Is it possible to get around San Diego without renting a car?

sunset beach on shelter island image

Nikki

My family is traveling to San Diego soon, and I would like to know if it is possible to get around the city without renting a car. Our plans are to go to the Zoo, Sea World, the beach, and see the sights. Also if you have any recommendations to what we could do there please add them.

Answer
Yes... Though whether it's easy or not depends on how big your family is (are there really young kids?), where you plan on staying, and how much time do you have.

I suggest you stay in downtown area and get a MTS day pass for each adult (can buy them at vending machines at Trolley stations or at Transit Store at 1st and Broadway). They're $5 a piece and is good on buses and trolley for the day (every Saturday & Sunday, two children 12 and under ride free with any paying passenger 18 and over). You can pick up specific bus route maps/timetable at the Transit Store, Santa Fe Depot, or at the local library (the central library in downtown is on E St. just east of 8th St).

Hopefully you'll have at least 3 days to spend... Remember these buses ( http://www.sdmts.com/Tripplanner.asp ):
#923 - Downtown - Ocean Beach : takes you thru the Embarcadero pass the airport and thru Pt. Loma to Ocean beach (a bit of walking at the end will take you to Sunset Cliff - an ideal spot to watch the sun setting into the ocean in the evening).
#28 - Old Town - Shelter Island : if you get off #923 at Rosecrans Blvd, you can catch this bus west to Shelter Island Drive and then catch the
#84 that'll take you to Cabrillo National Monument & Ft. Rosecrans National Cemetery (spectacular view of the bay and downtown skyline on a clear day). Make sure you know the bus schedule, tho, the last bus back from Cabrillo leaves there at 5:28PM and you really don't want to miss it. Should allot at least 4 hrs to visit Cabrillo and be sure to get down to the tide pools.

#30 - downtown - UTC/VA Hospital : This is the bus that takes you from downtown via a scenic route to La Jolla. You can catch this bus north, then transfer to #101 at VA Hospital, which will take you north along the 101HWY (if you want to visit Torrey Pines State Reserve & beach, Solana Beach, Del Mar... where the horse track is). Or you can get off at the corner of Girard and Silverado in downtown La Jolla, head left on Silverado until you hit 'Coast Blvd' and walk north (right) along the spectacular shoreline. You'll pass the famous Children's Pool where the seals are, and keep walking on the walkway along the coast pass Ellen Browning Scripps Park and La Jolla Cove. You'll see a 'Cave Store' as the path goes uphill... if you pay $4 per adult there, you can go down a long and narrow stair down to Sunny Jim's Cave ( http://www.associatedcontent.com/article/1745014/walk_the_la_jolla_coast_great_hiking.html?cat=16 ). La Jolla is full of boutique stores and great restaurants. You can spend an entire day down there (but hopefully no less than 4 hrs).

#8/#9 Old Town - Pacific Beach loop : These two run the same route the opposite way from Old Town Transit Center thru Mission Bay (where Sea World is) to Pacific Beach. From downtown, I'd hop on the blue line trolley at Santa Fe Depot to Old Town Transit Ctr. If you plan on visiting Old Town in the morning then catching the #9 to Sea World in the afternoon, that's one very good sight-seeing day! Don't forget to visit the Presidio, Heritage Park Row of Victorian era houses, and Whaley House when you're in Old Town.

#3 Euclid Trolley - UCSD Hospital in Hillcrest : if you want to visit Hillcrest neighborhood or Balboa Park (where the zoo is, but it's on the other end, so a long walk). This one goes up 5th Ave and down 4th. Get off at Laurel and walk east (left) to get to Balboa Park.

#7 Downtown - La Mesa : this one goes up Park Blvd/12th Ave. The bus to get on if you want to go to the Zoo, Ruben Fleet Science Ctr at Balboa Park.

#901 Iris Trolly - Downtown : this one goes across the Coronado Bridge to Coronado Island and down Silver Strand to Imperial Beach ( http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jN7M5LHR4OY ). You won't be able to get off on the bridge (it is a car-only bridge. No pedestrian), so be sure to sit on the right side of the bus with camera ready when you cross to Coronado. The bus takes you past the gate to North Island Naval Air Station, downtown, Hotel Del Coronado (beach access). Really should spend at least 4 hrs here. If possible, I'd take a bus there, and return via the Coronado - San Diego Ferry (it's only $3.75 one way adult fare).

And while you're visiting downtown, you might want to also visit the Maritime Museum on the Embarcadero ($17 discovery package entry fee also includes a 45 minutes bay cruise), Seaport Village, Gaslamp Quarter (where the hip nightlife is), Petco Park. Be sure to go up to the 40th floor of the Harbor Tower at the Manchester Grand Hyatt Hotel. There's a lounge up there that also serves as the highest waterfront observational deck on the US West Coast. Great view!

For a 2 day trip to Vancouver island, where are the best spots for photography?

Bluejacket

Unfortunately i'll only have about 2 days to visit, so im looking for suggestions on the best places to focus my time on since its such a short visit. Sunset with a beach/rocky setting is what im really looking for, and any type out mountain vistas. Im probably going to do one of the orca tours, so wildlife is also an interest. From looking at all the travel guides, im disapointed I had to cut the trip short as I am a Bluejackets season ticket holder and we have the draft this year :) So it should turn out to be a fun week!!

