California Coast Cruise, Part 5: San Diego

This is my fifth post about our California Coast cruise. I suggest that you read the first, second, third, and fourth posts before reading this one. Because I blog about educational travel, I received media passes and other benefits for many of the locations we visited throughout our trip. Some of the attractions we toured are free to everyone; we paid full price for the rest. Everything that I share here is something I recommend without hesitation.

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San Diego, California

After a wonderful visit to Balboa Park, Steve and went to the Navy SEAL Museum. I chose it over highly rated places like the San Diego Museum of Art and the San Diego Natural History Museum (both of which I'm sure I would have loved) because I've been to a lot of art and natural history museums, but I've never been to a Navy SEAL Museum. There are outstanding art museums in many US cities but you're only going to find a Navy SEAL Museum in two places: San Diego, California and Ft. Pierce, Florida. 

Prior to visiting the museum, I knew next to nothing about Navy SEALs, other than that they go through rigorous selection and training in order to conduct special operations. I thought they did pretty much exclusively what is depicted on the statue in front of the museum. That is to say, underwater stuff. 

As the acronym indicates, SEALs work includes Sea, Air, and Land. I assumed the Air and Land portions were only what was adjacent to the Sea, but SEALs conduct operations in jungles, deserts, mountains, and cities in addition to maritime environments. 

We started our visit to the museum with an introductory movie called 'The SEAL Mindset.' It's projected on three walls of a surround theater on the main floor. Near that is a memorial space where visitors can learn about those who died in combat or in training. Next we went upstairs to the main exhibit space. We were greeted by two retired Navy SEALs. That was a surprise. They were happy to answer questions and share personal stories. 

We learned about the 80-year history of the SEALs and how Naval Special Warfare has evolved over time. 

I learned so much and have a new appreciation for the incredibly difficult job they do. 

After learning about the SEAL Delivery Vehicle, Steve took on the job of piloting a SEAL team through an underwater mission. I was stressed out just watching, but he avoided detection and stayed focused in order to complete the task. 

The final exhibit asks visitors to look at our own lives and see how we can apply SEAL skills to a cause bigger than ourselves. Each of us can make a difference. 

This is the stairwell to get back down to ground level. Very clever, Museum Designer. 

If you're headed to San Diego, I definitely recommend a visit to the Navy SEAL Museum. 

The museum is only a few blocks from the cruise terminal, so it was an easy walk back to the ship. 

But we didn't get back on board. Not yet. We had other things to see. We took a lovely stroll along The Embarcadero to Tuna Wharf. It is home to this massive statue, called Embracing Peace. 

There are people in this photo, for scale. 

Next to that is another very impressive piece of public art. It depicts Bob Hope speaking to 15 members of the service and is called (appropriately) 'A National Salute to Bob Hope and the Military.'

Would you like to see a person for scale? 

The end of Tuna Wharf is a good place to sit and enjoy the view. 

We had a nice walk back toward the ship, enjoying the public art along the way. I did, at least. Steve was almost completely focused on the USS Midway. 

I thought he'd visited the Midway on a trip to San Diego before we met, but it turns out I was wrong. Military ships aren't really my thing, but Steve loves them. So when I found out he'd never been to the Midway, I encouraged him to go. He happily accepted and I headed back to the Ruby Princess. 

Steve offered to tell you all about his visit (rather than me trying to tell his story - always a challenge), so the next section is by Steve. 

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We had just over two hours before I needed to be back to the ship, so I took advantage of the extra time to do something I've been wanting to do: to go visit the USS Midway Museum. The USS Midway was right there, across the pier from our cruise ship and we walked right by it when visiting the statues. Getting there is easy: you can just walk up, and there's (paid) parking right there at Navy Pier. You can save $2 by buying your tickets online, or pay the $41 walk-up price at the booth on the pier. And then up you go.

You start your tour in the hanger deck. As you enter the hanger deck, you can take a audio tour handset. You just point it at a marked sign and it will start playing information about that exhibit. It's possible to use your own phone instead.

