Trip to San Diego

The guys convinced me to drive to San Diego on the past weekend. I didn't not regret that.

San Diego Looks

Situated almost at the border with Mexico, San Diego features lightweight Spanish architecture (which I don't have many photos of).

Very surprisingly, it is a city with one of the most well-balanced Downtown: skyscrapes don't just randomly stand there, but they form a sort of compositions.

An office of ESET -- an antivirus software company.

Panoramic view at San Diego Downtown at night.

Nice-looking skyscrapers.

Our visit coincided with Comicon'12, and we got stuck in traffic for a while.

The convention center where Comicon was held.

There is, of course, a coast with numerous bays and rivers.

Windsurfing.

Admittedly, the coastline doesn't always show agreeable pictures:

Mr. Korobko didn't like his breakfast and decided to return it.

On the animal topic, I spotted a seagull supervising traffic:

Or, it's a truck (or trailer) seagull - see the arrow.

Raging Waters

No way anyone could convince me that hot weather and waterparks don't go well together. The former piece is always around in LA, so why not go for the latter one? Thus, one day we spent at Raging Waters San Dimas.
 

Raging Waters in the morning.

Like in 6 flags, all rides were divided into classes based on how thrilling they are. We only went to the scariest along with the tallest ride (picture above), which was placed in the "moderate thrill" category.

Raging Waters in the evening.

This waterpark can offer a limited amount of fun. Most rides aren't as crazy as in 6 flags, while lines are ridiculously long (compared to 5-minute lines in Russian waterparks). Our average time in line was 30-40 minutes, so it came down to 6-8 rides for the whole day.

No women aboard.

One phenomenon lacked explanation: the most boring rides in complete darkness had the most people in lines.  And the other side: the coolest Drop Out ride with almost an vertical fall and quite a rough braking on water had probably less people than any other ride.

Overall, though, it was an awesome day! We sunburned ourselves awfully. And sunburns, as we know, is the primary Russian criterion for a good holiday.

You kiddin me?! How come no running?

Naval stuff

San Diego hosts the main Pacific base for the US Navy. The base exerts its influence on the whole area. In particular, there is a well-known ship exhibit, Maritime Museum, where real historic ships and their replicas found their last refuge.

First, two Colombian era ships were there: a caravel and a frigate.

The caravel, Star of India.
It's similar to a ship used by Christopher Columbus to come to this land.

The frigate Surprise. It's a battle ship with a dozen of cannons.

These two ships rock heavily on waves; hence, the moment you step on them you feel a strong sea sickness. And it never goes away.

I couldn't resist the challenge of doing a 3-point stance.

We appointed Mike Korobko as a captain.

Oleg wanted to become a helmsman (the guy who steers the wheel).

Alas, Oleg had a large bag and couldn't steer properly. We appointed Anton to replace him.

I was a whale and naval mine spotter.

Despite our best efforts, we never started our voyage: couldn't find enough rowers. Suddenly, a pirate ship attacked the port.

Since all US Navy staff were at a lunch (and the lunch is more important than literally anything), we had to defend the museum ourselves.

Fire!

Oleg couldn't figure out which side of a cannon is which.

Having fended the pirates off, we proceeded to a more recent naval technology -- submarines.

Americans are very American about this exhibit: they showcase an early Soviet fighter submarine B59 (with crazy conditions inside, barely sufficient to survive) and a comfy, more advanced (manufactured later) reconnaissance US submarine Dolphin (with a very pretty interior, which easily wins over modern trains in Russia).

The Soviet one.

The American one.

Rocket cylinders. Look authentic.

"От тепля"? Looks less-than-authentic!

The level of everyday comfort in the American submarine transcends, I suppose, the average standards in Russian railways and Africa in general.

The coolest bunk beds ever! Supplied with an AC.

An eye washing device! Appreciate the life quality level!

And finally -- the jewel of San Diego -- an air carrier, United States Ship Midway. It alone can defeat the navies of more than 100 nations today!

Midway is huge.

Midway is still huge.

Reading secret ship design documents.

What I found out for sure: I absolutely don't want to occupy any position at even the best modern warfare ships. It is a separate world with its own values, language, and history, all of which are completely foreign to me.

We liked San Diego so much that we decided to toss pennies into water, in order to come back later.

Beaches

San Diego is the southern city in California. It means the warmest water! Therefore going to beaches was a must-do.

The Mission Beach, San Diego.

Perpendicular feet.

Riding a wave.

A bit of beach stretching.

A photo of the month (below): myself doing god knows what, a girl facepalming, Anton pretending he does not know me, and a Mexican kid escaping the dangerous area.

The water was, indeed, warm enough to bathe for a while.

Ride

An almost brand-new (only 320 miles before us) 2012 Ford Focus was our choice this time. Apart from difficult-to-find controls (trunk and hood openers, gas tank lid open button), the car has the driver interaction design of merit.

On the road, it showed high capacity and predictability. I enjoyed driving this car.

Le fin!

Honestly though, I'm growing tired of all this go-see-leave type of leisure, the 8-5 Mon-Fri workdays, and running on pavement. Cannot wait to leave Pasadena for Moscow in two weeks.