Tuesday, August 31, 2010

Anniversary: A Room at the Hotel Del


 Usually for our anniversary, we go see a play. I don't know how that tradition got started, but it is what we do. This year, we decided to shake things up. Instead of a play, we decided to spend the night at the Hotel Del Coronado, the crown jewel of San Diego hotels.
 Now The Hotel Del (or just The Del as San Diegans call it) isn't actually in San Diego. It is actually in the city of Coronado, which is on Coronado Island, which actually isn't an island but a penninsula. Oh, the illusions of San Diego life. In any case, The Del is the pinnacle of hotels in the San Diego area. You could ask any San Diegan what one hotel they would keep in San Diego if all the rest in the area were to disappear, and they would keep The Del without a doubt.
 So we thought it would be only right that we give it a go and see exactly what it was like. After all, if we are going to talk intelligently about it with visitors, we should know of what we speak. So here's a little photo tour of the room, taken right after our arrival at The Hotel Del. The photo to the right is to the right of the bed. The door apparently connects to the next room over.
 This photo is to the left of the bed. In case you make reservations, the room we signed up for was the "Victorian 1 Queen Bed". This was the only choice that guaranteed us a room in the original building, aka the Victorian building. This part was built 120 years ago and still has all the charm it had back then.
 Standing towards the headboard and looking the other direction, one would see the entry door (to the left of my wife), then the closet door (just to the right of my wife), then the bathroom door.
 The desk area.
 And the floor plan of the Victorian building, stolen from the emergency instructions on the back of the door.
 Some of the amenities in the room at the Hotel Del Coronado included this CD player/alarm clock....
 ...and this phone. I recently read a survey of freshman entering college and they stated that they had never used a phone with a cord. Well, a few said they had at their grandparent's house. I was amazed, then I thought about it, then I believed it. After a night at The Del, I think they have short memories. All phones in hotel rooms still have cords, as far as I can remember! Did they not stay in hotels while growing up?
 The A/C controls. It was off when we entered, but we turned it on to 70 degrees and it worked fine. AC was quick to cool the room, it was quiet at night, and it was painless to operate. Well done!
 And just to be thorough, I looked up....
 ...and down. This room was immaculate, I tell you. No dirt or signs of wear anywhere. It was like it was brand new.
 And here is our view. Probably about the worst, if not the worst, view in the Victorian building. This is the laundry building, if I'm not mistaken. A parking lot is just to the left. We were disappointed yes, but at least the website did not mislead...it stated right up front that our room would not have an ocean view. We're fine with that, since we spent most of our waking moments out and about.
 Now let's take a peek in the bathroom, shall we? Yes, it was as narrow as it looks. But again, it was squeaky clean and looked brand new. But narrow.
 The toilet flush was unusual....to do it, pull up on the silver knob on the top.
 Pedestal sink.
 Shower stall was very narrow also.
 Tub drained a little slow, but we've found this is a feature of all older hotels that we stay in, no matter what the city or the price range.
 Looking back out towards the main room.
 Just to be thorough, let's check out the closet!
Safe? Check. Blow Drier? Check.
Iron and board? Check.
Robe? Check.

And believe it or not, everything except the robe is important to us. We actually look for them when we check in. Not so much the robe, though. Methinks it would feel a bit odd to wear someone else's robe.

So there you have it! A room at the Hotel Del Coronado.

Would we recommend it? Absolutely!


