Tag: San Diego

San Diego at Night

San Diego at Night (with boat trail)

Downtown San Diego’s nighttime skyline, seen from Harbor Island across the bay to the west. You can see the light trails from a couple of boats. The yellowish sky is the reflection of street lights on low-lying clouds. I have a wider shot that shows how much darker the sky is away from the city.

This was taken during last year’s Comic-Con. I figured I’d post it this week because the first round of hotel rooms go on sale this Wednesday. These are non-refundable, outside of downtown, and in some cases specific packages with minimum stays, but if you already have tickets and want to avoid the “Hoteloween” rush when the rest of the rooms go on sale, it might be worth taking a look.

Either way, you might be interested in my collection of Tips for Comic-Con.

San Diego Hotel: Holiday Inn on the Bay

Holiday Inn on the Bay

Hotels went on sale for Comic-Con International this week. I sat things out this year, since we’re only making a day trip. Naturally, everyone I know who was trying to get a room ended up with the smoothest experience in more than five years, rather than the crashes, timeouts, frustration that we’ve come to expect.

In case you didn’t make it through, or if you decide to just chuck it all and do something else, here’s a link to some ideas on how you can still get a hotel in San Diego.

Bridge Under Construction

Bridge Under Construction

Eventually, this will connect the Hilton Bayfront parking structure with the Petco Park parking lot. It’s not exactly an ideal spot for the convention — they really need a bridge near 5th Street — but it should help a little when it’s completed.

At Comic-Con International ← Check out my write-ups.

San Diego Convention Center

Pool and Convention Center

Over the weekend I attended Comic Con International in San Diego. It was fun and exhausting as always. I’ve posted over 150 photos of people, costumes, displays and sightseeing on Flickr. If you’re interested in write-ups of events, stories, quotes and such, I’m keeping an index of all my posts over at K-Squared Ramblings and Speed Force.

Gnarled Tree

Gnarled Tree

Somewhere in Cuyamaca State Park (now Cuyamaca Rancho State Park) in the mountains east of San Diego, California. We camped at Paso Picacho, but I don’t remember whether this was near the campsite or spotted during a hike.

This was taken in April 2002, about a year and a half before a devastating fire destroyed large areas of the park.

(It was also about a year before I got my first digital camera, so this image was scanned from a print.)

Marriott Towers and Pool

Towers, Pool and Fountain

The Marriott Hotel in Downtown San Diego, right next to the convention center.

Hotel reservations for Comic-Con International go on sale at 9:00 Pacific time tomorrow morning. For the last several years, demand for hotel rooms has been so high that hours spent redialing a phone or trying to get into the website have been typical. The travel agents have set up an entirely new procedure to counteract it. I’ve posted some thoughts on the change over at K-Squared Ramblings.

I guess we’ll see tomorrow how well it works.

Update: Better than I expected, at least for the first part. Here are my thoughts on how the process worked.

Update 2: The request may have gone smoothly, but the rest of the day turned out to be an exercise in frustration.

Update 3: I’ve posted some tips on how to get a hotel for Comic-Con if you couldn’t get one through the convention.

More Bars in More Places

More Bars in More Places

San Diego, looking down Pacific Highway toward Harbor from the Holiday Inn on the Bay. The tall blocky building at the end, with the peaked roofs, is the Manchester Grand Hyatt. The shorter one is the Embassy Suites. I believe the taller buildings are all high-rise condos.

This was taken last year during Comic-Con International. It seems appropriate that I’ve worked up to this point in my photoblogging project, since hotel rooms for this year’s con go on sale Thursday at 9:00.

Update: I’ve posted some tips on how to get a hotel for Comic-Con.

San Diego Convention Center and Hilton

San Diego Convention Center and Hilton

Viewed from the Omni Hotel across the street, taken during a weekend trip to San Diego. Same viewpoint as this night photo.

Now, imagine that lawn area full of people waiting to get into a Comic-Con presentation.

Update: You may be interested in my tips on how to get a hotel for Comic-Con.