San Diego's Old Town

By Britt-Marie Montemayor

San Diego, California is close enough to Los Angeles and Orange County for a weekend getaway, yet far enough that you can't be called to pick the kids up from the sleep over.

San Diego is well known for the array of amusement and animal parks, as well as its professional sporting venues and teams. What many travelers miss is the local feel and old California charm of San Diego's Old Town.

Old Town is just a few miles north of Downtown San Diego, but feels worlds away. This small section of the city is the best for family friendly daytime activities and adult nighttime imbibing. The historic areas in Old Town are an excellent educational experience for the whole family. In addition, the shopping, entertainment and dining options are just as good. You can even fit in a late night ghost tour of historic Old Town, and maybe you will have a ghostly experience as many have documented.

The best aspect of Old Town is it can be fully enjoyed by walking. None of the walking in Old Town is strenuous; it is also handicap accessible in almost all areas. Additionally, the historic square has plenty of beautiful areas for walkers to sit in shade or sun and rest.

If you enjoy people watching, plan some rest time as there is plenty of watching to do. This is a tourist destination, but most tourists come and go quickly. It is best to leisurely take in the sights and sounds; each visit to old town brings something new from the California past. 

Old Town San Diego has events almost every month. You can experience everything from folklorico, live music, dancing, to celebrations of literary masters, and celebrations of the dead. 

We visited Old Town for Twainfest and contributed to the Never-Ending Story, played some old games and marveled at the Blacksmith firing their anvils (check out the video). The story is that in the old west whenever there was a celebration, the local blacksmith's would bring their anvils together and stuff the holes with gun power and place one on top of the other with a crude fuse in between. It's risky and can lead to serious injury, but it's cowboy fireworks, and you can't beat that.  The result is a huge bang like a cannon and lot's of cheering!  

Old town dining makes for tough decisions as there are so many restaurants. Recently the

Cosmopolitan Hotel & Saloon reopened after 3 years of renovation, get in and enjoy what is being touted as some of the best cocktails in Old Town. The Saloon focuses on old style period drinks that will knock your socks off. If the Cosmopolitan is too upscale for your tastes, visit Café Coyote or Fred’s Mexican Café. Café Coyote is a staple of Old Town; make sure to pick up some fresh hand-made tortillas there in cinnamon, chocolate, strawberry or plain. If you live locally take some tortillas home and warm them on the grill to extend your fond memories of Old Town.

Before you leave San Diego make sure to catch at least one sunset at La Jolla cove. Just 5 minutes up the freeway from Old Town is the beautiful ocean side city of La Jolla. Don't be distracted by the posh shopping, art galleries, and incredible edibles get down to the shore and take in the scene. You'll be delighted by waves crashing on the shore, sea lions basking in the sun, and the best sunsets in the west. Bring a blanket, chair, or pull up a square of grass and relax. Don't forget your camera for stunning sunset pictures.

All Photos By Britt Montemayor. Protected Copyright © 2010

Queensland, AUS: Brisbane and the Fraser Coast

The East Coast of Australia is home to the most popular tourist spots on the continent. Yet, when the subject of traveling to Australia is brought up most conversations turn to the destinations of Melbourne and Sydney. Both cities hold their own appeal if you desire the hustle and price of Beverly Hills.

Farthest north on the East Coast is Cairns, a fantastic diving and snorkeling wonderland for the beach bound, underwater enthusiast.

In between Melbourne and Cairns lays the travel jewels of Brisbane and the Fraser Coast.

It’s late July in 2010 and moving into August, Southern California should be in the heat of summer. The summer heat was part of our motivation to visit Australia in August. Not that we were looking for heat, but rather to escape it in the temperate winter of Australia’s mid-east coast. Winter in this sub-tropic zone is mild, from the low 60’s to mid 70’s, perfect for comfort in the outdoors.

Brisbane is a fast growing city providing culinary, entertainment, and shopping delight. Word of warning - be prepared for the sticker shock as you imbibe. Australia in general is an expensive destination and everything costs a premium. From a $3 AUD candy bar (normally $1 USD) to basic meals costing $17-44 AUD, you will be delighted to find the rare $8 AUD glass of beer.

