Hotel Del Coronado Christmas Fireworks

    Hotel Del Coronado is the best neighbor to have in all of San Diego. It is the hub, the center of the wheel around which everything else revolves. Most of the amazing things you’ve heard about San Diego are on Coronado. If you have just landed at San Diego International Airport the first thing you should do, regardless of where you are staying is cross the Coronado Bridge, walk through The Del and then walk along the beach. You won’t believe your eyes and your remaining four senses will struggle to force your brain to accept what is really happening; you are having the best time of your life and Coronado is the best place you have ever been.

    Last night, there was a full moon so Hotel Del Coronado threw a Christmas party that was free and open to the public. The party was all things Christmas and culminated with a fireworks show. Yes, The Del rang in Christmas under a full moon with fireworks on the beach.

Sandcastle On The Beach Of Coronado

    Merry Christmas is what I say during the Christmas season. What is written on the sand castle above is something I don’t say and will not write on my blog. I’m taking a stand on this one and drawing a line in the sand. Basically my take on the whole politically correct thing is this; if you are not a politician looking for votes but still try or want to be politically correct then you are fucking GAY! That being said I want all the people that are dreaming of a white Christmas to realize that you don’t have to include OR exclude others from your holiday. Freedom of speech doesn’t mean you get to say whatever you want; it means sometimes you have to hear things you don’t want to hear. In America you can wish a group of people a Merry Christmas, even if that group is in a synagogue, a mosque or surrounding a sandcastle on a beach in California. No one has a problem with saying Merry Christmas, but there are people that have a problem with hearing it. God bless the former and God damn the latter for attempting to water down the most sacred event in all of Christendom and America’s favorite season. Merry Christmas!

Fireworks On Coronado

    So far I’ve gushed about Coronado and bitched about political correctness so now I’d like to talk about photography and what I was actually doing during this awesome Christmas party. I was making friends with the fireworks crew!

    They let me photograph the fireworks from their command station so I was something like 30 yards from the show with a completely unobstructed view of the fireworks and Hotel Del Coronado. The reason being this close was a treat was because I was packing my 8 mm fish-eye lens. The photo above shows the crew on the right, The Del on the left, fireworks up top as well as a full moon and Mexico in the background; just a typical night from my neighbor, Hotel Del Coronado.

4 Seconds Of Coronado Fireworks

    Earlier this year there was a fireworks show that went completely haywire. I’m referring to The Bungle in the Bay that was our annual 4th of July celebration here in San Diego. I was embedded with that fireworks crew as well, but I didn’t get any photos of the event because all the pyrotechnics exploded at the same time. I know that sounds cool and people that were far enough away got some great video of the debacle but for me and the crew I was with it was a little different. We were running for our lives! Don’t get me wrong, it was very exciting but I have no photos from the night so it was ultimately very disappointing for me.

Mouseover For Fish-eye vs. Human-eye

    I’m going to wrap up this erratic and disorganized post with an image that takes advantage the IMG Mouseover plugin for WordPress. The photo above is a lens corrected version of the original photo. If you hover your mouse over the image above you will see the original, as it looked through my 8 mm fish-eye lens. There are good and bad things about both photos, but the bullet point I want you to notice is that I was really, REALLY fucking close to the fireworks yet I managed to have to entire explosion, plus The Del and the full moon in the frame. That is the joy of a wide angle lens at Christmas.

    Merry Christmas and a happy new year!

Ice Skating In Front Of Hotel Del Coronado

    Hotel Del Coronado is the place to be in San Diego during the Christmas season. I have many posts and photos of The Del that will help convince you if for some reason you are a doubting Thomas. For the better part of a decade The Del has upped the ante by installing an ice rink on their beach during the Christmas season for their annual Skating By The Sea event. You heard me; there is an ice rink on the beach in Coronado, during Christmas. How do you like them apples? Hopefully you like them sunny, warm and within throwing distance of the Pacific Ocean. I live in a place where I can swim in the ocean, walk up the beach, go ice skating and then have a drink as I watch the sunset.

    In the interest of full disclosure, the alcohol prices at The Del are very expensive so I would bring my own flask if I were you. No, you can’t take swigs from it whilst skating nor can you drink on the beach but you can take bathroom breaks. Welcome to California!

