36 hours from now we shall land at San Diego Airport and begin the most outrageous adventure we have been on since 2005 when I moved from San Diego to Atlantic City.
We shall spend the next 10 days getting to know my grown-up grandchildren and taking them to the places that we normally would never get to go to. They, all three, work hard, long hours and live on the poverty level. They never get to go anywhere that costs money and they cannot believe their good fortune in getting to go to several of San Diego's tourist attractions such as Sea World, the Zoo, Balboa Park, and to Anaheim to enjoy Disneyland.
An aside to Disneyland is that my brother, myself, and our parents went to the park the first month they opened Disneyland. We were 11 and nine years old and Disneyland was about 75% dirt fields. There was the Jungle Adventure, the Steamboat, Tiki Room, Fantasy Land was complete, the car-driving adventure and the submarine ride were very popular, as was the ride to the moon. They had ticket books that you bought for the rides and there were only 5 tickets for the major attractions. The one adventure that was my favorite was in a large field at the far part of Frontierland. You had to walk through empty fields to get there but then you were in a real Native American experience with Native Americans showing you sand painting, leather making, teepee building, and Native American dancing and music. My second favorite experience was that they had constructed a "Home of the Future", purportedly what a home would look like in the year 2000. It was absolutely fascinating and much of what they suggested has actually come to pass.
We are going to Julian to see the town and possibly meet people who are old friends, then down the Banner Grade to stop at the Banner Store and then off to the desert to see the wild flowers in bloom. We are also going to Mission Beach to ride on the very, very old wooden roller coaster. Once there was a huge "plunge" - swimming pool - at Mission Beach. It was one of the only swimming pools (public) in town and many of us young folk would go there on a Saturday afternoon. What I remember the most about the experience is the policy of the pool that only allowed white people to swim there. No blacks, Asians, or Hispanics were allowed. I don't remember swimming in the pool very much, what I remember is trying to figure out why people of color were not allowed in the pool. I could not figure out their reasoning and once I realized the enormity of what they were saying, I never went to the plunge again.
San Diego, when I was a girl - 1940's to 1960's - was a very segregated and prejudiced town. Blacks could only live in one little one-mile square area of town, it was in the eastern downtown area along Market street. We were not allowed to enter that area and were told frightening stories to keep us away from there. There were segregated schools, drinking fountains, bathrooms, restaurants, movie theaters, and in short, black folk were kept down with a foot on their necks.
Another prejudice was against the young men in Navy and Marine uniforms. As girls we were told not to look at, or speak with, them as they were very dangerous and going to speak to one would make you a marked young woman whom no good man would take a look at.
But beautiful? Yes, San Diego is a beautiful city with a very old history. One other thing we are going to do is go to Old Town San Diego and see Ramona's Wedding Place and all the candle-making shops. I hope we get to stop at a Mission, there are a couple in the area, and show William these oldest large buildings that are so graceful and so beautiful.
And, tomorrow there will be no blog, but starting Friday, there will be a posting to let you know how the plane ride went and what the Hotel is like, and what we have done so far. Maybe have an itinerary for you so you know what we will be doing and what we are going to talk about. The book is on a back burner while we are on vacation, but then hopefully David will fund the rest of the production items by the time we get back. That is one thing I dread, asking David for additional funds. But I'm going to put that in the back of my mind and just enjoy the next ten days with Debby, Laura, Sheera, and James.
Have a good rest of the week and a magnificent weekend. Will write to you soon. May God bless and keep you.
We shall spend the next 10 days getting to know my grown-up grandchildren and taking them to the places that we normally would never get to go to. They, all three, work hard, long hours and live on the poverty level. They never get to go anywhere that costs money and they cannot believe their good fortune in getting to go to several of San Diego's tourist attractions such as Sea World, the Zoo, Balboa Park, and to Anaheim to enjoy Disneyland.
An aside to Disneyland is that my brother, myself, and our parents went to the park the first month they opened Disneyland. We were 11 and nine years old and Disneyland was about 75% dirt fields. There was the Jungle Adventure, the Steamboat, Tiki Room, Fantasy Land was complete, the car-driving adventure and the submarine ride were very popular, as was the ride to the moon. They had ticket books that you bought for the rides and there were only 5 tickets for the major attractions. The one adventure that was my favorite was in a large field at the far part of Frontierland. You had to walk through empty fields to get there but then you were in a real Native American experience with Native Americans showing you sand painting, leather making, teepee building, and Native American dancing and music. My second favorite experience was that they had constructed a "Home of the Future", purportedly what a home would look like in the year 2000. It was absolutely fascinating and much of what they suggested has actually come to pass.
We are going to Julian to see the town and possibly meet people who are old friends, then down the Banner Grade to stop at the Banner Store and then off to the desert to see the wild flowers in bloom. We are also going to Mission Beach to ride on the very, very old wooden roller coaster. Once there was a huge "plunge" - swimming pool - at Mission Beach. It was one of the only swimming pools (public) in town and many of us young folk would go there on a Saturday afternoon. What I remember the most about the experience is the policy of the pool that only allowed white people to swim there. No blacks, Asians, or Hispanics were allowed. I don't remember swimming in the pool very much, what I remember is trying to figure out why people of color were not allowed in the pool. I could not figure out their reasoning and once I realized the enormity of what they were saying, I never went to the plunge again.
San Diego, when I was a girl - 1940's to 1960's - was a very segregated and prejudiced town. Blacks could only live in one little one-mile square area of town, it was in the eastern downtown area along Market street. We were not allowed to enter that area and were told frightening stories to keep us away from there. There were segregated schools, drinking fountains, bathrooms, restaurants, movie theaters, and in short, black folk were kept down with a foot on their necks.
Another prejudice was against the young men in Navy and Marine uniforms. As girls we were told not to look at, or speak with, them as they were very dangerous and going to speak to one would make you a marked young woman whom no good man would take a look at.
But beautiful? Yes, San Diego is a beautiful city with a very old history. One other thing we are going to do is go to Old Town San Diego and see Ramona's Wedding Place and all the candle-making shops. I hope we get to stop at a Mission, there are a couple in the area, and show William these oldest large buildings that are so graceful and so beautiful.
And, tomorrow there will be no blog, but starting Friday, there will be a posting to let you know how the plane ride went and what the Hotel is like, and what we have done so far. Maybe have an itinerary for you so you know what we will be doing and what we are going to talk about. The book is on a back burner while we are on vacation, but then hopefully David will fund the rest of the production items by the time we get back. That is one thing I dread, asking David for additional funds. But I'm going to put that in the back of my mind and just enjoy the next ten days with Debby, Laura, Sheera, and James.
Have a good rest of the week and a magnificent weekend. Will write to you soon. May God bless and keep you.
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