San Diego

Just got back from training in San Diego this week. It was my first time in San Diego and I was really stoked to be in a beach city. Consequently, I took to the beach everyday after training. Unfortunately, I had to rely on my camera phone for snapshots, so the quality leaves a little to be desired. Monday, I headed over to Coronado and walked the beach:

Coronado lies on a peninsula right off the coast of San Diego. To get there, you've got to cross the Coronado bridge which provides a real good view of the bay and the San Diego skyline.

And I am officially a beach snob. The sand on the San Diego beaches is brown with specks of black mixed in. I couldn't help but think of how white and fine the sands at Siesta Key, Florida are. If you're thinking of going to the beach this summer, consider Siesta Key. You'll find it hard to vacation at any other beach. That's not to say the beaches weren't nice in San Diego. There are stretches of lighter sand and the surf is definitely much better than anything you'll find in Florida. I give them a snobbish 4 out of 5.

Tuesday, I was able to get to Mission Beach, but no pics. Wednesday, I took off to Pacific Beach, which has a really cool landscape in that you've got cliffs that drop off to the beach:

Since I flew out Friday afternoon, I figured I needed to get to the beach one last time since I don't know whether I'll get to see the beach again this year. Here's the sunset at Mission Beach:

And for this beach lover and aviation fan, the training facility location could not have been more ideal. It was literally situated at the east end of the single commercial runway at San Diego International airport. When jets would power up to take off, our training room would literally shake and our instructor would pause until the plane made it on down the runway. Our parking lot ran alongside the jet blast deflectors, to give you and idea of how close we were to the runway, and from there you could watch the big boys land. Here's an Alaska Airlines (Boeing 737):

Here's a closeup of a United Airlines (Boeing 757?) jet's underbelly:

I was also able to to make it out to the Gas Lamp district which reminded me of downtown Athens, GA - bars and restaurants galore, packed into a couple of blocks. And I quite possibly found my culinary dream mile - Old Town. My hotel was in Old Town, which is sort of a rustic part of town with the main strip lined entirely with Mexican restaurants. It took some serious discipline not to eat dinner there every night.

All in all, a great trip. And to top things off, I finally made Silver Medallion!