Today was spent near the sea with family.
It began with lunch in Encinitas at our new favorite spot, The Fish Shop. Steve mom's, our younger son and his wife joined us. The kids were in town for a conference so we embraced the proximity.
Oh man, the Shrimp & Onion Ring platter was delish!
A stroll around town was a must.
Steve and I have admired these homes several times. Located on a quiet street of quaint beach houses and mismatched cottages, this incongruous sight of two seemingly enormous boats always surprises. Interestingly, they never been to sea. Despite their 19 portholes, mariner’s wheels and quirky starboard list, the SS Encinitas and SS Moonlight have only ever been homes for landlubbers. They were built by architect Miles Kellogg in 1928 using timber salvaged from the local bathhouse and a hotel that failed to survive Prohibition’s dry years, the 1888 Moonlight Beach Dance Parlor. I am always delighted by these 90 year old beauties. Cool right?
We then took K on a trip down Memory Lane, as Old Town San Diego was a place we frequented in his youth. It was a first for T.
We didn't have a lot of time here before their flight back to the Bay Area so we chose La Casa de Estudillo as our main history lesson. Around the time of Mexican independence from Spain in 1821, soldiers of the Presidio of San Diego began building their homes outside the adobe walls of this fortified settlement. One the finest example of these homes is the Estudillo House, built between 1827 and 1829. It is one of the oldest surviving examples of a typical large Spanish-Mexican one-story town house in California. Since its construction, the house has served as a residence, a town hall, a chapel, a shelter, an early 20th-century tourist attraction, and a museum.
The Estudillo House remained in the Estudillo family until 1887, when family descendants moved to Los Angeles and left the home with a caretaker. Around this time the house gained prominence through its association with Helen Hunt Jackson's popular 1884 novel Ramona. Set in Southern California, the novel painted a romanticized portrait of Mexican colonial life, and it effectively generated a nationwide interest in the region. Publication of Ramona coincided with the opening of railroad lines to the region. This provided interested tourists with the means of transportation to see the locations discussed in the novel. While the novel was a work of fiction, tourists flocked to the Estudillo House nonetheless, because they believed it was likely the location of Ramona’s (the beautiful half-Spanish and half-Indian heroine) marriage. The Estudillo House became known as “Ramona’s Marriage Place” and was converted into a commercial venture. There is so much more to say about this house and the story of Ramona (which has many ties to Temecula as well). So interesting, all of it. Wow.
After a quick detour to the San Diego Airport for a drop off, we arrived home for dinner with T's folks (who spent the night) and Steve's brother and his wife. The gathering continued for hours. Oh what a day of fabulous family fun.
posted under |
0 comments:
Post a Comment