Vacation part 2 Coronado

Let me tell you a bit about Coronado and show you some pictures. 

Coronado, also known as Coronado Island, is an affluent^[1] city located in San Diego County, California, 5.2 miles from downtown San Diego. Its population was 24,100 at the 2000 census. U.S. News and World Report lists Coronado as one of the most expensive places to reside in the United States. Coronado lies on a peninsula connected to the mainland by a 10-mile isthmus called the Silver Strand (locally, The Strand.) Locals sometimes call Coronado The Island or Coronado Island, and they denote the core living and business area as The Village.

Coronado is Spanish for "the crowned one," and thus it is nicknamed The Crown City.

The city became a major resort destination in 1888 with the opening of the Hotel del Coronado. In 1900 a tourist/vacation area just south of the Hotel del Coronado was established by John D. Spreckels and named Tent City.^[2] Over the years the tents gave way to cottages, the last of which was torn down in late 1940 or early 1941.

According to the United States Census Bureau, the city has a total area of 84.6 km² (32.7 mi²); 20 km² (7.7 mi²) of the city is land and 64.6 km² (24.9 mi²) of it (76.36%) is water.

Originally Coronado was separated from North Island by a shallow channel called the Spanish Bight. The development of North Island by the United States Navy prior to World War II led to the filling of the Bight, combining the land areas into a single body. The Navy still operates Naval Air Station North Island (NASNI or "North Island") on Coronado. On the southern side of the town is Naval Amphibious Base Coronado, a training center for Navy SEALs. Both facilities are part of the larger Naval Base Coronado complex.

In 1969, the San Diego-Coronado Bridge was opened, allowing much faster transit between the cities than bay ferries or driving via State Route 75 along the Silver Strand. The city is currently weighing the options of additional construction on Highway 75 to alleviate congestion as traffic flows to and from San Diego and North Island.

Hotel del Coronado

Front view of the Hotel del Coronado.

Main article: Hotel del Coronado

Coronado is home to the famous Hotel del Coronado, built in 1888 and long considered one of the world's top resorts^{[citation needed]}. It is listed as a National Historic Landmark and appeared in films such as Some Like It Hot and The Stunt Man. It was the setting of the Dashboard Confessional song Stolen. The historic hotel has had many notable American guests, including Charles Lindbergh, Thomas Edison, Babe Ruth, Jack Dempsey, Willie Mays, Magic Johnson, and Muhammad Ali.^{[citation needed]} Many presidents have also visited, including William Howard Taft, Franklin D. Roosevelt, Lyndon Johnson,Richard Nixon, Gerald Ford, Jimmy Carter, Ronald Reagan, Bill Clinton, and George H.W. Bush.

"The Del" was supposedly also the inspiration for the Emerald City in The Wizard of Oz. (However, other sources say Oz was inspired by the "White City" of the Chicago World's Fair of 1893.^[11][12]) Author L. Frank Baum would have been able to see the hotel from his front porch overlooking Star Park. Because of the reported association with Oz, Coronado is often associated with the color green and is sometimes referred to as "The Emerald City". The colors of Coronado High are green and white; the Coronado city flag is a tricolor of green-white-green with a crown in the middle; and a local surf/skate shop is named Emerald City.

The San Diego-Coronado Bridge, locally referred to as the Coronado Bridge, is a "prestressed concrete/steel" girder bridge, crossing over San Diego Bay in the United States, linking San Diego, California with Coronado, California. The bridge is signed as part of State Route 75.

