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San Diego: Day 1

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Coronado Island is home to some of the most tranquil harbors and beautiful Southern California beach land ever. Of course, it's also got the requisite tourist village and some fun restaurants; we ate at a 50's joint, called the Beach-N-Diner: nothing special but HUGE salads. Really loud music they were accommodating enough to turn down so we could all catch up. After filling our stomachs, we headed to the main draw of the island: the Hotel Del Coronado.


A sprawling, beautiful wooden hotel, it evokes the '30's sense of splendor. Everything too perfect, with the Pacific as the ideal backdrop. We toured the lobby, then headed to the deck to sit with drinks and take in the scenery. After, we peeked in the courtyard: the architecture is magnificent. Like the Levi Strauss building grafted to an oceanliner. Private decks, soaring palms, and a gazebo. Magnificent.


A short drive around Coronado to see the naval installations, then back to the Inn for some respite. Then, dinner. I will say that I did not expect all that good food from our trip: our last trip there, the places we went were just OK. Plus, it's such a tourist/military/convention town, I couldn’t imagine it would improve. We decided to try the city's famous Gaslamp district, filled with bars, restaurants and clubs.

One of the things I find unusual about San Diego: the restaurants all seem to be owned by local entrepreneurs who own maybe 5 or 6. They brand them proudly with their names, and advertise their sister restaurants in the one you are in. Kind of like the Real Restaurant Group in San Francisco. Anyways, after the help of some unprotected WiFi near the Inn and TripAdvisor, we headed to the Dakota Grill for a dinner.

I'll do a separate review of the restaurants in San Diego. Suffice it to say, it was wonderful. Tired, filled, and content, we retired to the Inn. I sat in the courtyard and had an evening cigar in the warm night. A nice welcome!

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