The hanger deck is enormous and has lots of planes and other exhibits to learn about. There's a 15 minute movie that I didn't have time for and it's also the starting point for some of the interior self-tours. In the aft end of the hanger deck, there's a cafe and of course the store.

I didn't spend much time on the hanger deck. One of the many docents came up to me and told me that I should go up to the flight deck. The last Guided Island Tour would be in about an hour and "90% of the top 100 things to see on the ship are up there." Sold!

The flight deck is HUGE. After all, this is an aircraft carrier. This ship is 1,001 ft long and 238 ft wide. There are lots of planes displayed up here, several of which you can walk through. There are several cockpit trainers you can sit in, as well as a wealth of other displays. Similar to the hanger deck, the flight deck is the jumping off point for several self-guided tours into the ship, as well as the only guided tour - that of the island. That's where I headed next.

You go behind the island and get to wait in a line. They've got this thing pipelined. Start in one line, then they let you in and you get to sit on benches while a docent talks to you for about seven minutes (their description, I didn't time it) about the ship and the history of it. It's obvious why they do this - this is the place where they talk to you about the ladders you're going to have to climb and give you several safety guidelines. If you have a backpack on, they recommend you wear it on the front. I chose not to do so given that I had to use my Peak Design Capture Clip on the backpack to hold my camera so I could have my hands free for climbing the four decks worth of ladders - that was the safest way for me, but I recommend following their instructions.

First destination was prifly, the Primary Flight Control room on the aircraft carrier. I got to sit in the Air Boss's seat (the one on the left in the photo). Very cool!

The view of the flight deck from prifly is pretty good, as you might expect.

From there we went on to the primary navigation room and the bridge. On the way out, we got to see the captain's sea cabin. The captain is so important that when he needs a rest, he has his own cabin in the tower for when he's on duty. Of course he has a much nicer cabin elsewhere in the ship.

They stop giving tours of the island an hour before closing, so make sure you make time for it. It's totally worth it.

After the island tour, I spent time looking at the other displays on the flight deck and admiring the view of the Ruby Princess.  Can you see Cindy waving back at me? I can't either, but she's out on our balcony somewhere on that side.*

I knew my time was short, but I couldn't resist ducking into a few of the interior self tours. The Admiral has a huge suite of rooms that he uses to command the whole battle group. In fact, in Desert Storm, the USS Midway's Admiral was not just in charge of the Midway's carrier group, but he was the head Admiral in charge of all four carrier groups that made of Task Force 154 in the Persian Gulf! His stateroom is pretty nice.

The view down one of the primary corridors is amazing. It just goes on and on and on. The view the other way looks exactly the same.

I had fun touring the Midway, but I totally ran out of time. I spent two hours and saw maybe 30%. This is a 4-5 hour activity, so I recommend having plenty of time, taking it slow and enjoying it. But the ship was closing and I had to get back on board the Ruby for our 5pm dinner reservation. I was late of course. But totally worth it!

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*Cindy here! Steve phoned me from the Midway and asked me to step out on the balcony. We both waved like crazy, but I couldn't see him any better than he could see me!

I'll be back on Monday to tell you about our final port of call. 

California Coastal Cruise, Part 4: San Diego's Balboa Park

This is my fourth post about our California Coast cruise. I suggest that you read the first, second, and third posts before reading this one. Because I blog about educational travel, I received media passes and other benefits for some of the locations we visited throughout the trip. Several of the attractions we toured are free to everyone; we paid full price for the rest. Everything that I share here is something I recommend without hesitation.

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San Diego, California: Balboa Park

On Monday, September 14 the Ruby Princess docked in San Diego. Can you guess where we went? 

If you've been there, you're sure to recognize San Diego's beautiful Balboa Park!