There are deals to be found and the savvy traveler will search around before selecting an accommodation or attraction to invest in. I recommend apartment hotels as opposed to traditional hotels. Apartment hotels are located throughout the city center and in each area we visited along the coast. Apartment hotels were generally more affordable: $139 AUD/night for a 1 or 2 bedroom apartment with full kitchen living area, laundry, and regular hotel facilities such as pool, fitness room, reception/concierge, etc. Traditional hotels ranged from $89-$300+ AUD/night and only offer one queen bed or two twin beds (not great if you have a family of three or more). For my family, we just wanted a nice, safe, centrally located accommodation as we don’t spend much time dwelling in our room.

(This is the sunset view from our apartment hotel balcony, looking north over Spring Hill and Fortitude Valley.)

Free time on our first day was spent in one of the beautiful churches in Brisbane, St. John’s Anglican Cathedral. This is the newest completed gothic cathedral which took over 100 years to build. The first stone was laid in 1901 and the final bay was completed in 2007. Flash photography is allowed, but tends to wash out the sandstone. We finished our evening with dinner at Decks on the South Bank Parklands.

We tried not to over-plan activities as most U.S. Americans do, but we definitely had a few sights and sounds that were “must haves” on this trip. Our first stop was the Lone Pine Koala Sanctuary just west of the city. Easily reachable by bus, Lone Pine provided photo ops with and of Koalas, Kangaroos, Wallabies, Emus, and Wombats to name a few of the native animals. The park is a comfortable size to take in for a half-day or a whole day of leisurely observing.

(Kangaroo resting at the Lone Pine Koala Sanctuary.)

Next stop on day two was The Gabba (Brisbane Cricket Grounds) for a game of Australian Rules (AR) football. AR is a fast paced game of football/rugby/soccer moves on an over sized field with a stadium of excitable fans. Tickets are fairly priced and the game was easy to get to and from. Before the game, make sure to visit the German Club for a cold beer or drink. The German Club carries an excellent variety of beer and schnapps to sample and enjoy.

On day three of our Australian adventure we enjoyed lunch and drinks at the Hog’s Breath Café before taking in a game of Rugby League (RL) football. RL is closest to American “grid-iron” football. Sun-Corp Stadium is beautiful and easily accessible by public transportation, which is required as there is NO public parking at the stadium.

(SunCorp Stadium view from the upper level.)

After the game, from the hustle of the city we headed north to the farming Shire of Tiaro, and the town of Bauple. Very few people are aware that Bauple is the home of the Macadamia nut, originally known as the Bauple nut, then Queensland nut. Unexpected, just like Hawaii, macadamia nut products are everywhere. We stayed with family on a Sugarcane and Cattle Farm for two days, this was my favorite place for taking pictures.

(Sugarcane Field in Bauple, QLD)

(Cattle grazing at Woods Farm, Bauple, QLD. The Mother cow gave me the look of don’t get any closer, but her calf was curious.)

The next day was spent whale watching in Hervey (pronounced Harvey) Bay. A full day of chasing the elusive Humpback whale paid off when a younger humpback curiously circled our boat and another. One of the most beautiful sights for photography is Fraser Island. An island of sand and tropical forest, Fraser provides 100 miles of beautiful coastline and crystal blue lakes inland. Allow 2-3 days to properly take in the sights of Hervey Bay and Fraser Island.

(Humpback whale off of Fraser Island.)

(Sunrise at Urangan Beach, Hervey Bay, QLD.)

After our stay in Hervey Bay, we headed back to Brisbane for our final two days in Australia. Although the food is expensive, there are excellent restaurants, and plenty of drinks to be had. We were introduced to XXXX Gold beer (say it, “Four-X”) and enjoyed it so much we toured the brewery located just across from SunCorp Stadium. The tour was what we expected; a tour of a brewery, but the end of the tour was the highlight. Each drinking adult gets to sample the various beers and relax in the XXXX Ale House. The Brewery is full of history and kitsch and the gift shop is full of beer gear to buy.

(Spouts from old production area on display in the XXXX Ale House.)

