Destinations

Greetings from San Diego, CA

Destinations,

The Stuck at the Airport team’s visit to San Diego, California ticked off the boxes of most of our quick trips: an airport visit, some museums, great meals and a cool hotel.

If you’re headed that way, here are some places not to miss.

(Artist: Thomas Erhard, image courtesy San Diego County Regional Airport Authority)

San Diego International Airport (SAN) has dozens of permanent public art pieces distributed throughout the terminals, a creative line-up of temporary exhibitions and a performing arts residency program.

Be sure to leave some time to look around both when you land and before you fly out of SAN.

The San Diego Zoo + San Diego Museums

We spent most of our touring time in Balboa Park, the 1,200-acre home to the San Diego Zoo, gardens, museums, theaters and many other attractions.

The zoo is an all-day affair and we returned two additional days to visit just a few of the 18 museums in the park, including the folk art-focused Mingei International Museum, the Museum of Photographic Arts, the San Diego Natural History Museum, the San Diego Museum of Art and several others.

From the Mingei International Museum exhibition Blue Gold, about the color indigo.

Where to stay: The Lafayette Hotel and Club

(Lafayette lobby. Credit:_Matt Kisiday)

We were delighted to learn about – and stay – at the Lafayette Hotel and Club in San Diego’s North Park neighborhood. It seemed hip, historic and fun from the description. But it exceeded expectations on many levels.

Built in 1946, the 2.5-acre, over-the-top, colonial-style property was the only hotel constructed in the US during World War II and had a pool designed by Johnny Weissmuller, of Olympic swimmer and Tarzan role fame. Here’s how it looks today.

(Photo Credit_Matt Kisiday)

In its heyday, the hotel drew Hollywood elite. The hotel lists Ava Gardner, Lana Turner, Lucille Ball and John Wayne among the celebrities who’d come by.

Like so many grand properties of the era, this one fell on hard times after multiple ownership changes. But in 2021, CH Projects stepped in to revive it with a $31 million renovation by Brooklyn-based Post Company. The property reopened in 2023.

Here are some snaps from our visit, starting with our poolside king room with a charming loo and a maxi mini-bar.

The updated hotel has 139 guest rooms, and seven unique food and beverage areas, including a 24-hour diner that recreates a 1940s Worcester lunch car, a two-lane bowling alley and other games in the bar called The Gutter, and a late-night supper club with live entertainment; John Waters was set to perform the night we left.

And here’s the lobby bar. During our visit it was all decorated to the hilt for the holiday and filled – as every other part of the public areas usually are – with visitors trying to get the perfect Instagram shot. Here’s what the lobby bar looks like when no one is there.

(Photo Credit_Matt Kisiday)

Visiting: Kalispell, Montana

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The Stuck at the Airport adventure crew recently touched down in Kalispell, Montana for a quick visit to Glacier Park International Airport (FCA) and attractions in town.

The bear (above) greets arriving passengers in the airport bag claim area. And is a good reminder to visitors to pick up some bear spray before heading out into the woods.

Thank goodness one of the amenities at FCA airport is a place to rent bear spray.

Mansions, Museums, and Lots of Boots

Near downtown Kalispell, we stopped in for a guided tour of the 26-room Conrad Mansion Museum.

Built for the family of Charles E. Conrad, a Kalispell founding father, in 1895, the three-story home has been completely restored. Better yet, it is filled with an incredible amount of furniture, clothing, china, toys, sports equipment, books, guns, and other items that are original to the house.

In one of the guest rooms, we spotted this early handmade doll of Amelia Earhart with a great handmade toy airplane.

And in the pantry, we were delighted to find jars filled with old food.

In downtown Kalispell, the Hockaday Museum of Art is housed in a repurposed Carnegie Library building from 1904.

In addition to selections from its permanent collection, the museum’s current exhibition features paintings by Flathead Valley artist Nancy Dunlop Cawdrey, who is known for painting on silk.

The exhibition runs through June 17, 2023.

And over at the Northwest Montana History Museum, we learned a great deal about the natural, social, and political history of the region. And we made some new friends.

Of course, we also went shopping. And we were both delighted and overwhelmed to find more than 3000 pairs of boots and more than 1500 hats among the offerings of Western Outdoor.

Out & About in Arundel, England

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Stuck at the Airport is out and about in the English countryside for a few days with Gary Gatwick, the mascot for London’s Gatwick Airport.

Arundel, in West Sussex, is an easy one-hour train ride from Gatwick Airport. The town looks like one of those storybook English towns we sometimes see on TV travel shows, castle and all.

