My wife got up first thing as she, unfortunately, has to work the days after Christmas. The rest of us took advantage of the opportunity to sleep in and get a later breakfast. Today the buffet added bacon that was missing the previous day. It was hard to believe we had been on vacation for a whole week so far and were about halfway through the trip.

Maritime Museum

There are a lot of things to do in San Diego and a dozens of museums to consider, not to mention SeaWorld and Legoland. I spent the morning looking at our options before the boys woke up. I decided to get tickets for the Maritime Museum of San Diego and the USS Midway Museum which were both within sight of the hotel. I figured we’d hit those up around lunch and be back in the hotel early afternoon to go to the gym before figuring out our dinner plans.

I found a package deal online that saved us about 10% by buying tickets to both attractions. It was easy enough to order and pay for them but in my email, I got a notice I had to call the ticketing company to finalize the purchase.

Back to the room after breakfast, I called the company to get things sorted out. They never clearly explained the issue but needed to know the exact amount charged to my credit card in order to verify it was me. They didn’t ask for my credit card details (they already had it) so I’m not sure what the issue was. Once I gave them the information they were looking for they sent the tickets to my inbox.

With the tickets sorted out, we headed to the San Diego Maritime Museum and arrived right as it opened.  There is quite a bit to see and explore just in the museum portion which is housed inside an old ferry boat. The displays and models show much of the maritime and naval history of San Diego.

One of the more interesting displays I saw was a model of a log raft. There’s really no trees in San Diego so they had to import all the wood from Oregon. They would build these 1000 foot long log rafts and haul them down the coast behind tugboats. The way the rafts were constructed was ingenious as it was self-righting and would tighten together when towed rather than loosen.

We went down into the engine room of the ferry and saw the boilers and other parts. They are amazingly complex machine for creating hot water! The displays are impressive, but the real attractions are the ships they have docked around the ferry, including two submarines. We first went into a cold-war era US submarine that apparently holds the record for the deepest dive. It was small and cramped and not a place I’d want to spend much time in.

Next, we went onto an old private steamship for the turn-of-the-century rich and famous. We boarded what looked like an old pirate ship, though it was a reproduction. The boys spent some time practicing tying knots. Tomatico made his first successful bowline which he was quite proud of.

B-39 Attack Submarine

We proceeded to what I considered to be the highlight of the museum. They have a real Soviet-era nuclear attack submarine named the B-39. It was purchased as scrap in the late 90’s after it was taken out of service as recently as 1994. It is the type of sub that was at the center of the Cuban Missile Crisis. While this specific sub wasn’t involved, one like it almost started a nuclear war.

The story goes that the sub had received orders to launch their nuclear weapon, but had been surrounded and forced to stay underwater by US ships for days. Their batteries were running out and they had no fresh water. The air inside the sub was sweltering as they had no way to cool it. It was up to 120 degrees inside by the end.

They had received orders to launch and there were two officers on board that had permission to order the launch.  They were being lobbied by another person (who had no actual authority) that they should NOT follow the launch order to prevent a nuclear war. The world would be a much different place if he had not succeeded!

The displays through the submarine set up to follow and reenact the story with videos, lights, and sound effects.  They likely didn’t do justice to the real thing but made a deep impression. You just couldn’t avoid the realization that this sub carried actual nuclear weapons with actual Soviet soldiers for years. They would be on board for months at a time in very cramped spaces. The smaller US sub we visited first was open and airy in comparison to the much larger Soviet sub. Just going between compartments was a struggle as we had to bend and contort ourselves just to get through.

This exhibit alone was worth the price of admission!

Lunch and the Midway

After the B-39 we did a quick run-through of the Star of India which is the oldest active sailing ship in the world. The ship, while interesting, was mostly displays and the boys were getting hungry (i.e. impatient) so we decided to go get some lunch.

We found a nearby Shake Shack because everything else looked expensive or was pizza and I know I would probably have pizza for dinner with my youngest as we were planning to go to Old Town.