Another short train trip back to the city center and we were off to enjoy the Eagle Street Pier. A river runs through and bends around Brisbane City Center (BCC). Spanning from Kangaroo Point to Petrie Bight is the Story Bridge, a class icon of Brisbane. Starting from the end of the Eagle Street Pier, there is a walking tour that runs all the way from the Customs House down and around to the Goodwill Bridge. The walking tour provides beautiful views of the skyline, river, Kangaroo Point Cliffs, the City Botanic Gardens, and around to Southbank.

(Eagle Street Pier and Story Bridge, Brisbane, QLD.)

Take your time to explore all the mid-East Coast of Australia has to offer. The terrain, wildlife, plant life, and people will not disappoint.

Oddly enough, summer has yet to arrive in Southern California, we returned back to the same weather we left behind in Brisbane, temperate mid 70’s. Where is summer?

For more information on the accommodations we selected and the places we visited, click the links below:

Oaks Lexicon Apartment Hotel in Brisbane

South Bank Parklands

Fraser Coast – Bauple, Hervey Bay, and Fraser Island

Santalina Apartment Hotel in Hervey Bay

Eagle Street Pier

City Botanic Gardens

My Favorite Travel Guide Lonely Planet

All Photos By Britt Montemayor. Protected Copyright © 2010

Having so much fun ...

We are having a great time, we have done everything we said we wanted to do, Whale watching, Rugby and AFL, we visited with the Wood family too! Just a great experience.

I can not say enough about the people! Aussies are as friendly and accommodating a people as I have ever come across. There is not arrogance, there is no attitude. It is all about welcoming people, it is about a smile and a helping hand! Amazing people!

Driving was a bit of fun! Everything is backwards, the controls, turn signal, everything! So that was interesting. The good news, there are almost no cops on the road here, even though everyone in this country admits to "drink driving" pretty often! Nuts! You can cruise along the "motorway" at about 90 MPH with little problem.

The cars here are interesting as well, Ford and Mazda have a good part of the market, as does Toyota. But the models are odd, I have never seen or heard of any of them, and the cars are about 35K U.S. for the basics! We saw a TV spot for a Ford Ranger starting at 35K U.S. !

Gas is amazingly expensive too! We put a little less than a tank in our rental and it was $67 AU dollars, not nearly a full tank!

The food is awful! For starters you can't get even a basic meal for under 10 or 12 AU Dollars. That would get you a burger and just the burger. If you want fries, or "Chips" as they are known here, you are in for an additional 4 or 6 dollars! We have not paid under $40 AU dollars for anything we have eaten. A single order of Fish and Chips is no less than $24 AU dollars. A McDonalds sausage mcmuffin with egg is $7 AU dollars. It is not cheap to visit Australia.

Also AWFUL!!!!!: TV here is just brutal...don't even waste your time!

Whale watching was wonderful! We saw 6 humpbacks and 1 minke whale. The boat we were on was great! Smaller and personal. They served us snacks, lunch, and drinks. Wait until we post the picks, just astounding!

The landscape and culture are wonderful. The architecture is interesting, there is a church on ever corner that is about 1000 years old. Again, wait for the pictures!

Beer flows like water here! Everyone drinks, kids, men, ladies, old young...EVERYONE drinks beer is Australia! It is almost odd if you don't! We are going to the XXXX Brewery today (It's called 4X Beer, and it is the beer of AU).

The jet lag has been almost non existent! Sleeping on the flight over helped, we have slowly adjusted out of it, just in time to hop a flight home tomorrow!

You need about 10 days to see all of Queensland, a week is not nearly enough!

When we return, we have lots of videos and pics to post. The Internet here is less than fast, so it has been a major challenge to get anything online, or have the speed to upload the smallest photo, I look forward to sharing things with you over the weekend!

Some random photos:

We made it...finally!

After all the waiting and anticipation, we are in Brisbane Australia!

The flight was great for the first 13 hours. I slept about ten hours of the flight, it was fantastic! Pitch black on the plane, I had Big Boi's latest bouncing through my Skull Candy's to block out the screaming babies two rows in front of us, I was out like a light! Britt and Jake slept too, just not as much.

