Lunch at The Del

One of the few surviving wooden Victorian hotels in the world, the Hotel del Coronado on the San Diego Bay is a destination hotel.  Its red turrets are iconic.  Its architecture is grand.  Its view is magnificent.  No wonder the film industry has used this site for so many movies--The Stunt Man, Some Like it Hot, Mr. Wrong and The Easy Way, to name only a few.  That she has not burned to the ground like so many of her grand old sisters, is short of a miracle in fire-prone California.

The hotel's big red turret is adorned with a giant gold bow in honor of her 125th anniversary this year.  Eleven U.S. Presidents, beginning with Benjamin Harrison, have walked along her corridors.  Many famous people like the Prince of Wales in 1920, L. Frank Baum, Babe Ruth, Charles Lindbergh, Charlie Chaplin and more recently, Brad Pitt and Madonna have all stayed here.  Included in this roster are many famous ghosts, as well.  All these grand hotels seem to have them.  Makes sense, doesn't it?  Spending eternity in a beautiful resort sounds like heaven to me!

Last weekend, my travel buddy and I, along with my brother and sister-in-law, sat out on the Sun Deck Bar for a delicious relaxing lunch.  With a Coronado Golden in one hand and a basil chicken sandwich in the other, life doesn't get much better.  Knowing that Kansas City was experiencing a white-out blizzard at the very moment the hot sun was warming our backs, made us feel both guilty and giddy.  My brother recently bought a home in San Diego.  He's spending half the year here and half the year in Kansas.  I have a hunch, however, it's only a matter of time before he's a full-time Californian.

And we'll be back.  Having lunch at this National Historic Landmark is something I wouldn't mind doing again and again.