September 18th - The Padres win at Petco Park

Happy New Year.  This post is appearing on New Years Day. 

It was back in September that we decided to go downtown and attend a Padres game.  Fairly insignificant event, but baseball games in a stadium are always fun.  We took the trolley downtown and walked to the stadium.  I took a bunch of pictures of basic downtown sights.  We made our way to the lounge and had a couple of drinks sponsored by Cutwater Spirits, the hard liquor company that split off from Ballast Point Breweries.  Then we walked around, had a brat, and found our seats.  The stadium never got very full, but we didn't care because we never get to games and it's always fun.  As an added bonus, the Padres actually beat the Arizona Diamondbacks, 4-2.

I found this to be an interesting shot

This is a steak restaurant.  NY strip steaks..

PetCo Park

On my post about ComicCon, I included a shot of PetCo park from the Convention Center. It seemed right to post a shot looking back from PetCo.

I'm captivated by the old Western Metal Supply building that was moulded into the park rather than being torn down like the surrounding lesser factories and wearhouses were.

And yes, there was a badly attended baseball game, too.

May 26th - Friday - TAPS

Friday.
A great opening ceremony and a couple of good sessions.  At the ceremony, we were treated once again to a music program featuring Ret. Gen. Martin Dempsey and this little girl he has been mentoring with for many years.  Gen. Dempsey is there every year and spends his time in the Good Grief Camp program for the smaller children in TAPS.  They, along with an older girl and a sailor, sang a song from Moana.  There is a hallway where pictures of our loved ones are usually posted on huge banners.  This year, they had a Family tree made from construction paper with picture squares velcroed to the wall as leaves.  Very nice.

That evening, we attended the National's baseball game.  Arriving at the field, Laurie, Jeremiah and I walked around and sampled craft beers and food.  There is a memorial plaque there for the Naval personnel who died during an attack on the Naval yard sea systems in 2013.  Being one of the top teams this year, I expected them to win.  Considering they were playing my hometown Padres, I expected them to win big.  The National's pitcher had 13 strikeouts, a team record, and the bats had 5 homeruns.  My Padres made a bad showing.  I love attending baseball games and never regret any game no matter the outcome.

As the game was lost pretty early, we left before it was over.  We were not interested in taking the busses back to the hotel, but strolled down the street to find a craft brewery called Bluejacket. The area on the north bank of the Anaconda River, which flows into the Potomac, is an area know as the Naval Yards.  The area was once a major ship building area for the nation. The factory buildings are still there for the most part, but they have been repurposed into a trendy shopping area full of restaurants and nightclubs.  Bluejacket is in one of those factories.  You go through two sets of ID check to get in.  We found the staff to be a little short on friendliness.  Of course, on a Friday night right after a ballgame 5 blocks away, they were busy, but still, I expected a little more.  We found some good conversation with local people, and the list of brews was really pretty good.  It was loud, but an okay time. 

We left and caught a Uber back to the hotel.  Sitting downstairs for a nightcap, we met a group there who were a lot of fun.  Aaron, Greg, and Sheila, and a girl who seemed shy or not interested in us. lol.  USAF and Dental people.  It was a great meeting and we laughed and talked about life and kids.

Breakfast Buffet Food was much better this year

The amazing Bonnie Carroll

General Martin Dempsey (Ret)

Family tree

Friends

Massive storm before the game

This was the line for people going on the Pentagon tour.  They were pre-screening people so they wouldn't have to stand outside in the parking lot of the Pentagon doing it.  It is a great tour, though.

Tickets

A wonderful tribute

The field

Inside Bluejacket.  Obviously a brewery, but obviously also a factory

New friends

This is Aaron.

June 1 - 3, 2016 - Goodbye California

"Well I never been to England, but I kinda like the Beatles
Well, I headed for Las Vegas - only made it out to Needles
Can you feel it?
It must be real it feels so good
Oh, feels so good"
 - Hoyt Axton


Home from TAPS, we had a couple of days to get packed and on the road.  On the first, we stopped in to Alesmith's new brewery and tap room.  Much nicer and spacious than the old place.  Alesmith is one of the premier brewers in San Diego. [alesmith.com] The brewer has a deep love of San Diego especially San Diego baseball.  They honor one of San Diego's biggest sports heroes, Tony Gwynn.  Tony set records as a player and they brew the San Diego Pale Ale .394 as a tribute to his highest batting average.  Alesmith has opened a Tony Gwynn museum on the taproom premises.