We flew Qantas, a 747-400...very smooth. The Qantas staff was wonderful, they took care of every detail, everything from warming up baby formula for people, to keeping us fed and warm, big ups to Qantas! In addition to great service, Qantas is a member of "One World" so we each get 14K miles for our American Airlines account!

The trouble started with about fifty minutes to go in the flight. The captain announced Brisbane was fogged in and we would have to stop and refuel on an island called New Caledonia, the city of Noumea as we did not have enough fuel to circle Brisbane.

In reality it was not that bad, we were only on the ground in Noumea fifty minutes, then back on course to Brisbane. However once we reached Brisbane the captain informed us we were 13th in line, that would require us to circle for ninety minutes! Ughh. At this point we were ready to get off the plane and get on with getting on!

The captain kept us informed about every fifteen minutes, and eventually told us planes had to divert as they were running out of fuel as well. Good news for us as that cut our wait time to about an hour. When we did land it was all good!

Customs and Border Security was a simple process, we then caught a taxi to the hotel, where again we had to hurry up and wait as our room was not cleaned from the night before. We made the best of it by grabbing some lunch and touring a beautiful church just down the street from our hotel.

Some observations about Brisbane:

It is very American! If you have walked down the street in St. Louis or Sacramento, you have an idea of what Brisbane feels like!

Public transportation seems to be pretty strong. There are bus routes that criss-cross the city making it easy to get from here to there.

Everyone smokes! All the hot chicks, the ugly guys, the young and the old...everyone smokes, and it is expensive, $12AU per pack...everything here is expensive; $9AU for a bowl of soup! Gas is sold by the liter at a cost of $1.20AU per liter, that is $4.80AU a gallon!!!!

There is a huge, old, beautiful church on every corner. Just gorgeous (Britt will post some pics later), breath taking stained glass windows that all tell a story, wood carving that makes you feel the emotions of the carver, and wonderus marble dating back to the 1800's...and all are open to the public with friendly volunteers more than willing to tell you about every inch of the joint!

The people are great! Super chill, relaxed, not judgmental at all! We went to lunch at a "club", in reality it was a bar with slot machines and pool tables. I liked the rule that says men have to take off their caps when they enter. It was difficult not to put the cap back on out of habit, however the grizzly veteran bartender who was busting my onions about the Chicago Bears t-shirt I was wearing, even going as far as to tell me Mike Ditka was a great man, deserves our respect because he was easy to deal with and even explained that we do not need to tip waiters and waitresses in Australia as they are well paid already...for that I tipped him $2AU, he was thrilled!

There are so many American things here: McDonald's, 7-11, Coca~Cola, Ford and Mazda...America is clearly a big influence here...As is Europe, the people here seem to be very Euro, they all smoke, there is a TON of coffee shops. More coffee shops or churches? Not sure!

There is also a substantial Gay & Lesbian presence on the streets here, and I appreciate the freedom they have. There is no head turning or awkwardness about it.

At the lunch club, what show do you think was on TV? Would it shock you that Ellen was on the TV? No joke, the table next to me stopped eating to watch her interview Russell Crowe!

We rented an apartment for the first two nights...MONEY! Even has a washer and dryer...super small toilet!

Australian cash has windows in it...feels like wax paper, looks like play money!

There is a commercial on TV right now asking "do you have Cankles?" (not kidding). After the long plane flight I did have swollen ankles! Ugly!

We are having a great time! We will post more soon!

TM

So Close!

Wow, it's almost here! As I write this we have 48.5 hours til take off!

We are ready for our Australian adventure! We have spent a considerable amount of time researching activities, and sharing our thoughts on what we want to accomplish while we are there, listening to all the people who have ever traveled down the block, tell us about travel and what we should expect!

We have in our minds that Australia is much more relaxed than "we" are. That the Aussie culture is not honking and saluting during rush hour...something that is merely a fantasy for a veteran freeway gladiator like myself.

I think Britt is looking most forward to the culture of Australia. She picked out, and I booked, a fantastic whale watching adventure. We chose Blue Dolphin because they are well thought of and the reviews were great. We should get some great stills and video that will be posted right here at the end of each day.