Description

The 11,179-foot-long (3,407 m or 2.1 mi) bridge ascends from Coronado at a 4.67 percent grade before curving 80 degrees toward San Diego. The span reaches a maximum height of 200 feet (61m), allowing the U.S. Navy ships which operate out of the nearby Naval Station San Diego to pass underneath it. The five-lane bridge featured the longest box girder in the world until it was surpassed by a bridge in Chongqing, China in 2008.^[1] The bridge doesn't form a direct path to Coronado, but rather has a curve. This was done to extend its length and meet the minimum length to qualify it for federal funding.^{[citation needed]}

The Coronado Bridge construction started in February 1967, and the bridge was opened to traffic on August 3, 1969, during the celebration of the 200th anniversary of the founding of San Diego.^[2] Originally, the toll was $0.60 in each direction. Several years later, this was changed to a $1 toll collected for traffic going westbound to Coronado only. Although the bridge was supposed to become "toll-free" once the original bridge bond was paid (which occurred in 1986), the tolls continued for sixteen additional years. In 2002, it became the last toll bridge in Southern California to discontinue tolls.^[3] The original toll booths remained intact for a short while, and were temporarily replaced with newer, more modern-looking toll booths for the filming of a car commercial in April 2007. The islands upon which the toll booths sat, as well as the canopy over the toll plaza area, are still intact, located at the western end of the bridge in the westbound lanes. Though tolls are no longer collected, beginning February 19, 2009 there was talk of resuming westbound toll collection.^[4]

The eastern end of the bridge connects directly to a T interchange with Interstate 5, just southeast of downtown San Diego, California. It is designated and signed as part of California State Highway 75. The bridge was designed entirely and exclusively for motor vehicle traffic; there are no pedestrian walkways, bike paths, or shoulders ("breakdown lanes"). Beginning in 2008, cyclists have the once-a-year opportunity to ride over the bridge in the Bike the Bay "fun ride".^[5]

It is the third deadliest suicide bridge in the USA, trailing only the Golden Gate bridge in San Francisco, CA, and the Aurora Bridge in Seattle, WA.^[6] Between 1972 and 2000, more than 200 suicides occurred on the bridge.^[7] Signs have been placed on the bridge urging potential suicides to call a hotline.

[edit]General facts

A view of the bridge from a commercial jet

• Principal architect: Robert Mosher
• Opened on August 3, 1969
• in 1970, it won the Most Beautiful Bridge Award from American Institute of Steel Construction
• 3.4 kilometres (2.1 mi) long
• cost $50 million to build
• retrofitting cost $70–150 million
• 20,000 tons of steel (13,000 tons in structural steel and 7,000 in reinforcing steel)
• 94,000 cubic yards of concrete
• 900,000 cubic yards of dredged fill
• some caissons for the towers were drilled and blasted 100 feet into the bed of the San Diego Bay
• 4.67% grade from Coronado to San Diego
• side railings are concrete blocks only 34 inches high
• over 50 people worked 24 hours a day, seven days a week to maintain the bridge and take its tolls - tolls have since been discontinued
• the grade, 200 foot clearance at peak, and the 90-degree angle turn is to create clearance for an empty oil-fired aircraft carrier to pass beneath it - it is not sufficient for Nimitz-class nuclear aircraft carriers
• the bridge is the third largest orthogonal box in the country - the box is the center part of the bridge, between piers 18-21 over main shipping channel

           

Coronado had perfect weather and perfect temps. The sun was out everyday. In the "Village" they have quite a few shops,flower stands and restaurants. Coronado has beautiful sights,and historical sites. The parks are great and the community center is fun to with their many activities.

A cute flower stand near the hotel.

A pretty water fountain.

The village area.

 

A cozy place to sit.

And trinkets for sale.

 This is a very beautiful and haunted hotel. 

                 
 
Some of the sights of Silver Strand State Beach (This is where we camped with our 5th wheel). People were wind surfing and collecting sand dollars & sea shells. The Life guard towers were pretty cool too. 
 

                 

I hope you enjoyed learning a bit about the Coronado area.There is plenty to see and do in a day or a longer vacation. We just strolled thru and spent most of our time on the beach. We had a lot of serious family time and relaxation. We will definitely be back.

Please come back and I will tell you about our 1st day or two !!