San Diego and the Border

Sat 4-27-13

I rented a car today to enjoy a road trip to the San Diego area.  I'm usually stuck as a passenger thus everything I would like to stop and see goes flying by.  I decided to be in "destination control" this time in order to see "New Frontiers" I've always wanted to.  It was also a trip to tour the USS Midway museum (Bruce's 61st birthday gift from me) and Jim & mines 2nd time around, finishing up what we missed the first time.  To do the whole tour in one day takes no less than 6 hours to see everything!!  And I finally got to see the US-Mexican border after being in CA for 35 years!!  Kick back and enjoy the photos.

I rented a new Ford Focus (like I drove to AZ) that fit the 4 of us just fine (Bruce, Jim, David and me.)  Got 30 mpg!!  Photo taken while atop the bridge shown below.

Stop #1: This is the "Old Hwy 395" bridge that spans I-5 heading towards SD.  I've always wanted to drive atop it to see what the view is since it's such a high bridge.

The views:  Left looking back East and right looking West towards SD.  Pretty high up!

(The format here seems to have changed, can't put two or more images side by side so combined these in Picasa to make just one.)

Huh, never knew I had a canyon!    But yes, please help save it, ha!

My Friends and I.  Left photo (L to R)
Bruce, David and Jim.  I'm not going to bore you with an abundance of photos at this point but there a few select ones I think you'd find interesting, K?

Engine Room Controls: What a maze of gauges, levers, gizmoes and wheels!!  Had to chuckle when I pictured a crazed Sailor flinging about here like "I-gor" (Marty Feldman) did in the la-boratory in Mel Brooks's "Young Frankenstein" movie, ha!

Jesse, this one is for you since you're taking a culinary class.  Many Chefs were created from their experience.  There's one main "galley" (kitchen) and 4 other galleys throughout the ship feeding 4,000+ personnel!

Jeni, Sus and Kelly:  Imagine the breads +++ I could whip up using this baby!  Oh sure!!  

Jeni, this one is for you since you're now getting involved in a machine shop.  Look what these Sailors used but I bet under far more duress!

This is the "Ready Room" (albeit a replica) for what the movie "Top Gun" was based on

Last of the ship photos - the entry hatch to the nuke area of the ship.  Never knew the Midway carried nukes but considering it saw action during Viet Nam it's understandable (yet scary!)  Marines stood guard with orders "shoot to kill" anyone who tried to breach this area. 

A history lesson, Marines have always provided the "armed onboard security" for US Navy ships - sailors were never allowed to carry sidearms, this dating back to the wooden ship era.

We're at the US / Mexico border now and I couldn't resist taking this photo of a bus ready to drop off passengers.

(You sillies, I Photo-Shopped that bus title in but bet you fell for it, eh?)  

Pretty uncomfortable images eh? I felt the same way!  Felt like I was in a war zone or a prison environment .... are we keeping "them" out or are they keeping "us" in???"

Somehow I screwed up the text layout but since we're at the end of this, no biggie.  This is inspection area for traffic coming into the US.

Tijuana, Mexico.  The arch says "Welcome to Tijuana" I'm told.

This is the "real" Mexican border.  Note US security fence in the foreground.  To me seems all foreboding!

Me at a section of the Border Wall, probably will never cross over.  Hope everyone has enjoyed these pics of my recent trek and encourage all to post a note (hopefully with some images!) here.

  Greg