People Enjoy Skating By The Sea

    Skating by the Sea has become unbelievably popular; probably more anticipated than the Christmas decorations of The Del itself. Who would have ever thought that installing an ice rink on the beach would draw such a crowd? Not me, that’s for sure! There are two skate sessions everyday during the week and each session lasts three hours and costs $25. On holiday days and on the weekends there is an added matinee session that lasts two hours and will set you back $20. Those are the adult prices; skate rental is included in that price but children are not. A child, as far as Hotel Del Coronado is concerned is 10 years or younger and they are welcome to skate with the adults for either a regular session or the matinee for $20 and $15 respectively.

Children Are Welcome To Skate Too

    When you are walking or skating around Hotel Del Coronado, you really start to get a sense of just how great a place San Diego is. San Diego receives more visitors per year than the entire state of Hawaii. I’ve lived in both places and San Diego is better than Hawaii in every way except one; the ocean here is too cold! Yeah, even the surfers wear wetsuits out here so I would recommend activities that keep you near or on the water, not necessarily IN the water.

The Sun Sets On Coronado

    The skate sessions are well timed and basically give you the options of skating until the sun goes down or skating under the moonlight. What looks like a nuclear blast in the photo above is our nuclear powered sun as it prepares to dive into the Pacific. I’ve been skating in a lot of places but this rink is by far the most unique and has the best view. Thanks to The Del, you can go ice skating on a San Diego beach; how cool is that? It’s very, VERY cool and it makes for a wonderful experience that you won’t soon forget. Below is a video I produced at the ice rink last year. Cheers!

Hotel Del Coronado Lobby and Christmas Tree

    I live right down the street from Hotel Del Coronado. You have no idea how fortunate a person I am to be able to say that. Residents of Coronado know what I mean and visitors to San Diego have a slight idea what I mean, but no one else does. The Christmas season is a quintessential holiday; it involves all five senses. As a person from Denver, I want the rest of the Christmas celebrating world to know exactly what I mean.

    In Denver, during Christmas you can stand outside with your eyes closed, breathe in through your nose, out through your mouth and KNOW that you are in Denver during Christmas. After that breath, when you open your eyes you’ll see that what you felt on your skin was the sun, touching you before it touched anyone else. That is the joy of Denver, the Mile High city during the Christmas season.

Outside Hotel Del Coronado

    Coronado does suffer from Christmas envy, though no one on the island knows it. It’s not a problem, it just it was it is. Coronado is a quintessential San Diego beach community; all five senses are dominated by the ocean and fish tacos every day of the year. Again, this is not a bad thing but it is NOT a Christmas experience. Palm trees are not pine trees, white sand is not white snow and rolling bluffs are not the Rocky Mountains. When you dream about a white Christmas and roasting chestnuts on an open fire, you are dreaming about Colorado and my beloved mile high city of Denver.

Christmas 2012 in the Lobby of Hotel Del Coronado

    This brings me back around to Hotel Del Coronado during Christmas. The Del has been doing Christmas for 125 years and over 100 of those years have involved electricity and decorating trees with electric lights. Yeah, it is the resident expert in San Diego when it comes to lighting up a Christmas tree and launching off the Christmas season.

Vintage Santa Claus Inside Hotel Del Coronado

    It’s not just the lobby and roof of The Del that get decorated; every square inch of the place gets the treatment. The Victorian Era was a very beautiful if not cluttered time to make a statement and it was right in the middle of this era that The Del was built. The unsinkable Molly Brown was a Denver socialite that survived the sinking of the Titanic in 1912. Her house in Denver is a museum and my dad used to be a tour guide there. I bring this up because during a tour of the Molly Brown house, you will learn everything you ever wanted to know about the Victorian Era, including the fact that it was very stylish to pack every flat surface in the house with knick knacks. If the term “flaunt it if you got it” existed back then, this is how it was done.

Fish-Eye View Of Hotel Del Coronado – Christmas 2012

    Please allow me to talk about photography for a minute or two. I was packing an 8 mm fish-eye lens when I visited The Del on this particular day. I’ve had the thing for almost a year and it has become my permanent accessory. I find it very ironic that wide angle lenses like this are referred to as “fish-eye” because it is the best way to get a human-eye view from a photograph. Besides that, it forces the photographer to physically move closer to their subjects; this is abnormal because for 150 years photographers have been backing away from their subjects just to fit them all in the frame. You don’t have to do that with a fish-eye lens. For the photo above, I was standing right in front of a 25 foot tree yet it doesn’t even come close to filling the frame. I’m telling you now that a fish-eye lens allows you to photograph the world the way you see it rather than the way your camera or lens allows it.

