San Diego. It has approximately 35 historic sites including museums and restaurants.

Entering the park, we were greeted with preparations for the Day of the Dead Celebration, from colorful costumes to the calavera (skull in Spanish).

Seeley Museum

At the Seeley Stable Museum, we saw a neat display of stagecoaches and other forms of 1800s modes of transportation. One of which was the Butterfield Overland Mail coach. These stagecoaches carried passengers as well as mail making stops at designated “Way Stations” which were located near water sources. When the stagecoaches were within a mile or two of the next station, the guard would blow a bugle or trumpet alerting the station master they were approaching. Upon their arrival at the station were fresh teams of horses and refreshments, making it a quick pit stop.

Steve and I have been to Old Town many times, so AJ & Jenna explored while we stopped and had a drink. We shared a table with a couple from Canada on a tour from another Holland America cruise ship. We had fun comparing stories.

When Aj & Jenna rejoined us, we started to look at the shops. We reached a section selling hats so of course we had to try them on.

A Street Fair in the Gas Lamp District

On our last day, we walked around the Gas Lamp District. Once again we found a parking lot that was easy to get into and fairly reasonable. YEAH!! The first thing we noticed was the art on the building. Since the four of us are gamers, we all gravitated to the building that looked like Azul (a board game where you strategically place tiles to gain points). After having another great lunch with live music, we left to get the last few items we needed before boarding the ship –items that would have taken up valuable space and weight on the airplane.

At last, we were ready for our 48-day cruise to New Zealand.