The Best Places In San Diego!

In previous posts I’ve mentioned how the San Diego designed and built, unmanned drones assisted in wildfire fighting efforts and performed environmental research.  As was noted in those articles, the unmanned drones were originally built for use in the military.

Last week’s episode of 60 Minutes provided the closest look yet at the military uses of the unmanned drone.  More specifically, the feature story notes how the Predator won the Battle for Sadr City and set the stage for the current success of the U.S. Military Surge in Iraq.

If you missed the episode, here’s the video.

60 Minutes has a separate video that provides more background information about the Predator.

To learn more about the Predator and the Global Hawk unmanned drones and their connection to San Diego, visit the previous posts noted at the top of this article.

The Nation’s Largest Military Air Show is right here in San Diego. You will see jets whizzing around University City, Miramar, Mira Mesa, Kearney Mesa, and Scripps Ranch all week as they practice for their shows that begin this Thursday, October 2nd. Thursday’s show is only open to military families. The rest of the public is welcome to join in the spectacle on Friday, Saturday, and Sunday.

The stars of the show are always the Navy’s Blue Angels. We missed them last year when they had other obligations requiring the Air Force Thunderbirds to serve in their place. Being this is a Navy and Marine town, the return of the Navy Blue Angels will be a welcome sight. Be aware that the Blue Angels perform during the daytime shows and not during the night time show on Saturday. By the way, did you know the winter home and training grounds for the Blue Angels are just east of San Diego at the Naval Air Facility in El Centro?

Two of the newest military aircraft are set to fly over MCAS Miramar. The F-22 Raptor will perform just before the Blue Angels during the afternoon performances. The MV-22 Osprey is tentatively scheduled to perform during the morning sessions. Get familiar with the Osprey because there will be several squadrons of this tilt-rotor aircraft stationed at MCAS Miramar starting in 2010.

One of my favorites is the B-2 Stealth Bomber. If you are outdoors this week going for a walk and notice a shadow engulf you, look up quickly and you’ll probably see the Stealth Bomber. That happened to me several years ago near UTC. I had no idea it was coming up behind me, flying low over the building tops, until its large shadow engulfed me before I heard the noise of the jets.

Considering this is the country’s largest Air Show, bring lots of sun tan lotion and plan on spending the whole day touring the exhibits and watching the performances. If you don’t have the whole day, be sure to check the air show schedule so you’ll know when to look for your favorite performances. Also, bring a lot of patience because traffic getting in and out will be very, very slow … especially Saturday afternoon when the day show spectators are leaving and the night show spectators are arriving.

If you buy your tickets online, you’ll save a few dollars per person. The Friday and Sunday shows are the cheapest ($11 for Adults and $8 for Kids), but again you’ll save a few dollars each if you buy them online. Several levels of premium tickets are also available.

Have fun!

Imagine you are enjoying a nice afternoon on San Diego Bay. A friend has invited you out on their sailboat where you close your eyes to capture the full essence of breathing in the fresh air from light breezes and bask in the warm glow of the sun.

You open up your eyes for a brief moment to enjoy the views of our beautiful city skyline when all of a sudden you see something that reminds you of a B-2 Stealth Bomber. Except, this thing is cruising along San Diego Bay. It’s got a wide body without much vertical height and is full of sharp angles. As you stare at it, you wonder what future civilization it came. It comes whizzing past you at 50 knots (58 mph) and you expect to be capsized in its wake but then realize there is no wake at all.

If you’ve had this experience or plan to be out on the San Diego Bay anytime soon, let me introduce you to the Stiletto.

Stiletto Boat photo from M Ship Company

Designed by the M Ship Company of San Diego, the Stiletto is making waves around the world figuratively, but not literally. The boat uses a revolutionary design called an M Hull, named for the way it looks. Outer skirts capture the wake caused by the main hull and use it to its advantage for speed and balance.

As a prototype in 2006, Time Magazine named it one of the best inventions of the year. Built out of carbon fiber, this sturdy craft can basically fly across water and turn on a dime.

Just last month, the Department of Defense used the Stiletto as a demonstration unit during a drug interdiction deployment in the Atlantic Ocean. This was unfortunate for a few drug smugglers seen on a go-fast boat off of the Florida Coast. Used to outspeeding the authorities, these drug smuggler were in for a little surprise. Take a look at the imposing picture of the Stiletto above and imagine it chasing you down in a cigarette for two hours. The smugglers thought they finally reached safety in shallow waters where they thought the imposing Stiletto would not be able to navigate. Again, fortune was not on their side. The Stiletto’s hull only extends 2.5 feet below the surface of the water and was able to maintain pursuit.

Fortunately for us, those drug smugglers are now behind bars.

So, keep your eyes out on San Diego Bay for this state-of-the-art, stealth-looking boat. Not only are they designed and built in San Diego but you will also see the Navy Seals using them for their missions.

Here is a profile of the Stiletto. You can also check out pictures and videos on the web page for the Stiletto.

The Admiral Baker Golf Course was recently named the 7th best bargain golf course in the nation. This distinction was made by Golflink.com, which is the most popular online golf site with over 1 million visitors a month. You can read user comments about the two 18-hole courses at Admiral Baker Golf Course.

The list of top bargain courses was based on analysis of those courses that incur greens fees under $50. Topping the list was the Bethpage State Park Golf Course in New York, which hosted the 2002 U.S. Open Championship and will once again host the U.S. Open in 2009. Considering Admiral Baker is on the same Top 10 list as Bethpage is quite a tribute to bargain golf in San Diego.