The Incinerator Tower of The Del

    And so this concludes my third annual Christmas pilgrimage to Hotel Del Coronado. Shortly after the New Year my 7 year San Diego anniversary will be presenting itself. Don’t get me wrong, I have nothing bad to say about Denver, it’s people or the Broncos but, San Diego has the best weather in America. You all know that I’ve been around the world and back again so please believe me; San Diego is a great place to live and Coronado is the best part of San Diego. I like all four seasons, but I love living here because I get to skip the shitty ones. It rained a few times back in January and that was all the winter I had to endure; it’s been in the 70’s and mostly sunny ever since. Yes, this is the life I lead. You can have this life too if you just remember that you can lead a horse to water, but a pencil must be lead. Merry Christmas!

Inside Coronado Village Theater

    I think that Coronado Village Theater may need some help in the form of butts in the building. Today, I caught the matinee showing of The Dark Knight Rises and I just about had the theater to myself. Granted, it was a beautiful Thursday afternoon and no one in their right mind should be indoors on a day like today, but I really want this theater to succeed; it’s a beautiful art deco theater full of character that mega-mall multiplexes are utterly lacking.

    In June of last year I attended the grand re-opening of the theater, which was a very exciting event, but I fear some of that excitement has left the building. So, I’m posting this to remind the residents of San Diego and Coronado in particular that you have the state’s best theater right in your own backyard and as you all witnessed 11 years ago, if you don’t use it you are going to lose it. Below is the video I put together last year from opening night. Please watch it and then take the time to head to Coronado for a movie night. Help the theater succeed! Cheers!

First View Of Christmas Tree & Lobby Of Hotel Del Coronado

    Hotel Del Coronado at Christmas has a very unique feeling on all five senses; it is a quintessential Christmas experience.  I was so impressed with The Del’s Christmas lights last year that it helped add to my pre-Christmas excitement THIS year!  This year, the theme for the tree is “Silver Bells” and it is beautiful.  As soon as you walk into the lobby, you are greeted by décor that would make Queen Victoria proud.

Grand Staircase and Elevator Inside The Del

    The lobby of The Del is massive, large enough to hold a Christmas tree that’s a good 15 feet tall.  I think Christmas invokes thought of the past because Christmas, fun as it may be as an adult, is nothing compared to the pure awesomeness that it is to children.  When you are inside The Del, you can see right away that the architecture is different than any other hotel you’ve ever seen.  It’s one of those amazing things from the past that has survived 123 years & counting.  I think seeing the distant past like this makes us think of our own past and childhood and that’s what makes being at Hotel Del Coronado at Christmas so fun and so special.

Decorations and Annual Hotel Del Coronado Christmas Ornament

    The decorations on the lobby Christmas tree are worth a good look from you.  It has a very dense assortment of ornaments, in keeping with the Victorian way of having a beautifully cluttered eye for interior design.  It is beautifully decorated and there is even an annual Hotel Del Coronado Christmas tree ornament available in the gift shop.

Asleep In The Lobby Of The Del

    Above is the foyer that separates the lobby and the main entry.  If you walk out those double doors and take a left you’ll be on the southern end of Orange Ave., the main thoroughfare of Coronado.  If you take a right after exiting the doors, you’ll be able to wonder through the grounds of The Del, past the Skate by the Sea ice rink and eventually end up on the beach and the vast Pacific Ocean.  When you are all done, head on back and have a quick nap in one of the comfy chairs, just like the gentleman above.  Below is a video that shows the ice rink, the exterior lights of The Del and a glorious Coronado sunset. Merry Christmas and have a Happy New Year!

Golden Hour Ice Skating At Hotel Del Coronado

    Hotel Del Coronado at Christmas is just about as Christmas as San Diego gets. If you would like a quintessential Christmas in San Diego, The Del is where to go, especially with the addition of their annual ice rink. Skating By The Sea literally allows you to ice skate right next to The Del, the beach and the sea, with great views of Point Loma and California sunsets. The rink is in place until the New Year, so get down here soon! The photo above shows the glorious Hotel Del Coronado bathed in golden hour sunlight as ice skaters enjoy a sunset session of fun in the sun… And skating!

