It's one of those places we've usually driven by but never stopped at. Until today...
I usually tend to avoid amusement parks. I hate crowds and noise and blah blah blah but we came early enough to get a prime parking spot. Plus, as mentioned in a previous blog post, I had me some coupons to use, heh.
The wooden rollercoaster here is called the Giant Dipper. In 1998, a local radio station held a contest to see who could ride on it the longest and whoever did would win prize money. Believe it or not, some people were one this fucking thing for days. I would've hurled, OMG.
This historic wooden coaster has been around since 1925 and has a counterpart coaster in Santa Cruz (same name too). Those two coasters are the only remaining roller coasters on the West Coast. Very cool to know that but would I ride it? Hell to the no. The wooden roller coaster in Knott's Berry Farm totally fkd up our necks a few years ago. Ghostrider it was called.
The boardwalk was devoid of bikers, walkers, and skateboarders for now. It was only 10 am and it was already 75 degrees. It would get up to the high 80's that day.
Lucky number thirteen!
Mission Beach has the highest concentration of homes by the coast in San Diego. These densely packed homes are literally steps away from the beach. If there would be a tsunami, then this whole area would basically be toast.
Shortly after this photo was taken, I heard what sounded like my name. Bert noticed her first, a lady on a bike who stopped in the middle of the boardwalk. It turned out to be a former co-worker who retired late last year. She used to work at my site then moved to another site to open up a new school. It was really a pleasant surprise to see her. It turns out that she rides the boardwalk every other day and keeps herself busy in her retirement.
Bert and I spent a little bit of our time admiring the homes, many of which were vacation rentals. A lot of them had floor to ceiling glass walls. Very nice. So that's how the other half lives.
I love giant food replicas.
One of the machines in the arcade had these as prizes. I don't get why people would want the poo emoji. I've seen it on plush slippers, fashioned as purses, giant pillows and such. Even Cathy of mmm-yoso spied a whole family wearing poo emoji hats at the San Diego Fair. She said she could only hope that they thought it was "chocolate ice cream".
By the way, the poo emoji expression shown is the old one.
The new poo emoji on my phone has this expression
I actually like the smiling one better.
And oh look, here's another in a different color! Maybe it was full of beta carotene the day it was excreted, who knows.
Passing the Giant Dipper again while on our way to lunch at Rosario (posted previously).
The Liberty carousel:
Businesses on the side street near the coaster...gift shops, taco and pizza joints and such.
Utility boxes on the street corner. These happen to be garibaldi fish (aka garibaldi damselfish).
I didn't know until looking this up that they are named after Giuseppe Garibaldi (an Italian political and military figure); his followers wore bright scarlet shirts. Wow. Interesting to know that. Here's a true fact...the male fish are very aggressive and will even make clicking noises if you get too close. Bert had several encounters with garibaldi snorkeling in La Jolla. He said they came pretty close to his face and would dart in and out aggressively. It is illegal to take these fish from the waters as they are a protected species. They are the official marine state fish of California. The young garibaldi are actually a bright blue but turn orange as they grow and mature.
The girls told us they rode on this thing three times. Wut!
They utilized the coupon for a buy 1 get 1 free rides wristband so they wanted to take advantage of every ride, include the Giant Dipper.
It was started to get pretty crowded by the early afternoon which was when we left. Both girls had practice for their respective school activities later.
On the 8 heading home.
And on the 1-5 ramp to get to the 54. The Sweetwater River was full that day (high tide) with Mt. Miguel in the distance.
Belmont Park certainly has something for everyone. There are arcade games, an aerial obstacle course, miniature golf, plus the rides and all kinds of unhealthy foods galore, ha ha.
Belmont Park
3146 Mission Blvd.
San Diego, CA 92109
(858) 228-9283
www.belmontpark.com + reviews from you know where and tripadvisor
Other coupons used were the buy 1 get 1 free item from Hot Dog on a stick (they bought giant drinks), along with Dole Whip. They will have to save the banana ice cream on a stick for a future visit! That plus cotton candy. My teeth just hurt thinking about those things. I'm not getting any younger and eating all that sweet stuff is pretty much a thing of the past now. Belmont Park wasn't so bad considering it was a Friday and in the Fall no less. No cold weather here to worry about, that's for sure.
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