Coronado canines

I went on a beach walk today on Coronado Island (it's actually a peninsula). I had intended for a long walk, and was well on my way, until the military police so kindly informed me that I was not allowed to walk on their beach, so I had to turn back early. Instead, I made my way to the dog beach:

I love the poodles!

 I should also explain that the military has their own beach because there are two bases there: Naval Air Station North Island and Naval Amphibious Base Coronado. There are frequent (& noisy) flyovers, and usually interesting large ships to see on the horizon at Coronado.

Coronado is located directly across the bay from downtown San Diego and it is most well-known for its Hotel del Coronado. It was the largest resort hotel in the US when it opened in 1888.

Another interesting thing I learned today is that Charlie Chaplin was very much involved with polo playing on Coronado when he lived there. Here he is on the field in 1921:

courtesy of Coronado Public Library

And, Lindbergh's Spirit of St. Louis plane was built in San Diego and took off from Coronado in order to get to New York to start the trip across the Atlantic. Here's the plane, now at the National Air & Space Museum.

air show

The Wings Over Gillespie air show was today in El Cajon (I'm learning new Spanish words every day!). I took the trolley to the airport this morning, rather than drive, since I'm making the most of that expensive trolley card I waited an hour in line for. It's got to be cheaper than $4.25 gas though, right? The trolley stop is at one end of the 1.5 mile runway, which meant I ended up walking two more miles to get to the actual spectator area. I did not know this at first. The aerial view on Google maps always makes things look much simpler.

Lucky for me, I found an old veteran man on the trolley who was also walking to watch the planes, so I ended up listening to two miles worth of war stories along the way. He told me all about the importance of the multiple buddy system, and then about how he had been married to a pilot for 13 years before she died in a crash in the mountains-- so sad.

The airshow itself was entertaining, but not as exciting as others I have been to. There were no jets, no aerobatics, no formation flying. Ah well. There's always Kansas City's air show when I get home in August.

At least the weather was beautiful, as it has been since I've been here. It's a lot warmer the farther you get from the coast. Since the maritime museum is on a ferry boat, the space is mostly open to the outside, so there is always a cool (cold?) breeze from the water. I'm usually freezing because of this and so for lunch I walk three blocks inland to Little Italy. There, on one of the street corners, is a nice fountain with black metal benches. These are my heat source, and I feel just as a lizard does as I eat lunch there and watch the tourists roll by on the historical trolley tours and gawk.

corner of Little Italy

just look at them go!

fly girls

In elementary school, I once did a report on Women Airforce Service Pilots, or WASPs, as they are often known. These were the 1,074 women who became the first to fly aircraft for the U.S. military during World War II. They were non-combat, so only flew in the continental US and Canada, and mostly ferried planes to different locations. I always found their story fascinating, and today I was lucky enough to have the chance to meet a few of them! The occasion was the Dole Leadership Prize ($25,000) from the Dole Institute of Politics at the University of Kansas being awarded to Texas Woman's University to enhance the WASP National Archives, which are located on the campus and partially available online to the public.

"Bee" Falk Haydu

I drove out to New Century Air Center, in New Century, Kansas, which is just southwest of Kansas City, and met up with a few other museum studies graduate students. Near one hangar, we watched while many old and brightly-colored planes flew in and landed, or chose not to land and instead show off for the crowd, and that was exciting to see too. It was only after the final planes landed that I realized some of those flashy pilots were actually the WASP ladies! There were ten in all, and three of them held a stage interview and question and answer session. There were lots of great stories, my favorite being how when one of the women had her physical before entering flight school, the doctor promised her when she got out of the service, she would never be able to have children. She went on to have TEN (two of which were in the audience). We heard stories about how one girl "accidentally fell out" of the bomb bay, but was able to pull her parachute in time, and the reason why one of the women decided to become a pilot was after taking a $5 ride in a daredevil plane with her grandmother when she was a young girl in the 1930's. It was great to hear all these stories, and the museum advocate in me is equally glad there is funding going toward preserving these stories and making them available for everyone else!

      WASP Archives at Texas Woman's University

One of the other ladies (up front)