Hotel Del Coronado 20131106

To be honest, I was rather bored. Since it was a nice, sunny day we decided to head to Coronado to check out the "Hotel Del" as the locals call it. The Hotel del Coronado is an massive wooden structure completed in 1888 and has been in service ever since. The hotel is large and is one of the largest wooden structures in the United States. The Hotel Del has hosted many luminaries including presidents, visiting dignitaries and Hollywood stars. Amazingly, despite the fact that I have lived in San Diego since 1977, I have never visited the structure. So armed with a strong curiosity and a full tank of gas, we headed over to Coronado Island. To learn more about the history of the Hotel del Coronado and view some cool photos of the hotel construction and famous visitors, see this link: http://www.hoteldelhistory.com

There are two ways to get to Coronado. One is from Imperial Beach to the south and the other is from the mainland south of San Diego via the Coronado Bridge. The bridge is high enough to allow the largest Navy warships pass underneath on their way to the 32nd Street Naval Base in South Bay. Despite being in Kathleen's convertible BMW which is quite low to the ground, we still got a reasonable view of downtown San Diego. The shot above was captured at 60 mph with the camera held out the window in "point and pray" mode.

As the bridge curved to the north, we could see a portion of the span behind us.

Coronado has a number of old gingerbread houses that date back to the late 1800s.

We parked across the street from the Hotel del Coronado and had lunch at a nice Italian restaurant. When we finished, we walked to the beach and en route we could see some of the high-dollar homes with ocean views.

On the opposite side of the boulevard was Coronado beach and a stunning view of Point Loma on the other side of San Diego Bay. Note the helicopter above the Point Loma ridge line.

There was a boardwalk that paralleled the beach, so we turned south. Along the boardwalk were "outbuildings" that were part of the hotel. These "cottages" had a nice view of the beach.

When we got closer to the main part of the hotel, Kathleen spotted a fellow building sand castles.

We walked across the sand to the water's edge and got a nice view of the main hotel structure.

This portion of the beach points out to the open ocean. But due to the orientation of the beach waves from the big winter storms cause little surf. Those waves in the photo above are only abut 3 feet. The island in the distance is one of the Coronado Islands.

The rocks were imported to protect the main hotel from wave action. To the south we could see the high rise apartments that line the beach. In the far distance is Tijuana, MX.

The main pavilion at the hotel is quite large and houses shops and restaurants. In addition, they have plenty of patio seating with an ocean view.

We decided to head into the hotel proper and spotted this gal tending what appeared to be a bird of prey.

This is a trained Harris Hawk that is under contract to the hotel for seagull abatement.

We walked over to where they were to check out the situation. When we approached the bird looked like he was ready to bolt.

We spoke with the handler for quite awhile and she stated that this hawk had been trained by her. The bird has been trained to come when called with a whistle and she demonstrated it repeatedly. She said that she and the hawk regularly hunt rabbits together in the outlying areas of Temecula, CA where they live. And she further stated that the Harris Hawk is the only bird of prey that hunts in packs. Since she hunts with the bird (she scares up the rabbits for the hawk) she is considered one of the pack. Once the kill is complete, the pack members share the prey. I am assuming that she took a pass on eating the freshly gutted rabbit but I did not ask specifically. The company she works with contracts-out birds for seagull control and the Hotel Del is on of their clients. The gulls recognize a bird of prey and stay away instinctively.

Around the front of the hotel is a very old "dragon tree" (dracaena draco) that was planted in 1888 when the hotel construction was completed.

The front of the hotel is nicely landscaped.

Just past the hotel reception area is the remains of an old power plant smoke stack.

We walked around inside of the hotel a bit, but it was dark and I did not bring a flash. The lobby is ornate and fabricated out of dark wood. The Hotel Del is worth a visit if you are in the area. They do have a world class restaurant there called "1600 Ocean". We have not eaten there yet.

Hotel Del Coronado

Visiting the most historic hotel in San Diego

The Experience