San Diego is where I was born. I did not live there long enough to get to know the city well as an adult; the places I drove to when I was 16 – 19 were the high school, the ballet studio, Balboa Park, the beach, my boyfriend’s house. That was pretty much it. Oh, and yeah, the mall. Back when indoor malls were new (late 1970s, for those of you who aren’t sure of the time frame).
Having a boyfriend (aka now the Hubby) meant my horizons got wider. Which means, I never went to the beach before driving there with him. It was our first date, actually – I drove us in my new-to-me Toyota Corolla, a pretty yellow four door, in 1977, to La Jolla Shores and we walked along a spit of land that fell into the sea a few years later.
But This Post Isn’t About That.
Two weekends ago I spent the entire weekend down in San Diego with the hubs. I hope to do so again, very soon, and stay on the boat he’s staying on while he performs there. In the meantime, I want to share some of the beauty that is Shelter Island (and I’ll tell you the story of my first time there in a bit).
Just the most beautiful view. I wouldn’t mind living in one of those houses on the hill. Or, for that matter, one of those bigger boats…You?
Shelter Island is beautiful. Now, my sense of the geography of San Diego is totally off, so forgive me, but I believe Shelter Island is a part of Point Loma. At any rate, it’s also called the America’s Cup Harbor – there are even signs to that effect. More on that later. While I was waiting for the hubby to finish playing banjo and take me to the Starbucks so I could plug in and write, I took this photo.
I’d live on one for a summer. Would you?
And of course, here’s one of the hubby playing banjo…
My man, practicing the banjo. One of the hardest working actors I know, anywhere.
And some dogs I saw, racing along the water together. They looked like they were having SO much fun!
Two dogs having a roaring good time in the water. No, they’re not mine. Yes, their owners were not far away.
But now I suppose you want to know the story of my first time on Shelter Island. Well…hubby gave me really good directions. Except he said the fatal words – “You can’t miss the turn. There’s a huge sign.”
This was my first time to Shelter Island. I was still in The Boot, but I decided to go down, visit my dad for a half day, then hie myself hither to see my hubby. Unfortunately, while his directions got me to the right place, his “you can’t miss it” had me expecting flashing lights and pointing fingers and a sign that said “GO THIS WAY CHRISTINE”. So I kept driving on Rosecrans, passing the small street sign that said Shelter Island, and the sign that said “America’s Cup Harbor”, figuring that the sign to turn must be bigger. In fact, I went so far on Rosecrans that whenever I looked to my left, between the houses I saw water. I figured I was getting close.
And I was. Unfortunately, I was very close to the Point Loma Naval Base. Ahead of me by almost 500 yards I saw a guard shack and two armed military men. Knowing I was in the wrong place, for a few seconds I thought I should make an illegal U turn and flee…but I wasn’t sure if they wouldn’t have a military helicopter after me, what with the strange goings-on in our country lately. So instead, I sedately crept forward, getting my self-deprecating skills polished as we inched ahead. (Everyone was stopped.)
(BTW – I was going to put a photo here of the checkpoint, but I couldn’t find one and OF COURSE I didn’t take one.)
When I got up to the soldier, I rolled down my window and expressed my abject apologies, saying I was supposed to go to the Shelter Island Marina but my sense of direction kind of sucked and could I please make a U turn? He listened, nodded politely, asked for my license, walked around to the back of my car, called in my license plate and probably my drivers license number. When he came back I smiled self-deprecatingly (practice came in handy) and I said that I hadn’t wanted to make an illegal U turn.
He nodded again, politely, and then told me that I would proceed to the armed officer ahead of me, make my U turn, and he would hand my license over to me on the other side of the cement berm.
Um, okay. So I went ahead, turned at the young (SO YOUNG) soldier’s wave, came around to the other side, and accepted my license. The other young soldier waved me on and wished me a good day.
I headed to the hubby and the marina, chuckling at my encounter with the military but still in awe and a bit trembly. SO glad I wasn’t a Bad Guy at that moment. Did I mention the (no clue what type weapon) guns they had slung over their shoulders?