You do have to be a member of the military family or the guest of one to access the courses at Admiral Baker. You can check out the Navy’s MWR web site for more information on the Admiral Baker Golf Course, which is located in Mission Valley. Current rates range from $9 to $29 for a round of golf. I don’t think you will be able to beat those rates anywhere.

Sealab II Photo from Wikimedia Commons

Astronaut Scott Carpenter was the fourth American astronaut in space and the 2nd to orbit the Earth, after John Glenn. He was also the first to live underwater for 30 days as an aquanaut in 1965.

The Navy ran a series of tests to measure the human impact of living underwater for an extended period of time. Known as SEALAB II, Scott Carpenter joined other aquanauts to perform underwater tests and push the limits on human endurance in submersed water habitats.

The SEALAB II habitat was 57 feet long and 12 feet wide. It was sent 205 feet below the ocean surface, just off the La Jolla Coast, into what is known as La Jolla Canyon. Due to the slope of the ocean floor in that location, SEALAB II was referred to as the ‘Tilton Hilton’. The ‘Tilton Hilton’ included a shower and refrigeration for the aquanauts.

Scott Carpenter was the only one to stay down during the full 30 days of the mission. The most fascinating part to me is when Scott Carpenter spoke to a fellow Mercury astronaut, Gordon Cooper, while Cooper was in outer space on the Gemini Space Capsule.

So, the next time you see divers heading into the water off the La Jolla coast, just think what it would be like to live in the depths of the ocean for a month and taking a call from outer space.

I mentioned in a previous post that NBC has a great show on Sunday nights called About San Diego. Ken Kramer is the host and this weekend he shared a piece of history that I found quite fascinating.

In 1917, three 600 foot radio transmitters were built in San Diego. Mind you, no building in downtown San Diego is higher than 500 feet. These huge towers broadcast radio signals over 12,000 miles, including the announcement of the attack on Pearl Harbor.

To put this in perspective, London and Tokyo are each about 5,500 miles from San Diego. Now, I’m not sure if the radio signal could actually be heard in those cities due to the curvature of the Earth but a 12,000 mile broadcast is quite impressive. Watch the video on Ken Kramer’s About San Diego web site at NBC.

You can read more about the transmitter tower built by the Navy from the University of San Diego web site.

Head to Point Loma at the end of July to see what the brightest engineering and computer science students are developing to help protect our country.

I’ve made some recent posts about the remarkable, and now highly publicized, unmanned aerial drones being used by the military, fire service, and NASA. (Predator Helped Fight San Diego Wildfires and Global Hawk Joins Environmental Research Efforts.) Both of these technologies were developed and are now being manufactured here in San Diego.

Now that San Diego companies develop planes without pilots, it is only appropriate that San Diego should also be on the forefront to make further advancements in Autonomous Underwater Vehicles. Unmanned ’submarines’ are currently capable of mapping ocean floors, searching for explosive mines, and testing the environment. Student teams from around the world are working to develop the next generation of autonomous underwater vehicles.

They will be descending on San Diego’s Point Loma from July 29th to August 3rd to show off their latest developments at the 11th International Autonomous Underwater Vehicle Competition. This annual event held in San Diego by the Association for Unmanned Vehicle Systems International is hosted by our own Space and Naval Systems Warfare Systems Center (that big huge facility along the I-5, just north of the San Diego Airport is one of their facilities).

The event is opened to the public. Just head towards Cabrillo National Monument and look for signs just after you pass the open entry gate at the end of Catalina Boulevard and just prior to passing through the Fort Rosecrans Military Reservation.

To get an idea of what schools participate, check out the 2007 list of winners.

The Courtyard San Diego Central in Kearny Mesa won top honors from the American Hotel & Lodging Association for community service. The hotel was recognized for providing very low rate hotel rooms to the Ronald McDonald House, holding a golf tournament fundraiser for Children’s Hospital, hosting Christmas dinner for 200 Marines stationed in San Diego, and giving firefighters a place to sleep for 10 days during the October wildfires.

Let’s reward those in our community who go out of their way to be great corporate citizens by patronizing their business. Here are the details:

Hotel Reservations page on the Courtyard Marriott web site. The hotel has 237 rooms and over 4,000 square feet of meeting space.

Directions from Google Maps to 8651 Spectrum Center Boulevard 92123

Flag Day on Saturday, June 14th is my second favorite national day of recognition, after Independence Day. However, I’m always disappointed in finding very few people know about Flag Day. So, help spread the word by flying your flag tomorrow and wearing red, white, and blue.

Here are some suggestions for those who want to celebrate Flag Day in San Diego.

Visit Mt Soledad in La Jolla

Attend the Flag Day Ceremony at the Fallbrook VFW.

Flag Day Ceremony at the El Cajon Elks Lodge on Monday, June 16th.

Read or Listen to “I Am Your Flag” reading from KYW 1060 News Radio, based in the home of Independence, Philadelphia.

If you know of other ways to celebrate Flag Day in San Diego, please share it in the comments below.

Navy spouse Meredith Leyva partnered with the San Diego media to create Operation Homefront in 2001. Operation Homefront garners community support to assist the families of military personnel sent abroad. Since that beginning in San Diego, the organization has spread to provide assistance in 34 states.

Prior to Operation Homefront, Meredith Leyva created a web site support forum for military spouses. Once the War in Afghanistan was underway, her popular web site and our San Diego media brought local, and then national, attention to the cause of helping military families. The help provided to military families includes assistance with everyday activities such as car repairs, physical labor, financial assistance, and computer access.

Just last week, Jim Beam Global Spirts & Wine provided a generous (more…)