A Lucky Couple Has The Ice To Themselves

    A little planning and patience can go a long way, so let me prepare you for something; the 3 hour skate sessions cost $25. That price is absolutely the best deal in town and I urge everyone to head down and check it out sooner rather than later because if you play your cards right you can take you wife, husband, lover, mate or friend to the Hotel Del Coronado and ice skate, all by yourselves as the sun sets behind Point Loma, a clear blue ocean and a thick blue sky.

Christmas Lights On The Del

    Once the sun goes down the lights turn on for the visual side of The Del during Christmas. 3 hours is a long time so don’t think you have to spend that entire time skating; you can skate for a while, then hop off the ice for something hot at the rink-side coffee bar that includes chairs that circle wood burning fireplace heaters. You may get on & off the ice as you please during your 3 hour session so pace yourself, explore The Del and notice all the little details of the hotel. The lobby is decked out for Christmas as well, so be sure to walk through there and you can also check out my photos of The Del during Christmas last year.

Zamboni Machine And A Coronado Sunset

    You don’t have to be a registered guest to ice skate or explore the grounds, shop in the stores, eat in the restaurants or walk through the lobby of The Del. I’m telling you, a 3 hour $25 ice skating session will change your view of life and help you realize just how fortunate you are to live in or visit Coronado, CA. Below is a video that shows what a scenic, great time it is to Skate By The Sea. Cheers!

In Front Of Coronado Spreckels Mansion

    Some amateur crime solvers at WebSleuths.com referenced my blog post, photos & video taken at Coronado Spreckels Mansion on the morning of Rebecca Zahau’s death. They are also using my timing on the scene to help themselves along with their theories, so I’m posting some new photos to help them and everyone else formulate answers to any questions about how and why Rebecca Zahau died. Above is my first shot of the morning, taken at 11:34am on July 13, 2011.

Law Enforcement On The Scene Of Rebecca Zahau’s Death

    Less than a minute later I shot the photo above. The man & boy with bicycles are off frame to the right. The front door of the mansion is wide open at this point, which prompted me to shift to my left to get a look inside Spreckels Mansion.

San Diego Sheriff & Coronado Police In Front Of Spreckels Mansion

    From here you can see the white banister for the grand staircase. This is the same banister that Max Shaknai fell from 2 days before.

Civilians Inside Spreckels Mansion Police Tape?

    At 11:40am, I snapped the photo above. I don’t know who the kid or the man in the grey polo shirt are, but the man seemed to have a bit of sway with the police. It also seemed like they may have been interested in the puddle on the curb.

What’s In The Puddle?

    The same photo, cropped to show how the man in grey and the police seemed to be interested in the puddle, or perhaps the pieces of paper in the puddle. They lady detective in the center watched from afar, preferring to gaze into my lens instead.

    So there you have it, that’s what was going on at 1043 Ocean Blvd during the first 5 minutes of my arrival on the morning Rebecca Zahau died. I have a murder by suicide theory because I believe she committed the physical part of suicide, but I also believe she was under duress when she did it. I think someone murdered her by forcing her to commit suicide.

Spreckels Mansion On The Morning Of Rebecca Zahau’s Suicide

    Now that police have determined that Rebecca Zahau committed suicide inside the Spreckels Mansion of Coronado, we can finally talk about why she would have killed herself. Back on July 13, 2011 I stated on my blog that I thought the Spreckels Mansion death was a suicide, but I really didn’t go into the details of my theory. Since the San Diego Sheriff and other police investigators are announcing complete results of the investigation later this morning, I thought I’d float my theory, just to see I close I was.

    The short version is: I think Zahau was forced to kill herself because of her peripheral involvement in the death of Max Shaknai.

    The long version of my theory makes perfect sense from a human standpoint: There is something that connects Zahau to Shaknai’s accident inside the mansion that allows the family members of Max to point the finger of blame at Rebecca. That finger was the duress Zahau was under when she killed herself.

    If she were made an offer she couldn’t refuse and resigned herself to accepting it, she could try to make her suicide look like murder. That would explain the improbability of the physical nature of her suicide. A naked body hanging from a balcony by electrical cord seems impromptu and mean, like an unplanned crime of passion. For some reason, Zahau wanted her suicide to look and feel like murder. Whatever it is she wanted to accomplish with this final act was something she couldn’t write down. She knew she couldn’t write it down.