But I finally met the hubby at the Tiki of Bali Hai. And I leave you with that photo…
This is the parking lot not only for the Bali Hai restaurant, but for the Shelter Island Marina. Oh, and at night, the Tiki on the roof only has one glowing red eye. Spooky…
Thanks so much for coming along on this journey. What unexpected encounters have you had while adventuring? Animal, mineral, or vegetable, lol?
~oOo~
Until next time, be good to one another. Cheers!
That sounds like one of my adventures. I’m so relaxed about them now that I take getting lost as a plus. : ) You never know what you’ll meet around the next corner or in the next mile.
The photos are gorgeous, and I’m glad you got to spend that time on a boat with the hubs.
Thanks, Roben – yeah, I’m getting used to getting lost, lol! And lucky me, I get another weekend down there soon!
I remember as a small child, my family was driving to Texas for vacation. Somewhere along the way was another facility for the aerospace company my mom worked for. Naturally we had to stop and look at the building. Then my mom decided she needed picture of herself in front of the building. So dad got out his camera and began taking several shots of mom with the aerospace building as background.
Next thing you know two armed guards come speeding up in Jeep. Not only did they get mom and dad’s identification, they looked at dad’s camera too. Then the guards called in the information they’d gathered to ‘somewhere’. My mom was dying of embarrassment, dad was a little unsettled, and future cop girl was intrigued by the whole affair. Soon after the guards were told, “Let the people go.” We got in our Ford station wagon and got the heck out of Dodge…or wherever we were!
Whoa, Kathy! I am now VERY glad I didn’t take my camera out, lol!
I HEART San Diego too! I’m looking forward to taking the little guy down one of these days. LegoLand, Sea World…the Zoo. That’s non-stop excitement for a 4 year old, and not too hard on mom & dad either.
I understand your nervousness about your military encounter. I grew up around miltary bases so the U.S. Military doesn’t freak me out too much…but I remember the first time I got off a plane at the Leonardo da Vinci airport in Rome and saw black-garbed miltary men strolling around with their big rifles slung over their shoulders! I was like, “I have nothing to declare!”
Been to the Zoo many times, as well as Sea World – but my boys had absolutely no interest in Legoland when it got built, so I’ve never been there. Oh, and I understand about Rome – I had the same reaction! But I will say landing in Munich was scarier…the military was EVERYWHERE, toting huge guns. This was in 1997…
Thanks so much for a wonderful blog. I love San Diego, too, and don’t get down there nearly enough. I would love to stay on a boat for about a week, then go from there about any longer. Loved the military encounter story.
I am sad that we ever left. I could live there quite happily…
Nothing lately to report, but we’re headed to Eureka Springs this weekend, so I hope to have plenty of tales when I come back. Looks like you had a great time!
Take lots of photos, Rhenna!
Once in France, erm – I was navigating, we somehow got a little lost in the mountains in Provence. We turned down one narrow road after another, getting increasingly alarmed at the roads not on our map, and the roads on the map that we couldn’t find on the ground…
It was 2:00pm, we hadn’t eaten since breakfast, but we drove past a rather scary looking shed with a sign out the front offering Dejuner. Well we drove on, the road grew even more twisty, finally husband turned around and we headed back. By this time we were famished and we stopped.
I spoke a little French but couldn’t understand the dialect spoken. It didn’t matter – the waiter cum chef understood ‘je suis vegetarian’ and brought out one of the best omelettes I’ve ever tasted. After the meal he drew us a map to get to the nearest small town with an Auberge – and you guessed it. It was a great place in a tiny village! 🙂
Kim, I LOVE this story! I haven’t yet gotten lost driving in France, though my husband and I lost each other in the subways of Paris. He was listening to a band, I was around the corner because the music was too loud – and we didn’t find each other for an hour, when we both went back to the hotel. Funny in retrospect – not so much at the time!
Wonderful, Christine. I’m just reading this right before work, so no time to share a story, but I just wanted to compliment you on how well this resonates. Also, I wanted to know what you use to upload photos and captions, as yours are way better-looking than mine. Very professional!
Hey, thanks for stopping by, Gretchen! Regarding uploading photos/captions, it’s all a part of WordPress…I just fill in the boxes. Cheers hon!
I’ve never been to CA and visiting San Diego as well as other cities is on my bucket list. Thanks for sharing it.
You are so welcome, Susan. I’m a total San Diego fan, lol!