After lunch, we walked down through the maritime park towards the USS Midway Museum with the intention of using our ticket. The boys spotted a playground and we took a short detour to check it out. The aircraft carrier museum itself isn’t far away, but it’s further than it looks since the ship is so big. When we finally made it there we found there was a huge line with a 25-minute wait in order to just get on the ship. The kids were not interested in that so we’d have to do that tomorrow.

We walked back to the hotel room to find my wife finishing up her work so we rested while watching a movie on TV. We don’t usually watch much TV on vacations but with my wife’s work schedule and my brother in law joining us, we preferred enjoying the time together.

Gym and Parade

We were all dressed to go to the gym for a pre-dinner workout when we noticed a parade starting in front of the hotel along the waterfront. We watched for about half an hour and there were marching bands, cars, floats, and balloons. It was quite a thing though we are still not sure what it was celebrating. People were 3 or 4 deep in many places along the route but we had great seats looking out our room windows!

We thought it was done so we headed to the gym for an hour-long workout. My wife texted me some pictures of more floats a few minutes later so I guess it wasn’t actually done.   Back from the gym we cleaned up and got ready to head out to dinner.

Dinner in Old Town

There’s a section of San Diego that’s called Old Town. It’s an area that has some traditional buildings from the early settlement period and in the surrounding blocks, there are lots of restaurants and gift shops. We went there a few times during our first trip to San Diego a few years earlier and wanted to return. Tomatico remembered the awesome Mexican food!

Around the hotel, the traffic was gridlocked from the parade letting out so we decided to walk a couple of blocks up to a pharmacy to get some cold medicine. I was coming down with a cold and my wife had nearly lost her voice. We figured we could request a Lyft from there more easily as the traffic would be lighter.

It was an easy 10-minute walk and we were able to get the right meds and cough drops. Since there were 5 of us we needed to order a Lyft XL and it arrived within a few minutes. I find the Lyft XL drivers tend to be more consistently nicer.  It’s likely because they get a slightly higher rate for the rides. This driver matched the trend and got out to make sure the boys could get into the back seat without any problem.

It was a 15-minute drive to old town and the driver dropped us off where the restaurants are, just where we wanted to be. He also had a recommendation for us which was the Cafe Coyote. It was a place Tomatico had been the last time we were there and he had really liked it so it was a solid recommendation!

While the rest of them were going to get Mexican, my youngest and I were going to go get some pizza. The last time we were there he made me go to the same pizza place 3 times. I remember it was okay, but I was probably jaded by having to get the same thing three days in a row.  I wasn’t super excited about going back.

Pizza Bella was where we remembered and we shared a pizza (he loves it when we share a pizza for some reason) and it was much better than I remembered. We ordered a size larger than we should have and stuffed ourselves. At least it was good.

We then headed back to find the rest of the family. We made it to Cafe Coyote but didn’t see them. After a few texts, we found they were actually across the street at Fred’s Mexican Cafe.  Tomatico said it was also really good. Cafe Coyote had a long wait when they first got there which is why they went across the street.

The boys had their heart set on churros for dessert so we walked down the street to find a place that made them fresh rather than frying frozen ones. It didn’t take long to find one and they all ordered some. I passed as I’m not a fan and I was still full from the pizza. The churros were apparently amazing.

Lyft Home

We were all worn out from the day so we decided to grab a Lyft back to the hotel to call it a night. The Lyft we got back was ironically the same model and color as the one we had taken to Old Town.  It was a different driver, though. The driver arrived within 5 minutes as traffic was pretty sparse The driver noticed us (well, everyone but me) speaking Spanish and chatted with the family. He had some recommendations of places and things to eat which made Tomatico hungry. The driver recommended carne asada fries which Tomatico definitely wants to try!

At the hotel, we went up to the room to call it a night. Tomatico wants to get up early to get to the gym before breakfast, though we’ll still sleep in longer than my wife will be able to. She unfortunately still has to work.