Hotel Del Coronado, CA (3)

We are still just chilling at the "Del"  I keep learning more and more about this place.  Built in 1887/8 at it's opening it was the largest resort hotel in the world.  Today the property is owned by Blackrock, a private investment company and operated by the Hilton International as a Curio Property.  The original victorian building is definitely the backbone of the resort, but the area around the hotel is also being developed by those two companies with new villas a and cabana rooms.  The property is completely operation with the exception of their famous "Crown Room Brunch" which is still not reopened because of COVID.  This is both good and bad, good in that being closed probably saved me a lot of money, the bad being that I missed what is known as a truly epic eating experience.  No problem, we'll just have to come back. 

I spent the day looking at the ocean, reading, looking at the ocean, walking around the resort and through the "Old Town" of Coronado.  

Hotel Scenes.

The hotel shows up in many movies over the years.  One of them was "Some Like It Hot"  with Marilyn Monroe and this Dragon Tree

Scenes from around the town of Coronado

I am hoping this coven of witches were on there way to a Halloween event.  I'm hoping but this is California.

Sandy is finally embracing her pirate heritage (the MacNeils).  This particular pirate eerily resembles Elvis.

Beach-combing scenes.

And then the ice cream, there is always the ice cream.

Hotel del Coronado

 Hotel del Coronado, San Diego, CA

We are enjoying our five day respite from four weeks of daily road tripping at this lovely resort which has been blessing us with nice sunny weather.  We walked around this morning and late this afternoon, running into various weird dressed people, not knowing if they were celebrating Halloween or if they were just a California wackadoodle.

Around the resort…

Downtown Coronado…

This evening on the beach…

Hotel Del Coronado, CA (2)

 Today was our first full day at this resort.  I did little except sit back and relax.  The weather was a little chilly for a beach resort but that was acceptable as I had only two jobs today.  One was to return our rental car and the other was to for the first time in five weeks enjoy watching some uninterrupted college football on television. 

Upon returning the vehicle the Avis agent and I were surprised to note that we had put over 3,000 miles.  After turning the auto in, I traveled the final 8 miles via Uber.  

Back in the Hotel we watched some of the football games.  I especially enjoyed Ohio State beating Penn State.

While we lazed the day away without too much activity we took a couple of walks around the Hotel grounds.

 

Hotel Del Coronado, CA

We arrived at the Hotel del Coronado around 5:00pm.  We were tired and ready to relax.  And we going to do that relaxing at the rooftop bar overlooking the sunsetting into the Pacific.  Because it is Friday night, we also had a very good pizza.

Glad to eat and drink, really glad to be done driving.

Destination Hotel del Coronado

 DESTINATION: Hôtel del Coronado, San Diego, CA

We drove from Bakersfield to this beautiful grand hotel all day.  Traffic was very California-ish almost all the way here but it was worth it!  This hotel is on the island of Coronado.  We got here right before sunset so we were able to appreciate a little libation on the deck bar very near our room.

Here are some photos from our drive here…

Leaving Bakersfield…going through the mountain passes…

                                        Fuzzy looking mountains 

Los Angeles

                                             pink ribbon - Los Angeles

Apparently the Great Pumpkin making his rounds…

First view of the Pacific Ocean on this leg…near San Clemente

This is Oceanside, near Camp Pendleton, a plane/helicopter took off as we were passing by.

Downtown San Diego…

Our reward…the Hotel del Coronado