Tuesday, December 26, 2023
One of our favorite things to do in the post-Christmas season is to take the drive down to "America's Finest City" for the Holiday Bowl game.
So we did.
San Diego's 44th Holiday Bowl
#15 Louisville (10-3)
vs.
Southern California (7-5)
The almost annual Holiday Bowl was first played in 1978 and saw Navy beat BYU, 23-16.
It has been played yearly since then except for in the COVID pandemic year of 2020 and again in 2021, much to our dismay.
That 2021 game between North Carolina State and UCLA was cancelled about four hours before the scheduled kickoff due to COVID protocols this time. It turned out that UCLA had several players test positive for COVID at the last nminute forcing the cancellation.
Jacob, Michael and I were in our San Diego Little Italy District hotel when the news broke.
We were disappointed but unbowed, we bounced back quickly like locusts that night eating everything Little Italy had to offer.
This 1963 SI cover with the unusual
decal proclaiming San Diego as an
All-American City has always stuck with me
By the way, in 1963, the AFL Champion Chargers would have cleaned the NFL Chicago Bears clocks.
Just the opinion of one old AFL fan.
The drive to our hotel in San Diego's Little Italy District was slated to be an easy one of only two hours and 40 minutes, but we did need to make one restroom stop along the way.
San Juan Capistrano was the
perfect stopping spot
The Mission itself was still closed
We tried to sneak in this side
entrance but it was impressively
protected by this high-tech lock
We peeked over a wall to
see this quaint Christmas tree
Located across the street from the
Mission but it was still closed too
I distinctly remember going into this trading post as a youngster when we visited the Mission San Juan Capistrano as a family.
Refreshed, we continued on to San Diego . . .
The Poster Boy for Good Hair
We patrolled Little Italy's India Street
looking for a good lunch spot
We wound up back at our usual
hangout, Filippi's Pizza Grotto
Let's all share a
simple cheese pizza
DAMN IT!
All of the hot cheese slid right off my first slice.
We still made it work.
Another cool room in
Filippi's Pizza Grotto
As we left Filippi's, they had a survey of sorts for us to take.
Put your money where your mouth is!
The age old question.
It probably doesn't but I do like the taste of a good Hawaiian pizza if only to see my Italian friends squirm.
It was now time to explore the waterfront.
Jacob in front of the San Diego County
and City Administration Building
Nice seal in the Administration
Building's entry hall
Waterfront Park was fun even
though Michael got to this swing first
Ode to San Diego Padre great
Tony Gwynn
Jacob struck Gwynn out on
only three pitches
Gwynn was frozen in his stance on first two 59 mph knuckle balls and finally a 97 mph fastball thrown his way.
True
Boys love see-saws
I have no idea what this might be
King of the Hill
We moved on to our next stop, an onboard ship visit.
No, not the Star of India . . .
. . . nor this Patriot speed boat,
we wanted something a tad bigger . . .
Like this historical aircraft carrier
The U.S.S. Midway was in service
from 1940 to 1992
Jacob was dismayed to find out that, when active, about 80,000 haircuts were given aboard ship annually.
The ship's bell was sparkling
The Hangar Deck was expansive
An 11 year old boy in Hog Heaven!
EJECT! EJECT! EJECT!
Why yellow, I wonder?
On the Flight Deck
Entering a helicopter
Ready for action
Beware of Jet Blast
Props and Rotors
Sounds like solid advice to me.
We were told that the University of Louisville Marching Band would be performing on the Flight Deck at 1:30 p.m.
And they were
Flying Tiger tribute jet
Here comes the band!
Lots of folks from Louisville
The Cardinals mascot has TEETH!
The Flags were flying
The Cheerleaders were cheering
The Baton Twirler was in high gear
It was a BEAUTIFUL day at sea!
The band's concert was a good diversion but now we were back to exploring the ship.
Helicopter Co-Pilots
Louie the Cardinal with Jacob
LT. J.G., W.B. Cannon
must be a Los Angeles Rams fan
Michael wanted to take this home
Flying Solo
One of many Ready Rooms
I love these tributes
The Black Knights?
I thought that was Army-West point's mascot.
Flying another sortie
A downed pilot could relate his
status in several languages
with the help of this info sheet
The Cardinals horn section left their
instruments on the Flight deck
while the explored the Midway
Making Executive Decisions
for the rest of our day
The War Room
Our Docent in the War Room
was AWESOME!
Old Number 32
Wait, could I be underwater?
Laurie's Meat Loaf is WAY
better than this!
I prefer Pepsi
Paul Sabolić may have worn
this uniform in his U.S. Navy days
Vertical stripes are thinning
What is the next worst
status after 4F?
The U.S.S. Midway was well worth the visit, I highly recommend it to you.
Lots of good art and . . .
. . . architecture on the walk
back to our hotel
Great old train station . . .
. . . with an open waiting room . . .
. . . and great tiles
What happened to the
possessive apostrophe?
Of course, the Union train
depicted was the number 619
Back to India Street in the evening
The search for dinner led us to
the Burger Lounge
Not Italian but still delicious.
High Security Door
Ciao to you too from
Little Italy for the night
We covered a lot of ground
to be sure!
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