A little more noodling around, and we left, heading up Interstate 15 towards Riverside California.  As we had planned to stay with Laurie's Mom this trip. we had driven out in our Jeep rather than the truck and Travel trailer.  This made our pack a bit tight, but allowed us the mobility of an SUV.  North to the sleepy (because it's so hot!) town of Barstow where we made a right turn and took I-40.  A while later, past the southern border of the Mojave National Preserve, up to the Arizona border and the town of historic Needles.  We stopped for a bite to eat and then, before traveling on thought we'd get a quick find there.  I never imagined I'd be geocaching in 115 degree heat.  But, there we were.  A quick Park and Grab and on the eventually cooler climes.  But hey, it was a dry heat...

Alesmith's new brewery and Tap room.

We would have looked around more if it wasn't as hot.  I love heat, but there are limits.

There is a cache here somewhere.

March 17th - St. Patrick's Day

It was a date!  It was a gathering!  It was an excuse to eat Corned Beef and drink Irish car bombs.

Our son, Alexander was in town, and we arranged to go sightseeing with Francine and France and included some time with Alex.

There had been an Irish festival in Balboa Park, but it was the previous weekend.  Still, the couple from Colorado hadn't been there, so we met them there outside the famous Air & Space museum. We took a tram to the plaza and walked around a little.  From there, we called a Uber for a ride downtown. Our driver, Michelle, was stunning.  Tall, in a great dress, and very polite as well as having a french accent and quite obviously a male.

GEOCACHING ; While waiting for the UBER, we picked up a quick find right there in the parking lot. "Balboa Park and Cache", GCQJMH

Once downtown, we walked down the street to The Field.  A local Irish Pub.  One of he oldest in San Diego with furnishings and such brought over from Ireland itself.

The Field

There was a 40 minute wait, so we walked a couple of doors down to The Blarney Stone Pub for a quick pint of Guinness.  By then the table was ready and we were seated.  Yes, the place was very crowded as you can imagine any place connected with Ireland on St. Patrick's Day would be.  We immediately ordered Irish Car Bombs from our nice Dubliner, Garrett.  For a meal, Laurie and I decided to split the mixed plate.  It was plenty of food for two.  It featured Shepard's pie, Guinness beef stew, corned beef and cabbage, and rasher and cheese.  For appetizers we had sausage rolls and Irish potato skins.  

When we were done, we walked down the street to a place called The Neighborhood.  There, we had great service from Jealous who had more tattoos than I did. We sampled some craft beers as our awesome dinner settled.  Then we caught another Uber back to our cars.

The Neighborhood

We drove up to Mira Mesa and visited the Green Flash brewery for a very informative tour.  We had samples and enjoyed the company of friends and family.

Green Flash Brewery

Finally, we said goodbye and left for home.  Just about the best St. Patrick's Day ever.

San Diego Air& Space Museum

Friends and Family

There was no way I could get to an area for a better shot, but  I loved how the Coronado Bridge just runs off into the fog

Plaza Del Mundo

Canyon area with walking trails.  Laurel street bridge in distance.

Balboa Park, at 1.875 sq. miles is larger than NYC's Central Park of  1.137 sq. miles.  The San Diego zoo uses 99 acres within the park.

Gaslamp District of Downtown San Diego

The Barney Stone Pub 

Down the street, the back of Petco Park, home of the SD Padres, showing the historic Western Metal Supply Company building which was the foundational corner of the ballpark.
http://www.si.com/mlb/2014/07/21/ballpark-quirks-san-diego-petco-park-western-metal-supply-company

The moon says hello

The Neighborhood

Jealous

Green Flash main brewery Check out the old Chevy panel truck

Our Tour guide, Mike