Arundel offers charming B&Bs such as the House Arundel, as well as charming coffee shops, antique stores, and traditional English country pubs, such as the one we visited in The Swan Hotel.

Among the main attractions here are the Arundel Museum and the medieval Arundel Castle.

Collections at the Arundel Museum include pre-historic flint tools found in early settlements around the town, Roman floor tiles found at the site of a luxurious Roman villa, and the large WWII air raid siren that once sat on the roof of the Town Hall.

It’s a good idea to stop in at the museum to learn about the history of the town and get your bearings before heading up to the castle.

If you’re lucky, local history expert John Barkshire might be around to take you around the museum and point out his favorite objects. His family has been in Arundel since the early 1800s and we were honored to have him pose for a photo with Gary Gatwick while standing next to an exhibit about a rare illuminated church choir book from Arundel.

Arundel Castle

In a country that seems to be chock full of castles, the Arundel Castle stands out because it is so well-preserved and cared for. And because it is one of the longest inhabited castles in the United Kingdom.

First built at the end of the 11th century, it has been restored and rebuilt over the years and is currently the home to the Duke and Duchess of Norfolk and their children.

Before you visit, you can read all about the history of the castle here. When you do visit, be sure to wear sturdy shoes. That way you’ll be able to comfortably make your way through the hallways, bedrooms, staterooms, library, magnificent gardens, and up the narrow stone steps to the Keep. And there you’ll be rewarded with great views and, like Gary Gatwick, perhaps have an encounter with one of the knowledgable, in-character guides.

Touring London with Gatwick Airport’s Mascot

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Stuck at The Airport is spending a couple of days in London as a guest of Gatwick Airport,, the airport’s mascot, Gary Gatwick, and a growing list of new local friends, some of whom got us out of a sticky situation. (More on that soon…)

After landing at Gatwick Airport and making the 30-minute journey to London’s Victoria Station on the Gatwick Express we were able to take in some sights before jet lag set in.

The View from Above

With Gary Gatwick in tow, we did what a lot of locals and tourists were doing on a warm, sunny day: we rode the elevators to the top of the Shard building. It’s the tallest building in the United Kingdom and the view from the observation floors at the top is just unbeatable.

Bonus: visitors can purchase drinks and snacks up top, get selfies galore, engage in some people-watching, and enjoy the gelato and air conditioning.

The View from the Water

Once we saw the views of the river from above, we wanted to see it from the water level.

The View from the River 50-minute circular cruise on the Uber Boat by Thames Clippers made that easy.

With a smart and witty tour guide on the microphone, we cruised by many of London’s iconic landmarks, including The Shard, the Tate Modern, Shakespeare’s Globe theater, St Paul’s Cathedral, Houses of Parliament and Big Ben, The London Eye, and the Tower of London.

We also sailed under the Tower Bridge, which just happened to be opening to make way for a larger boat as we approached.

At one point our tour guide asked for a show of hands from all the Americans on board. No one but me raised their hand. A quick “Do you call it ‘football’ or ‘soccer’?’ survey from our guide confirmed that this tour has become quite popular with locals.

The Superbloom at the Tower of London

Day 2 of our whirlwind London tour included a visit to the Tower of London, the urban castle that served as a secure fortress, royal palace, and infamous prison, and is now also home to the very closely guarded Crown Jewels.

Courtesy Historic Royal Places

Again, we found ourselves mingling with more locals than tourists when we headed to the Tower of London to see how the historic moat around the tower has been transformed by a flower display dubbed the ‘Superbloom,’ and planted to celebrate the Platinum Jubilee of Queen Elizabeth II.

The flowers may die and fade and die back in the fall, a Superbloom volunteer told us. But he also assured us that the flowers should return each spring for at least the next four or five years.

Our tour in London also took us to the historic floating museum known as the HMS Belfast and on an unusual adventure on the underground. We’ll share details on both uniquely London experiences, and more, tomorrow.

Visiting ‘The Big Dipper’

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You can’t get everywhere by airplane. Sometimes you need to paddle.

In Killarney, Ontario, on the North shore of the Georgian Bay, they get that.

That’s why they built ‘The Big Dipper,’ – a canoe paddle that is 107 feet long, with a blade width of 17 feet, weighing in at 22,000 pounds.

The paddle sits beside Canada House, which claims to be the world’s largest log conference center, located at the Killarney Mountain Lodge.

Why a big paddle?

According to the local tourism folks, it is meant to celebrate the history of the area.

“The Great Lakes and Georgian Bay offered the voyagers access to miles of boating to transport all their products. They paddled their canoes through all kinds of conditions to establish the fur-trading economy, which was the origin of one of the oldest companies in the world: the still operating Hudson Bay Company. “