Anniversary: An Evening at the Hotel Del



Once we were settled into our room, we headed out for dinner. When we got to the ground floor level, we could see the courtyard and were impressed. Very inviting! Except for the private event thing.
 We could also catch a glimpse of the courtyard-facing rooms.
 We wandered through the hotel, bought a purse at one of the shops, and ended up down by the beach. There was a Japanese couple and their son taking turns photographing each other, so I volunteered to take their photo and they accepted. Then they turned the tables and offered to take our photo, for which we weren't prepared. Nikki walked off the sidewalk and out into the sand in her high heels for this. If you detect any mind wandering in her here, it is because her heels have sank 2 to 3 inches at this point. That is Point Loma in the background.
  If you'll notice behind my right shoulder there is a wedding going on. It was so picturesque I took a few photos.
I think they were being pronounced man and wife about now.
 We walked a bit further and I glanced back...even more picturesque with the ships in the background and coastal greenery in the foreground. Snap!
 I took a bit of video too, which is attached to the bottom of this post if you're interested. ALSO...if this is your wedding...PLEASE CONTACT US and I'll give you all the photos and videos if you'd like.
 When we checked in, the front desk made reservations for us at 1500 Ocean. It is one of the two oceanfront restaurants at the Hotel Del - the other being Sheerwater. We had eaten at Sheerwater several times, so we picked 1500 Ocean this time.
 Everything tasted fabulous and it is among the best dinners we've ever had - as well as the most expensive. If you are into superb dining, give it a try.

 From there we went to the Babcock & Story bar for a nightcap and listened to a small band (one man!) play acoustic guitar. He did a wide cross section of music on that acoustic.
 And then we headed back to the room. We stopped along the way for a photo op in the hallway.

 And then continued up the stairs to our room, numbered 3222 even though it was on the second floor. ?
 She still has a spring in her step after walking in heels all evening!

Goodnight, everyone.





Monday, August 30, 2010

Troy at 10 months

Here is Troy at 10 months. Well, okay, one day shy of 10 months...on Sunday August 22nd, 2010. He is very, very close to walking! We're all waiting anxiously!

The third video is Classic Troy and is the cutest one yet. This is something we see every time he comes to visit...he gets on his knees and stretches out his arms for grandpa to pick him up.






Thursday, August 19, 2010

Comic-Con: Quick Tour


Not wanting to wade through 18 posts on Comic-Con? Follow the quick links below to see things that may interest you specifically.
Avatar, and more Avatar (movie)
Batman, Batman, Batman, and more Batman (movie)
Cat Woman, and more Cat Woman (movie)
In Person: Chevy Chase
In Person: Community cast
In Person: Kate Sagal
In Person: Kevin Sorbo, and more Kevin Sorbo (movie)
In Person: LL Cool J, and more LL Cool J (movie)
In Person: Nikki , Nikki , and more
In Person: Pauly Perrette, and more Pauly Perrette (movie)
In Person: Seth Green

Comic-Con: Friday: Arriving

 Well, Comic-Con finally arrived and we wasted no time in getting there. We parked on the fringes of San Diego and took the trolley the rest of the way.
 Downtown San Diego was done up right for CC, with most of the high rises covered in ads of one sort or another.
 And there it was....the San Diego Convention Center....we hurried.
 The only thing that was a little confusing was figuring out what we were supposed to do. We eventually figured out what door to enter.

We got our badges Thursday (I didn't bring the camera that day) so we could skip the line these folks are in, heading to the left. On Friday, we went right in. Ready? Let's go!

Comic-Con: Friday #1: Looking Around

 So what is the main floor like at Comic-Con? Well it looks a lot like this. Badges are handed out upstairs on the Sail Patio, then an escalator is taken downstairs to the main floor. This is what it looks like when you first enter.
 Walking a little bit, it does start to get busier.
 And the the costumes start appearing!
 Of course there are comic book booths, but there are quite a variety of other things for sale also. Artwork...
 ...sketches...
 ...costumes. These are actually quite high quality and mostly leather here in this booth. In fact, I bought a very long, very heavy leather jacket (think The Matrix) that I intend on wearing for Halloween.


 Found him!!
 There were also lines here and there, though we didn't take the time to figure out what most of them were. This appeared to be a line for Bob's Burgers, a new show next year.

 And there was quite an exquisite area for the upcoming Tron movie. I really liked the original, at least the graphics. Don't remember much about the plot.

 Suddenly, I feel like playing video games!
  I must have ran into this character a dozen times over the three days I was there, and for some odd reason this is the best photo I got of him. ?
There was more than meets the eye in this display.
 I missed by about 10 seconds getting a photo of the cutest little girl standing next to this pink pony. Oh well.
 This is a photo of Nikki getting bumped from behind. I stopped suddenly and swung the camera around to photograph her. Unfortunately, the guy behind her didn't stop.
 Avatar display.
 A much better photo of Nikki.