Thursday, December 28, 2023
The long drive home from San Diego would have to wait until we first visited three of the local university campuses.
We started with the Catholic university which our son Andrew attended as a Freshman.
Home of the Toreros
USD has a beautiful church on campus,
The Immaculata Parish
Of course the church had
a beautiful blue dome
The Most Reverend
Charles Francis Buddy
who was the Founder of USD
still has the Christmas Spirit
Let's go inside and take a look
Blue is the color symbolizing
the Blessed Virgin Mary, a.k.a.,
The Immaculata
Nice blue cupola
A stain glass window
painting a nearby wall
St. Joseph and Jesus, I suspect
On to the USD Football Stadium
and the rest of the athletic facilities
Inside the Jenny Craig Pavilion
home to USD basketball and volleyball
Among the USD Hall of Fame we found . . .
. . . a QB who played in the NFL . . .
. . . a school record setting QB . . .
. . . and a WR who was in the NFL too
One more view of the football field
USD had a solid football tradition
The USD baseball field . . .
. . . with a nice press box and
home stands
A Father/Son moment
captured by grandson Jacob
We left USD via their
multi-purpose practice field
Looks like an unexploded bomb
fell through this church's roof
At least that's what it looked like to me.
Next stop . . .
Home of the Aztecs
Sort of.
We were actually headed to the Aztecs new, off campus football stadium located in the same general spot as the recently razed Jack Murphy (a.k.a., Qualcomm) Stadium,
Snapdragon Stadium can
seat 35,000 football fans
Cozy.
As one might suspect,
it is a good looking facility
What the . . .
Purple and Gold meet
Red and Black
Jacob took this photo
of items in line
A statue of Jack Murphy himself
He was a sportswriter for the San Diego Union Tribune newspaper who was instrumental in getting the original stadium built back in 1967.
The San Diego Chargers were the new stadiums only tenants that year. In 1968, Major League Baseball granted San Diego an expansion National League franchise, the Padres, who played there as well.
The Jack Murphy statue has him
holding a spiral notebook and pencil
as any good newsman would carry
The old football stadium seating at
the long ago, SDSU on campus
Aztec Bowl
When SDSU decided to build a new indoor sports facility, Viejas Arena, in 1997, they set it in the Aztec Bowl. In order to not part completely with tradition, SDSU opted to not tear down the parts of the Aztec Bowl not in the Viejas Arena footprint.
Moving on . . .
What visit to San Diego would be
complete without a stop in Old Town?
The boys were ready to ride
Still a lot of Christmas in the air
Nativity Scene
BIG Magi statues
I liked the Christmas tree
decorated simply with just
red bows
We had to check this store out
Dia de los Muertos
theme to the MAX!
Mexican flavored wreath
Goofy boys
I haven't had a taco all week
The Virgin of Guadalupe
was a MUST!
Checking out a model of the
Old Town's layout in the 1860s
Is that even possible?
What the dining room in an 1860s
Old Town Inn looked like
Tobacco, Wine & Liquors
I was game to explore this shop.
They have "SEGARS"
Jacob did not like the aroma of all
of this tobacco at all
Hey, what's that up on the ledge?
Why it IS indeed a Cuban flag!
Michael knew the owner of the store
as both of them are Civil War Reenactors
Is his beard holding his book?
Santa really needs to still be relaxing
at a beach resort only a few days after
his annual global Christmas ordeal
Google eyes are AWESOME!
Another reminder of my need
for Mexican food in the near future
Next to the Old Town's Jail/Sweat Box
We were on the move once again . . .
University of California, San Diego
Home of the Tritons
And also the home to the
excellent Birch Aquarium
Jacob is fascinated by everything that is Oceanography related.
Thus we would wisely spend our final hours in San Diego visiting an aquarium on the UCSD campus to further nurture Jacob's most worthwhile interest.
Jacob was super excited
Quite honestly, I was too as all of these creatures fascinate me as well.
Of course, a potential Great White Shark
attack would get one back on land
quickly methinks
Brainless Wonders?
Up close and personal with
this big jellyfish
Strange, brainless creatures
Michael and Jacob discussing
the sea life in this aquarium
There are actually so many
different forms of sea life on display
UCSD's colors are blur and gold
DANGER!
The Lionfish's spines are highly toxic
If we each stay on our own side of the glass, no one should get hurt.
What an incredible setting
for the Birch Aquarium
Getting brave as he touches the
tail of a huge, man eating shark
OK, it wasn't huge or a man eater but it was a shark.
Aye, a great setting indeed!
Not sure what he is touching
here but it was slimy
The penguin exhibit was a
BIG HIT!
Truly funny animals
Only inches away, I like them
Well, this certainly hurt my image
of the cute penguin species
Jacob vs. Great White Sharks
is a common theme at all of
the aquariums that we visit
Well, I think
What is that orange life form?
Green means it's safe, correct?
A Sea Horse sighting was
well worth the visit all by itself
We all left the Birch Aquarium a tad smarter.
Jacob's resolve to someday make Oceanography his college major was now even stronger.
GO FOR IT, JACOB!
From the Birch Aquarium, we decided to make one more short stop in Newport Beach to visit Loren and Sandy Brucker at their home for just a few moments.
They were both doing well which was good to see.
Near the Newport Pier
After visiting with the Loren and Sandy, we stopped for pizza and walked by this statue of Ben Carlson who lost his life in the performance of his duty back in 2014 while successfully rescuing a distressed swimmer.
He is the only Newport Beach Lifeguard to die in the performance of his duty in the now 101 year history of this vitally important organization.
Another good day of physical fitness!
I believe that all three of us had a really good time on our last road trip of 2023. I know I did.
P.S., our Christmas present to Jacob of that purple Washington Huskies jacket was a BIG hit!
During our three day road trip, he only took it off to sleep at night. GO DAWGS!
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