We have a tentative schedule plotted out in pencil:

Friday we arrive at 6AM local time, after we get our legs under us, we will head for the Koala sanctuary it is very Australian, and it fits into a very light opening day in Brisbane.

Saturday is Australian Rules Football with the Brisbane Lions and probably some shopping and culture during the day...gotta drink some beer too!

Sunday is a big day; more football with the Brisbane Broncos and then we head 3 hours north of Brisbane to see the inspiration for our trip, Karen and Royce, who own a Sugar Cane farm. We met them in Dallas back in May, such a lovely couple! We feel very lucky that God ran us into each other! We will spend Sunday and Monday on the farm, I hope to help harvest with Jake while Britt whips up Kangaroo Lasagna, no joke, she chose that for the meal she will make for our hosts!

Tuesday is whale watching followed by a nights stay in a gorgeous hotel.

Wednesday is early up for our 3 hour return drive to Brisbane for two nights in the retro Royal on the Park! Wow are we looking forward to this place, while it is not the Ritz, it has a real niche cut out on the Brisbane scene, and we have heard nothing but fantastic things about it!

Then, we turn around and come home on Friday morning to relax and recover for the weekend!

The big question of this trip remains: What does one do for well over 13 hours on a 747? We are hoping to sleep, but are not counting on it. We will be up early on Wednesday morning, JT and I will work out hard to start the day, I'll head to work until around 7, get home to head for dinner and LAX...then we board our flight at 11:30P that night. Up early, work out hard, work hard, eat well, then lets hope we all sleep for a good portion of the flight. Books, games, movies...people watching...I have no idea! Lots of cards I would guess!

So yeah, that's it. We have toiletries, camera's, phones...rip off international calling plans from AT&T...we are set!

Keep your eye on this blog for pictures and updates during the trip...should be a great time!

TM

Six and a wake up!

Brisbane, Australia: 28 July 2010!

We have waited so long for this trip to come together! We have put so much effort into making sure we do all the things we want to do, making sure we treat this trip as once in a lifetime!

The first order of business was to actually plan the trip. That started in Texas,(I know we live in Los Angeles!) after we took a trip in May to see the Cubs play the Rangers in Arlington. Funny how things work; while we were in Texas, we spent time with Gene and Millie, cousins on Britt's side of the family. As it turned out Gene had his Cousin Royce in from Bauple, AU. We spent time visiting with them on two occasions, talking about Australia, their Sugar Cane farm, Hervey Bay Whale watching...all kinds of things...it was this conversation that started our minds turning.

Once we got back to So Cal we began thinking and talking about going to Australia. Romancing the idea of getting stamps on our passports, getting JT a passport. We could never afford a trip like that...right?

Wrong! We priced it out through Qantas, it was super affordable. Qantas had a sale to all the major spots in Australia, with family in Brisbane, Rugby in Brisbane, Whales to watch in Hervey Bay...it made sense. So we did it.

We booked our tickets on Qantas, we waited a couple weeks and booked hotels and a rental car to drive us to Bauple (It's about 3 hours). I bought tickets to Rugby on Sunday afternoon, Britt found the Koala sanctuary, then the Whale watching. Yes, we are actually doing this thing.

There is a big part of this trip that is about going to Australia, how cool that is, how fun that will be. But the other part is about sharing this experience as a family. Being able to take Jake with us is pretty special, we work so hard in life to provide for our family! In our house it is baseball and video games, vitamins and gym memberships. Sure, we could spend our summer in front of the TV, at the beach, in the weight room...or we could adventure out and see all that God has created.

Part of us is chasing a dream with this trip. It would be easy to contemplate the cost, over think fiscal responsibility, worry about financial margins...but we can do this thing without going into the poor house! We have the chance to do something, and go somewhere we will likely never forget.

The concept of traveling the globe seems large and expensive, it's not. It seems like something that only certain kinds of people do, it's not! Australia, Italy, wherever it is that you have always wanted to go...it's sitting right there, it's up to you to figure the rest out. That seems easy to say, tough to execute...there is truth in that, but if you really want it, you can do it.

All you have to do is be strong enough, courageous enough, but also adventurous enough to make that dream a reality! Our reality begins in six days and a wake up!

TM