Balboa Park is, to put it simply, unparalleled. Larger than NYC's Central Park or SF's Golden Gate Park, San Diego's Balboa Park is home to 18 world-class museums located amongst 1200 acres of nature. The world-famous San Diego Zoo is located in Balboa Park, attracting over 4 million guests a year. 

I've been to the San Diego Zoo 4 or 5 times, most recently in 2007 when Trevor was a baby. It was tempting to visit the zoo again (that's how Trevor chose to spend his day), but Steve and I decided to spend our time exploring different parts of Balboa Park. I'm so glad we did. 

We started with the Balboa Park Urban Adventure Quest. This was the 31st Quest we've completed and one of our favorites. The places it took us were really interesting, the information we learned was fascinating, and the puzzles were just the right difficulty level. It was the perfect introduction to Balboa Park beyond the Zoo. 

We took advantage of the Quest's pause feature to visit two museums between questions. This is the Botanical Building. 

Built for the 1915-1916 Panama California Exposition, it houses more than 2100 plants. 

  

We really enjoyed our stroll amongst all the interesting flowers and other plants. 

The lily pond and lagoon in front of the building are beautiful as well. 

This the Museum of Us. This museum of anthropology tells diverse stories, with the mission to inspire human connections by exploring the human experience. I loved it. 

Hostile Terrain 94 is a powerful and important exhibit about the "Prevention Through Deterrence" policy adopted by US Border Patrol in 1994. 

The exhibit includes toe tags for each of the known people who have died trying to cross the border into the US. There are more than 3200. Each tag is positioned where the body was found. Most refugees died of exposure or dehydration. Some died just yards across the border. It's devastating. 

Artifacts and stories make the exhibit even more powerful. 

After that exhibit, we welcomed the much lighter exhibit called BEERology, about the cultural importance of beer throughout history. 

We learned about the Maya Peoples...

... the construction of race... 

... the Hapa Project... 

... and the visual storytelling project of the Kumeyaay. 

I enjoyed the whole museum, but my favorite exhibit was Post Secret. 

We spent the most time here, reading through the thousands of anonymous secrets. 

There's actually one more exhibit at the Museum of Us, housed in a separate space across the street. 

It's about cannibalism. 

It was fascinating, to say the least. The exhibit challenges visitors' ideas of who cannibals are, examining the cultures and circumstances that lead to cannibalism. It also questions what counts as cannibalism. 

We learned about cannibalism throughout history, including traditional remedies made from human body parts. Then we took a quiz about how we were feeling that day. We each got a diagnosis, then opened the drawers to get our prescriptions. 

Steve is to take mummy dust orally to reduce bruising and improve overall health. I should rub sore muscles with human fat to reduce aches and pains. 

We learned about a shipwreck where crew members picked straws to decide who would be killed and eaten in order for the rest to survive. Then it was our turn to pick straws. (I did not pick the short straw, so I lived. As a cannibal.)

This was an Oregon Trail-style Donner Party game. (I lived. As a cannibal.) 

Each body part in this Operation game is labeled with the number of calories it would provide. (I lived. As a cannibal.)

Parts of the exhibit are more reverent than these games. There's a candlelit space in tribute to the Uruguayan rugby team whose plane crashed in the Andes in 1972. 

The exhibit ends by asking what counts as cannibalism. Where do we draw the line? 

The whole exhibit is thought-provoking and well-worth seeing. Go visit the Museum of Us!

You really can't go wrong anywhere in Balboa Park. As if 18 museums weren't enough, there are tons of recreational opportunities. This is an archery range. But it's not the type I've experienced at Scout camps, with all the targets lined up in a row. It's like a golf course, where you move from hole to hole except here you move from target to target. So cool! It's neat that you're able to watch this portion from above. 

I was disappointed that the House of Pacific Relations International Cottages weren't open. The next time we go to Balboa Park, I want to visit on a weekend specifically to be able to see these. 

We had a fantastic time at Balboa Park. We packed in as much as we could before it was time for us to head to our next destination. Yep - we had a lot more to see in San Diego! I'll tell you about it tomorrow.