San Diego - USS Midway and biking to Mission Beach

Yesterday started way too early, so by 4:30p I was ready for a nap, then to bed early as well. I got maybe 10 hours sleep so now I am officially on vacation and loving it!

Today is Day 2, Country 1, City 1. Sunny San Diego. And by the way Charlotte NC had enough snow for the grandkids to make snow people and throw snowballs. Here I am biking around in shorts -- awesome.

I picked up a rental bike first thing, then biked over to the waterfront. The USS Midway aircraft carrier is a floating museum there. It was commissioned in 1945 just about the time the war ended. Named after the crucial Pacific naval air/sea battle that destroyed a fleet of four Japanese aircraft carriers and preserved US naval power in the Pacific (they did mention the key contribution of the code breakers, though not that many of them were women).  A huge fraction of the ship serves as a museum with numerous veterans as docents. I toured the hangar deck with many airplanes, flight deck with many more plus takeoff and landing talks/videos, a tour of the control tower (the island), and below decks in mess hall, brig, boiler room, etc. Fantastic. 

USS Midway from the boardwalk

Hangar deck with vintage aircraft

Boss and mini-boss run the flight deck

Fighter aircraft (F14, Top Gun) with control tower in the background

Inside the E2 Hawkeye AWACS plane

After a quick lunch on the ship (no, not s**t on a shingle) it was time to bike up the coast. Along the harbor, past the airport, through wildlife areas (brown pelicans, osprey, hummingbird), and on to Mission Beach. MB is home to a different species of wildlife entirely, somewhere between odd duck and lounge lizard.

Beach cruiser and Wildlife area in the estuary

Beach and boardwalk at Mission Beach 

The ride home was really fast, with known navigation, sun behind me and a light tailwind. But the beach cruiser is slow and heavy with deflated tires. So by the time I got to Little Italy I was in dire need of a gelato. Not to worry!  Rejuvenated I could make it the remaining mile to the hotel. With sunset at 5 PM one has to return promptly from the day out!

City view across the water. Such gorgeous weather. 

Every navy veteran wants a boat in San Diego harbor, am I right? 

Pho dinner a few blocks from home and it's a wrap.

Tomorrow I'm planning to visit Balboa Park, the museums, maybe the zoo etc. And get some more biking. Maybe a lunchtime run for tacos. However, the hotel desk attendant strongly recommended the Italian place across the street --- 3 stars from me -- so I'm hesitant to try his taco recommendation. We'll see...