Answer
The logistics of Vancouver Island for such things. Most of the population is on the sheltered East Coast of the Island. Victoria is South East on the Island. So it offers sunrise opportunities.

For the best sunsets you need to go to the West Coast of the Island. You don't have time to make it to Tofino, but keep it in mind for next time. I suggest a drive out toward Sooke.

Also if you are into photography. My suggestion would be Butchart Gardens. Click on their link and check out the map, and seasonal pictures to see if it is appealing to you.

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what is there to do on shelter island, long island, ny?

sunset beach on shelter island image

stargazeng

I would be taking the ferry..what is there to do there? I hear you can look at houses and that there is a museum and lots of restuarants. Any input would be greatly appreciated. Thanks.

Answer
There is basicly not much to do there. If you are staying the night i would check out the bar at Sunset Beach, it is the only large bar and scene on Shelter Island. There are a few art gallery's and a small musem or two. Othe rtahn that you can rent a bike and go on a bike ride around the island or goto crescent beach which is across the street from the Sunset Beach Resort and hang in the beach, i think they have volley ball nets up too. The best reason to go to Shelter Island is Commander Cody's Ribs and fried chciken,. I have traveled the entire countyr and have not had ribs and fried chciken as good as he makes it . He is crazy and you may need to call ahead to make sure he is cooking but it is worth the 2+hr trip from NYC. there is no good shopping and only 1 or 2 other restaraunts worth going to(vVne St., French very good) hope that helps.

Summary for the second half of the movie Glory?

I was gone that day from school, and I need to write a journal from General Shaw's point of view! Please and thank you!

Answer
Upon their arrival in Beaufort, South Carolina, Shaw appoints Rawlins as Sergeant Major, making him the highest ranking enlisted man in the regiment. Shaw soon learns that there is another all black regiment already on the scene (the 2nd Regiment South Carolina Volunteers); raised from the slaves of the vicinity, they are untrained and ill-disciplined, more rabble than soldiers. Under the command of a Kansas Jayhawker, Colonel James Montgomery (Cliff De Young), they are employed in plundering and destroying civilian property in the region. After looting the town of Darien, Georgia, Colonel Montgomery, a higher-ranking officer, orders Shaw's regiment to provide assistance in burning the houses. Shaw initially resists giving the order but, to save himself from a court-martial (which would leave his men under Montgomery's command), he reluctantly capitulates. Likewise, his troops, although disgusted with their fellows' craven behavior, carry out the order, aware their commander has no choice in the matter.

Shaw and his men soon become frustrated that they have been assigned to manual labor and not allowed to serve on the front line; the troops grow weary of the tedious work and chafe at the taunting of white soldiers bound for the battlefield. After Shaw approaches the area commander (General David Hunter) with a threat to expose the illegal activities undertaken by his command, his request that the regiment be transferred to the front is finally granted. In a battle on James Island, the troops turn back a Confederate cavalry and infantry attack. Thomas saves Trip from a Confederate soldier and suffers a bullet wound; however, he refuses to leave the regiment asking his colonel and long time friend Robert to let him stay. Shaw hopes that news of the battle will do credit to the regiment (and prove that blacks can be brave and able soldiers), but a reporter tells him that the headlines in the north are too filled with reports of the recent victories at Gettysburg and at Vicksburg, to give the story any prominence.

Shortly thereafter, Shaw volunteers the 54th Massachusetts to lead a frontal assault on Fort Wagner. On the night before the attack, the men sing at the camp fire to raise their spirits for the imminent battle. The next day, the 54th Massachusetts is honored by white soldiers and officers on the march toward Fort Wagner. Shaw sees the reporter, hands him letters to give his family (anticipating his death), and tells him to spread the word in the north about what is about to take place. At sunset, the regiment charges up the beach toward the fort under enemy cannon fire, and takes shelter in the sand dunes beneath the guns. After nightfall, Shaw leads the men in a charge upon the fort itself. With the enemy firing down on them at point blank range, Shaw guides his men through the abatis and across the moat. He begins to climb the parapet when he sees the man bearing the American flag shot down. Shaw stands up and attempts to rally the men forward but is quickly shot and killed. The men are frozen in shock until Trip (Denzel Washington) springs forward, lifts the flag, and rallies the men. He too is shot and killed, but his example spurs the remaining men, led by Forbes and Rawlins, to charge up the parapet and close with the rebels in hand-to-hand combat. Thomas is stabbed, but Jupiter carries him into the fort. As the only officers not killed or wounded, Forbes and Rawlins lead the men onward. The surge forward pauses upon reaching a second line of defense; the scene ends in the smoke from blast of Confederate cannon fire.

The next scene opens the following morning with the Confederate flag being raised over the fort. Confederate burial parties gather the slain men of the 54th Massachusetts. Their corpses, including those of Shaw and Trip, are thrown into a mass grave (with their shoes removed).

The movie fades to black and a series of texts state that the 54th lost half its men in the attack on Fort Wagner and that the "fort was never taken." But news of the regiment's courage spurred the creation of many more black regiments. By the end of the war, there were more than 180,000 African-American men in uniform, a fact which President Lincoln considered instrumental in securing victory.

The final credits roll against the background of Augustus Saint-Gaudens's memorial to Shaw and his men that stands today on Boston Common.

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