    So there it is. Someone made her do it. I think her own hand committed the act but I also think someone was pulling the strings. She said something without talking; she was telling us to look somewhere or at someone. That’s what I think. Below is the video I shot in front of the Spreckels Mansion on day of Rebecca Zahau’s suicide which includes San Diego Sheriff Homicide Capt. Tim Curran speaking about the Coronado death.

Coronado Hare or Black-tailed Jackrabbit

    Silver Strand is the ribbon of land that connects Coronado to the continental United States. It is the reason Coronado is a peninsula, not an island and it is also the reason Coronado is home to a collection of wild hares. They live on the bay side of Silver Strand State Beach, amongst the bushes between the marina and Navy housing. I had never seen a hare before so I didn’t know that’s what it was when I took these photos; I just thought it was a weird looking, freakishly large, 2 foot tall rabbit. My curiosity lead to some internet research which lead to me now knowing the difference between a rabbit and a hare.

Hare On Silver Strand State Beach

    It really boils down to size and cuteness. Hares are bigger and look like they mean business. They have muscle definition, even while sitting and their head has a very pronounced snout. Their ears and tail are large, with black tips and their eyes are alert, with a defined iris and pupil. At 2 feet tall hares are over 1/3 my height which is, unnerving. Basically, a hare is a mammal that looks like it’s ready for action and when you see it up close, realize it’s so big it could probably jump high enough to kick you right in the stomach. “Cute” is not the first word that comes to mind when you see a hare, I’d say “built” would be more appropriate.

    Coronado also has a rabbit population, one member of which you see above. Isn’t it just oh-so-cute?!? It looks like a powder puff with big adorable dolls eyes. It really doesn’t look like a hare any more than a housecat looks like a bobcat; a rabbit is cute & fluffy while a hare looks large and in charge. So, don’t neglect the bay side of Silver Strand State Beach when you visit Coronado or you’ll miss out on some great boating and wildlife experiences. Cheers!

Funnel Weaver Spider Hololena sp. Araneae: Agelenidae

    As I rode my bike along Bayshore Bikeway, examining the progress of the coastal restoration in the nature preserve that lies along the southern edge of Silver Strand between Imperial Beach and Coronado, I happened across the web of what I believe is a funnel weaver spider (Hololena sp. Araneae: Agelenidae).  It was seated in a small hole in the side of a berm, its web spun out horizontally, waiting for lunch to be served.  I don’t have a problem with spiders; I just don’t like to be near them.  I also don’t have a macro lens; I just have a telephoto.  Convenient for me isn’t it?

Coastal Restoration & Dredging Begins

    There has been coastal restoration in the form of dredging going on for 5 months and just the other day the levees that separated San Diego Bay proper from the South Bay Biological Study Area were breached by the restoration team.  This means if you walk or ride along Bayshore Bikeway at the north end of 7^th St. in Imperial Beach, all the water in the nature preserve will ebb and flow with the tides from fresh Pacific Ocean water!  I think it will probably turn the intersection of Imperial Beach and Silver Strand into a bird watching Mecca.

Spider Waiting For Lunch

    It was a bright, cloudless day but the arachnid was in a shaded burrow so I used the on-camera flash to light the spider up.  I had no idea that a spider’s eyes reflect light like cat eyes do but, they do.  All other members of a coastal wetland sanctuary food chain benefit from being in the sanctuary, not just the birds and not just the wetlands.

Funnel Weaver Spider

    That’s why, in a post where I’m talking about ocean water and birds there are spider pictures; they’re all connected and it was while walking around the preserve I found this spider, which lead to the train of thought that lead to the theme and tone of this post.  Deep isn’t it?

Mouseover To See High & Low Tide before Restoration

    Move your mouse over the photo above to see the difference between high & low tide in the preserve before the restoration began.  If you want to see the amazing work that’s been done in the 5 months since the photos above were taken, you’ll just have to get on your bike, ride Bayshore Bikeway towards Imperial Beach and see for yourself. That blue stripe in the background is the Coronado Bridge which you can bike to using the trail.  Along the way you’ll pass the nature preserve, Silver Strand State Beach and Hotel Del Coronado.  See? If you are a lover of nature, biking, skating, running, the beach, hotels, Coronado or Imperial Beach, this outing has something for you.  Don’t forget to bring your camera so you can include photos when you blog about your fun time.  Cheers!