San Diego Boat Parade and Rosecrans National Cemetery

     We are certainly enjoying our time here at the Santee Lakes Recreation Preserve.  It is a nice quiet park, except for the occasional barking dog in one of the neighboring trailers.  And this only seems to occur when those terrible pet owners leave their pet unattended for hours at a time inside their RV's.  Don't quite understand why pet owners want to leave their pets in an RV, but that's basically why we don't have one.

     The Christmas season is upon us, even here in the park.  Some campers have really put an effort into decorating their sites, and it really makes for a nice evening walk.   I think Debbie was able to get out a few Christmas cards this year, and she seems to have a stack of presents building up under our little Christmas tree.  Debbie has also been busy with all the baking, and wrapping of Christmas treats.  I decided it was a good time to catch a cold, and I don't tend to respond very well.  It's gonna take me a few days to get back on my feet.  Ben, Joanne, and Liam returned from Atlanta this morning.  They traveled over there to attend Joanne's brother's wedding.  MAE will be flying in tomorrow night to spend Christmas with us, so that should be a pretty good party.  It's been several years since we've all been together this time of year.
     In preparation for Christmas, Debbie and I jumped on the Trolley over in Santee, and rode it down to San Diego Harbor to enjoy the annual Boat Parade.  Seemed like a pretty good idea.  No traffic to fight, and then the search for a parking spot!  The trip down took about 45 minutes, and the train contained quite the cast of characters.   We rode all they way down to Seaport Village, and then it was just a short walk over to the waterfront.  The crowds were not as bad as I had anticipated, but then I heard there was another Christmas event at Petco Park.  U.S.S. Midway, CV-41, ceremoniously guarding the harbor since it's decommission in 1992.

The U.S.S. Midway is a must see if you can visit San Diego.  Together with the Museum, it stands in honor of the nearly 200,000 soldiers and sailors who once served on her.  Today visitors may be lucky enough to observe a reenlistment ceremony which frequently occurs on her flight deck.  There are 29 aircraft onboard Midway, along with a flight simulator.  Visitors should plan on spending 3-4 hours wandering along the hallways of the Midway, and experience life at sea aboard a carrier.

     Debbie and I found some great seats along the pier at Seaport Village, and soon we could see the masts of great sailing vessels coming down the harbor toward us.  Some were lavishly decorated for Christmas, while others seemed to have just a simple message.  Most carried lots of Christmas revelers onboard, who must have been a little frigid, as the temperature in the harbor dropped into the low 40's.  People of San Diego are just not prepared for temps like that, but I sat there quite comfortable in my new Park Ranger coat.  As you can see, a few boats got a little carried away with the decorations, and I would bet there was a significant amount of alcohol involved. The parade lasted nearly an hour and everyone on the pier with us seemed to be enjoying the show.  Afterwards, it was a leisurely walk back to the trolley station, and a very comfortable journey back to Santee.
     A few days later we were on our next foray down to San Diego to do a little whale watching perched atop of Point Loma.

Point Loma is home to the Cabrillo National Monument and Fort Rosecrans National Cemetery.  This area became a National Cemetery in 1934, but U.S. military personnel had been buried there since 1874, when the U.S. was a war with Mexico, and 19 soldiers were killed in the Battle of San Pasqual.
     Making this visit extra special was viewing over 3000 wreath donated to Fort Rosecrans National Cemetery by Wreaths Across America.  This non profit organization has been donating wreaths to our National Cemeteries since 1992, to honor and remember those who have sacrificed so much for our country.  Please tap on the link above to see how you can make a contribution to this wonderful organization.

     Fort Rosecrans National Cemetery is located on an incredible piece of real estate,  On the south side there are beautiful views of the San Diego Harbor and North Island NAS on one side. The other side presents peaceful views of the Pacific Ocean, The country did a wonderful job dedicating this land as a National Cemetery.  In my opinion, you would have a difficult time finding a better location to honor our military.  

   

     After paying our respects at Fort Rosecrans, we continued further out Pt. Loma, through the ticket booth entering onto National Park Service property.  We showed our America the Beautiful Park Pass, which next year will cost us $10 for our lifetime pass, and headed out to find a comfortable spot overlooking the ocean and see if we could spot some Gray Whales.  Each year between late December and April, Gray Whales make their yearly 11,000 mile migration between their feeding grounds off the coast of Alaska, and breeding grounds along Baja California Sur.

       This time of year they are southbound to the warmer waters of Baja, and if you're lucky, you can easily spot them from shore. We picked up a nice healthy lunch at Subway, and found an empty bench with a perfect view of the ocean.  It was a beautiful sunny day, although a little cool, but we leisurely passed a few hours gazing out in our search for the conspicuous exhale of the Gray Whale.  They can be seen for miles as they break the surface and exhale a huge plume of air and water.  The whale watching excursion boats sat patiently below us just beyond the surf, waiting patiently for a pod to show up.  But today it was not meant to be.  No whales, but a nice afternoon on the coast.

We did spot this sub coming up from the depths a few miles off shore, and that was pretty cool to see.  There are 2 Carriers in San Diego Harbor, and maybe we'll be able to get down and take a look at them.  They are much more impressive than a Navy sub.
     Princess will be arriving in a few days, putting the entire family together for the first time in several years.  Debbie is getting pretty excited!  We are certainly enjoying our time spent visiting Liam and Jamo....oh yea, Joanne and Ben too!  The weather is a little cooler than we would like, but at least there is no threat of snow.  If it gets too cold, we'll move the bus to warmer weather.  Having an RV definitely has its advantages!  We hope everyone is having a great Christmas Season, and I'll see if I can catch this story up just a little bit.