Last Day in San Diego, CA
Sunset at the Sunset Bar, Hotel del Coronado on Coronado Island, minutes from downtown San Diego, California. An iconic and historical landmark that is totally worth a visit.
It is our last day in Southern California and Bob has a clear schedule (except for a few/many phone calls), so we are renting a car and heading to San Diego, about an hour and a half away without stops. I have a landmark in mind. It is the Hotel del Coronado. We will take our time along the way and drink in the vistas of the beautiful California coastline. Here are a few photos from our trip along the Pacific Coast Highway. A good reminder that it is the journey, not the destination.
Photos from somewhere between Newport Beach and San Diego, CA. Maybe Laguna Niguel? California dreaming in December, simply beautiful.
Since we got a late-ish start and did stop several times to stroll the beaches and eat some chicken nachos, we arrive at "the Del" right around sunset which is perfect, as the Sunset Bar is open for business. We would like to enjoy a beverage and a delicious dinner, but not before we do some exploring of the property and take a few photos. The Del Coronado is a member of the Curio Collection by Hilton Hotels. There is a a beach-side skating rink which is installed around the holidays and plenty of people are using it. I used to think that Christmas among the palm trees would be disappointing, but I am pretty much over that misconception.
Scenes from the Hotel Del Coronado, the second oldest stick-frame building in the United States. Built in 1887, it OOZES with charm, especially around the holidays!
It is a Tuesday evening. Couples and families are strolling the beach and skating on the rink as the sun sets below the waves and palm trees. It is s lovely 60 degrees. When it's time to clean the ice, the "Zamboni" comes out (which is more of a Kubota tractor with an appliance on the back), plows the ice shavings away and lays virtually no water down and I am all kinds of confused. My guess is water can't freeze quick enough due to the temperature, so they operate a different way from what I am accustomed to back east. New Englanders may not understand how they are re-surfacing the ice, but I am trying to be in the judgement free zone. No-one else seems to mind so why shound I? I try to talk Bob into ice skating but he will have none of it, so we head to the Sunset Bar and 1500 Ocean Restaurant at the Del to have some dinner.
Our amazing dinner at the 1500 Ocean Restaurant, sitting beachside, in December, as the sun sets.
We start with a seared foie gras with compressed watermelon, red onion marmalade, and a parmesan cookie. It has taken me a while to appreciate foie gras but I am now there and this is fantastic. Both Bob and I order the Szechuan pepper duck breast with white polenta, rapini, cipollini onions, and an elderflower honey duck gastrique. It's delicious, although the polenta is a tad salty. And because we have been laying off dessert, we both order different but delicious chocolate desserts and share by the outdoor fireplace. What an atmosphere!! What a meal!! We head back to Pelican Hill, eventually, feeling relaxed and happy. Tomorrow we head back to Montana for the rest of the holidays. California was a lovely break.
Seaside restaurant and bar, by the ice rink, at the Hotel Del Coronado on a warm December evening.