We went on a nice trip to visit son, Peter, his wife, Roxana and sons Anthony and Alex in Tijuana, State of Baja California, Mexico. Things didn't get off to a spectacular start since our 6:00 a.m. flight from Rochester was cancelled on the first day due to "irregularities" which I think means that the weather was bad in Chicago. We were immediately re-booked on the same flights for the following day and we got better seats. We changed planes in Chicago and then got to San Diego on time at about 10:30 a.m. Pacific time. We knew we would have a little wait after we arrived because Peter had to work in the morning and get a dignitary, an Assistant Secretary of State, on her plane for Washington. We found ourselves a bench outside the terminal in the nice warm sun and called to let him know that we had arrived. After about forty five minutes a tan Chevy Suburban pulled up in front of the airport and Peter emerged from the passenger seat and several people got out of the back. After a few minutes Peter came over to us and said that they were just having a smoke (I guess they haven't gotten the message about health risks) and that he would be with us in a little bit. Shortly the Assistant Secretary and her aide went into the airport and a man came over to us who Peter introduced as the Consul General, his immediate boss. The gentleman apologized to us for holding us up, but we said that we were enjoying the warm weather and palm trees. After a few moments he said that he had better go into the airport and look after his boss, the Asst. Secretary. A few more minutes went by when the Assistant Secretary came back out of the airport and came over to us and said that she didn't realize that we were Peter's parents and she wanted to say how wonderful she thought he was. After another brief chat she went to catch her plane and we were on our way South of the Border.
Going into Mexico is not a big deal. You go through a couple of toll like barriers, but there's no toll. No one asks for any ID and they only randomly checks cars going through.
Tijuana (pronounced tea wanna, with the emphasis on the "wan" and not tea-a-wanna) is a city that has its nice parts and its not so nice parts. Peter lives in one of the nicer parts, but there is a lot of sub-standard housing in other parts. The following are pictures of some neighboring houses.
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| Neighboring house |
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| Neighbor Dog |
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| Neighboring house |
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| View toward downtown |
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All of the houses are right next to each other and construction is mainly cement, a style not uncommon even in Southern California. Following are a few pictures of the interior of his house.
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| Front Room Looking Toward Dining Room |
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| Living Room |
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| Looking Down from Balcony to Front Room |
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| Grill Master Next to his Grill |
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| Breakfast Nook |
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| Back of House |
The first thing Peter did when we got there was to take us to a taco
restaurant. From the looks of the place, I wouldn't have gone into it,
but once inside the food was really, really good. We had shrimp tacos
that were the best.
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| Inside Taco Restaurant |
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| Taco Restaurant |
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Tijuana is not really a tourist town, but the downtown area offers its share of shops and places to buy just about anything.
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| Downtown Tijuana |
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| I Didn't Buy Any Drugs |
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| Store Owner was trying to sell some Stuff. |
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| Along the Main Shopping Street |
We did a lot of eating in Mexico and San Diego. We had pizza in a restaurant up in the hills south of Tijuana that required traveling over a narrow dirt road, through farm fields with sheep grazing, a most improbable journey to a very good Mexican pizza restaurant. We ate at a taco stand in Tijuana and had lobster at a table overlooking the Pacific with a mariachi band playing in Puerto Nuevo, a town founded by Cary Grant and Bing Crosby before there were even real roads there. We ate in a Chinese restaurant in Mexicali where I think we somehow ordered one of everything on the menu, but it was excellent food.
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| Pizza Restaurant in the Hills |
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| Winery in Baja California |
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| Drinking Wine at Winery |
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| Winery Building |
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| Taco Stand |
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| Puerto Nuevo |
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| Lobster Overlooking the Pacific |
Of course, we didn't just eat. We also did a lot of sightseeing. We traveled to Mexicali along a road called La Rumorosa, a mountainous road that has seen many accidents. We visited the San Diego Zoo, Coronado Beach, La Jolla and saw seals, Torry Pines State Park (CA), the San Diego waterfront, saw where the boys went to school in Chula Vista and had a guided tour of the consulate. I was surprised by how big the Consulate General is and how many people work there. Roxana said that they assist about 500 to 600 people a day with visas, passports and other immigration issues, both Mexican, American and foreign nationals seeking to come into the United States. I was also surprised to learn that border between Tijuana and San Ysidro is the busiest land border crossing in the world. I think about 75,000 people a day cross. It takes two or three hours going into the US unless you have a Trusted Traveler Pass (which we had to go to Canada to get, go figure). If you have a pass it takes one half hour to forty five minutes when things are good.
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| Along La Rumorosa |
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| Double Tanker Accident Along La Rumorosa |
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| Dark Fence is US Border from Mexican Side |
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| La Rumorosa |
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| Some New Construction in Tijuana |
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| Torrey Pines State Park, California |
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| La Jolla |
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| Coronado Beach (CA) |
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| Hotel Del Coronado |
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| Yoga Class on the Beach (Instructor was from Rochester) |
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| The Ronald Reagan |
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| Approaching Tijuana |
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| San Diego Zoo |
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| Chula Vista (CA) |
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| Along the Highway from Ensenada |
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| San Diego Waterfront |
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| San Diego |
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| US Consulate General (On hill to left) |
In case you thought that all we did was to eat, drink and sightsee, we also went to a movie in the most posh movie theater that I have ever been in. The seats were large reclining chairs with a light between each two and a swivel table for each. There was a full menu of food and drink which was served right at our seats. The seats cost about $10.00 US each. The food was extra, but was very reasonable. The plaza in which the movie complex was located was very modern. Oh, we saw something about Jack and the Beanstalk.
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| Movie Theater |
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| Not Bad for $10.00 US |
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| Mall at Night |
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| Of Course, There's a Walmart at the Mall |
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| Fish Pond at Theater Mall |
In case you thought that all we did was the above, we also celebrated Anne's Mine and Peter's birthday in that order.
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| Birthday Celebration |
I am probably forgetting some things that we did, but, oh well. The temperature in Tijuana / San Diego is moderate because of the ocean. Along the coast it was generally in the mid to high 60s while we were there. It gets a little warmer in the Summer, but not hot like Miami. It is pretty much constant year round. The water is colder too, although people swim in it. San Diego is a lovely city, with many parks, walking / biking trails, easy to get around in and close to a many beautiful places. We had a very nice trip and Roxana made a delicious Easter ham dinner. We are back in Rochester in the middle of April and it is sleeting. San Diego is a nice place to live. Hmmm.
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| Easter Dinner |
