Trump's in San Diego

Great shot I found here. Skyline of downtown San Diego. Taken May 27, 2016. The photograph was apparently taken from just north of San Diego International Airport looking southeast along the southbound lane of I-5. The short round building at the end of the highway median (where the road turns to the east, see map below) is the familiar Four Points by Sheraton on 1st Ave. A couple years back I had the pleasure of staying over New Year's 2013 at the Motel 6 which is just one block south of this, just below the line of sight at the top of the freeway. That particular Motel 6 is a pleasant renovated older hotel on 2nd Ave, dating from the middle Twentieth Century. The rooms were quite nice and reasonably priced for a stay in the downtown area.

I loved being in San Diego and getting to know the city. My father lived with his family during the war years at base housing in San Diego while my grandfather served in the U.S. Navy in the South Pacific. I loved hearing his stories about the early years. I will miss him beyond measure the rest of my life. I'm glad I got hear so many stories.

My grandmother, who was from central Iowa, loved living in southern California back then.  She particularly loved the architecture. When they moved back to Iowa after the war, and my grandfather became a high school biology teacher, they were able to buy a lot in Ames and build their own house. The lot was on a hillside overlooking a river valley. My grandmother was very influential in designing the structure and gave it a modern California design with a flat roof and an open car port. In 2011, after my grandfather passed away, we found the trove of my grandmother's design research for the house when it was built back in 1951.

I got to grow up in that house in Ames as much as I did anywhere else. I have a continuous tapestry of memories over many years, with all those people in it. Sometimes I feel like the luckiest person ever to have lived.

Downtown San Diego