A stroll on San Diego’s Shelter Island

On the annual family holiday trip to California, the family and I decided to take a stopover in San Diego. Just a quick overnight by the sea to soak up the cool ocean air and enjoy the beautiful views. We quickly parked the car at our hotel on Shelter Island and walked across the street to enjoy a promenade on the walkway. First up was the pier with the huge seagulls. They are quite used to people and fly very close overhead. I recently re-watched Jurassic Park and really don’t look at Seagulls the same way after the closing scene… so I kept my distance.

  Farther down the promenade is the Friendship Bell with San Diego’s sister city in Japan, Yokohama.  The goal of sister cities is to bridge two cultures.  In addition to student exchanges and visits by dignitaries between both cities, Yokohama has also sent the Cherry Blossom trees at the San Diego Zoo and at the Wild Animal Park. We had to restrain ourselves from walking up the stairs to gong the bell.

Next up was the Tunaman’s Memorial which honors Founders, Pioneers and those Lost at Sea. The memorial shows three men pulling a Tuna out of the sea harkening the days when San Diego was the Pacific headquarters for the tuna fleet and the main business in this bay.  The memorial has a plaque detailing founders, pioneers and those lost – a nice tribute to those that helped build San Diego.

As we continued to walk the bay, we were treated to beautiful colors as the sun set on the San Diego skyline.

After dinner, we took another stroll to watch the end of the Christmas boat parade and the boats tying up for the night… thankfully some of them left the lights on.

More lights in on the beautiful sailboats.

One last view of the San Diego skyline… all lit up.