Old Town, San Diego, CA

Brenda In Front Of The Old Town Sign

When we left the Naval Base in Coronado, CA, which is just a hop, skip and jump away from San Diego, we went a total of 15.6 miles to Mission Bay RV Park, in San Diego.

We were still with our friends and a good time was had by all. Some went Geocaching, some went sight seeing, some visited family, we got lost.

We went into the city looking for a particular restaurant. Once we found the restaurant we could not find parking. As that is usually the case in a city. We’re blaming all the one way streets that cities tend to have.

Anyway, once we got out of the one way streets we were too frustrated to do anything and go anywhere. Traffic in Downtown San Diego, at lunchtime is not fun to drive in. Not one of our smarter moves. So we plotted our route back to the rv park. Wouldn’t you know it, the route back to the rv park sent us right through Old Town. With Old Town being on my list of things to see, we easily found parking and began wandering.

What an interesting place. The area that is Old Town San Diego was originally discovered around 1542. In 1769 soldiers and padres arrived and established a military post there. They also built the first of twenty-one missions that would serve as the cornerstone of California’s colonization. By 1820 a small pueblo developed outside the mission walls. By 1835, it attained the status of El Pueblo de San Diego. In 1846, a U.S. Navy Lieutenant and a Marine raised the first American flag in Old Town’s plaza.

The Plaza That The First American Flag Was Raised In 1846

This state historic park serves to preserve and remember these times in San Diego’s and America’s history. You can explore some of the original pueblos that still stand today. It amazes us that with all the hurricanes and wars and such that these buildings still stand.

Brenda Under A Big Giant Tree In The Plaza

The Gardens Outside The La Casa de Estudillo. This Was Considered A Mansion Back Then.

A Reconstruction Of The Outdoor Oven.

La Casa de Estudillo was the social and political center of San Diego during California’s Mexican period. This was from 1821-1846 and into the American period.

One Of The Original 1852 Wells Fargo Stagecoaches (Stuffed Animal Horse Not Original)

3D is not a new concept. They used these double images, that were slightly off center to each other, to create a 3D image.

After walking around a bit we ended the day with a nice lunch in the Casa de Reyes. Authentic Mexican cuisine (which is everywhere down here) in a nice outdoor courtyard. Lack of cruise ship traffic and being a weekday made for a nice and quiet lunch. However David was excited to see a woman making fresh flour tortillas.

This original stagecoach was in the Wells Fargo Museum. It also included a Morse code telegraph that David enjoyed and was amazed that anyone could understand what was being typed. I reminded him that someone in the future looking back at the short hand that is today’s modern day text messages could say the same thing. It also housed a modern day ATM machine, which I thought was quite funny to have in an 1852 Wells Fargo (Bank) museum.