Pizza Envy; Waffling; Coronado; Falcons at a hotel?

I suspect there are one or two of you out there that were thinking naughty thoughts while reading the title of this post, and had subconsciously inserted another word in place of "pizza". Shame on you! This is not that kind of blog... It's about the best pizza in San Diego. I had gone to Filippi's Pizza Grotto while Suzanne was back in Florida with her mom Ruthie, and she wanted me to take her there when she returned. Checkered table cloths, chianti bottles hanging from the ceiling, a friendly staff and delicious food made it a great experience. Vincent DePhillipis emigrated to the US from Italy in 1922, and in 1950 he moved with his family to San Diego and started a deli grocery. The family now has 13 restaurants between San Diego and Napa; a real American success story - hard work does pay off!  

I hope you don't think you've inadvertently signed onto The Food Network, but one of the things I had forgotten to do while Suzanne was away was to go grocery shopping to restock the fridge after our all-night canine poker parties. This morning we were out of almost everything, so I decided I'd better take My Better Half out for breakfast. One of Suzanne's weak spots is Belgian waffles. I wouldn't know the difference between Belgian waffles and the Brussels, Liege or stroopwafel versions, but she is a connoisseur of waffles. I looked for a likely restaurant in our GPS, and luckily found Brothers Family Restaurant in Allied Gardens. Suzanne rated the waffles the best she had ever had, and the clientele were decidedly neighborhood folks. Almost everyone was greeted by name, and several of the men were in their late 80s/90s and were wearing WWII Veteran ball caps. Allied Gardens was one of the first tract developments here, started in 1955, and houses were marketed to ex-GI's for $14,650 to $15,725. You have to wonder what you got when you splurged with that extra $975.

After breakfast, we drove across the San Diego-Coronado Bridge, an amazing structure that for decades was the longest box girder bridge in the world. Over 2 miles long, it rises up over 200 feet so that Navy ships can clear it safely, and was designed with a long, 80 degree sweeping curve so that it wouldn't be dangerously steep for cars. Built in 1967-69, the bridge's tolls were supposed to be discontinued when the bridge was paid for in 1986, but tolls continued to be collected until 2002. Sounds like typical governmental planning, if you ask me.

Coronado is a beautiful city, and one of the most expensive places to live in the US. We looked at several realtors' window displays just for fun, and small, no-frills ranch-style houses are going for over a million. Sheesh! Our RV is just fine, thanks very much. One of the first tourist sights we encountered was the Hotel del Coronado, built in 1888 and long considered one of the world's top resorts. We checked the rates in case anyone wants to come out to visit; the base room is only $325 per night; the Signature Suites are $1,400. But I'm sure it would be an experience.

One of the unusual sights at the Hotel Del was a young man and four birds... but not just any birds... he was a professional falconer, and his birds were falcons (two each) and hawks (two each). George works the hotel 3-4 days per week and the main city landfill five days a week (I hope he has a helper). The hawks and falcons are kept on fixed perches here, but have to fly at the landfill to keep the estimated 20,000 seagulls off the garbage. His prize bird was named Fate; she is a mixed Barbary saker falcon; her diet is mainly dove, quail and miscellaneous rodents. We learned that the reason the landfill has to be protected is that (1) the huge flock of gulls would impair visibility of the drivers of big trucks and bulldozers working there, leading to accidents and injuries/deaths, and (2) seagulls would feed on the trash, ingest plastic and bacteria, and then pollute pristine beaches with trash and e colli. Who would have thought?

From the Hotel Del, we moved on to the Naval Amphibious Base for a tank of gas. The price there was the same as at the gas stations in San Diego, $3.65/ gal., but here in Coronado Village the price was $4.65, a dollar a gallon more than normal. One of the notable aspects of the Navy presence on Coronado, where the beach is called The Silver Strand, is Navy SEAL training. The young men who undergo BUDS and SEAL training are the toughest warriors in the world. As we drove around the base, even though we are both retired Navy, we were a bit awed by the mere proximity of these very special sailors. By the way, room and board at Navy SEAL (BUDS) training is not nearly as expensive as at the Hotel Del... but then, SEALs have to really work for their breakfast!

A side note: near our campground is a small road construction company that has a sign that really impressed me for business management reasons, but I just realized that this small company's motto could also be that of Navy SEALs. Be very happy that these young men are on our side!

Lastly, we did get out for a bike ride today, on a very rough trail filled with cobblestone-sized rocks. Suzanne is wearing an anniversary present, a very stylish bike jersey. (Hey, I did a good job with that one, didn't I?) We were both ready to turn around when we reached the far side of the recreation area and found this "Do not enter" sign for Navy property near the Miramar Marine Corps Air Station. It was prudent to turn around then; I'm sure the area isn't mined or even guarded, but what if George and Fate are working there? Just thinking about Fate's talons gives me the shudders....