March 22, 2008 by steve.

So, as I said I like Shelter Island in San Diego. My trip this week was a circle around the US. I started in Orlando, went to Chicago for a meeting on Monday afternoon. This was followed by a flight to San Francisco Monday evening. Meeting Tuesday morning in San Francisco, the on to San Diego. A meeting Wednesday morning in San Diego, then home to Orlando by midnight on Wednesday. I was dreading this trip. I figured something would go wrong. Of course I figured something would go wrong in Chicago. O’Hare has a reputation of flights never being on time, it snows there, it get cold there, and I was going to be there on a Monday. So I figured this trip would go bad on Monday, in the cold, snowy place.

Well, the trip went perfectly until Wednesday morning. When I tried to check in for my flight back to Orlando, there was a “The kiosk can not check you in, see and agent.” message. The agent explained that the flight from San Diego to Atlanta was delayed by over three hours, and that I would miss the connection to Orlando. My options were: 1) Go to Atlanta on the delayed flight and get stuck there until the next morning or 2) Stay in San Diego and fly home first thing Thursday morning. I choose option 2.

Which brings us to the Kona Kai Resort on Shelter Island. This is the hotel that the airline put me up at for the night. It is located on Shelter Island, about three quarters of a mile down from Humphrey’s. This is now my new favorite hotel in San Diego.

The rooms appear to have been updated in the last five years. Mine was large and fresh, decorated in a tropical island kind of theme. This is hotel is built in a arc type shape facing the marina. So rooms on the inside have a view of the marina. There is a big pool on the inside of the arc. It has a round swimming/relaxing area, and two 30 yard lap lanes. So this is a pool that you can really work out in. There is a small beach at one end of the hotel facing the marina that is kept groomed and has chairs. In addition there is a nice looking work out room facing the marina also.

All in all it was a very pleasant way to spend a flight delayed evening, it sure beat a hard chair at Hartsfield.

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March 19, 2008 by steve.

Ok, CurbCursher said he’d mention food when is made sense. And it makes sense here. As noted above, I was in San Diego, CA for a night and a day (oops, then it turned into another night). Just as you get onto Shelter Island is a restaurant, the Red Sails Inn Restaurant. I like this place, and list it as one of my favorite places to eat. I’m sure the food critics probably describe this place as a local “Red Lobster,” but it has character, nice folks working there, and it serves good food for fair prices.

The menu is a typical sea food place. There is shrimp, scallops and fish. Since I ended up there two nights in a row I had a broiled Mahi Mahi the first night, and fried shrimp the second night. Both dishes were well prepared, and tasted good. The only complaint I had was the garlic mashed potatoes I had as a side dish on the first night. There weren’t very garlicy. I avoided this mistake on the second night and had the baked potato instead.

As with pretty much anything on Shelter Island, the location is great. If the weather is nice, you can sit outside and enjoy a great view of the marina. If not, you can stay inside and enjoy a great view of the marina. The place has been around since 1957, and seems to have a following with some of the sailors from the marinas nearby. On every trip I think I’ve overheard at least one conversation going on in the bar about sailing techniques and methods. Some of these get quite animated, with the participants trying to show boat, sail, wind, and landmarks with their hands and arms.

All in all a great place to relax, have some seafood and enjoy the view.

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March 19, 2008 by steve.

Ok, its not a campground, but this has been one of my favorite places to stay over the past five to eight years. Humphrey’s Half Moon Inn and Suites is located in San Diego on Shelter Island. As I looked around my room I was wondering why. But I think it is one of those location, location, location things.

Shelter Island is a great place. It is located on the north side of San Diego’s bay, and has a public park that runs most of the length of the island. You can walk along the sidewalk the length of the island, look at the moored boats, see the Navy base across the bay, and watch all kinds of shipping pass by going in and out of the bay. It is a very peaceful and relaxing place to be. As a matter of fact, I took an afternoon run before going out to eat. There’s enough stuff to watch that you don’t even realized that your exercising. On the other side of the island there are a number of marinas that hold just about every kind of boat imaginable. Mostly sail boats. I love sitting in my room, or at the restaurant at breakfast and looking out at all the masts and boats. In addition, a short walk back to the mainland gives you a wide variety of eating options.

Humphrey’s itself is located right as you drive onto the island. The rooms decor is a little dated, as a matter of fact, full disclosure probably would require me to say that it is a lot dated. But, as I said the location is excellent. The hotel is built with a courtyard in the middle, and there is a large pool, a hot tub and a putting green located in this space. The area is well landscaped, and gives the feel of a tropical garden. All in all, it makes for a relaxing place to stay.

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March 17, 2008 by steve.

Time to go camping! The CurbCrusher’s spent the weekend before St. Patty’s day at Silver River State Park. The park is located just east of Ocala, Florida, a short trip up the Turnpike and I-75 from our home base in Orlando. The state park is very near the “Old Florida” Silver Springs attraction on State Road 35 just south of State Road 40. The worst part about going to this park is driving on SR40 through Ocala from I-75 over to SR 35. There’s a bunch of lights, and a bunch of traffic, so it seems to take as long to get to the east side of Ocala as it does to get from Orlando to the SR 40 exit on I-75. We avoided this on the return trip by taking SR35 South to County Road 464. Then west on CR464 to I-75. It may not have shortened the length of the trip, but it certainly improved the mood of the driver.

This is a great state park campground. It has about 60 sites that are all gravel, with paved roads throughout the park. A good number of the sites are pull-thru, and they are big pull-thru sites (both wide and long). Even the back-in sites are good sized, and the roads are wide enough that you shouldn’t have a problem backing into any of the back-in sites. All the sites have 20 & 30 Amp service and water. The bath houses are fairly new, and in good shape, but are located at the back of the loops as opposed to in the center of each loop. There are fire rings located at the campsites also. One nice feature of the park is that it has two dump stations located on the way out, and they are located so that a line can form and not completely block the exit.

The park is a good sized piece of land, located along what else, the Silver River. There is a canoe launch, but be warned that it is a pretty good distance from the parking lot to the canoe launch point, if you have wheels for your canoe bring them. There are a number of trails in the park that allow walking or biking. CurbCrusher and Lady CurbCrusher got out and biked most of the trails on Saturday. There is also a small museum that covers the archaeological, palentological, and recent history of the area. There is a $2.00 per person admission fee for the museum.

All in all a good weekend. Pictures of the trip are here.

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