Old Town San Diego, Haunted Whaley House, Anvil Firing and Fun

Jul 24, 2011 by Karlyn

This weekend, my family and I enjoy a day trip to San Diego. This is usually a day-trip we take at least once a year, but it’s been a few years since our last visit. The kids are adults now and do their own thing, we are all working and attending college courses, etc.. C’est la vie. So hubby had this one day off and we took it to wander around, play “tourist” and visit one of our favorite place – Old Town, San Diego.

We always stop and have lunch and margaritas in the Barra Barra Saloon or one of the other yummy restaurants in Bazaar Del Mundo and then spend some time walking through the best shops in Old Town. Some of the ones we always stop at are Bailey & McGuire Pottery, Cousin’s Old Town Sandy Shop and the Coffee and Tea House (you have try the Hibiscus Key Lime herbal tea – Yum!). We usually like to revisit the old Mason Street school and some a couple of the other museums around town just to soak up some more San Diego history.

This trip, we took a tour of the haunted Whaley House for the first time and revisited the McCoy House Museum again. My son skipped the haunted tour and opted instead to check out Fred’s Mexican Cafe where he enjoyed a huge glass of Dos Equis beer, chips and salsa – all for just 95 cents. He has a knack for finding the deals, I don’t know. Meanwhile, we enjoyed out haunted walk-through of the Whaley house as you can see from the pictures. Trying to catch a photo of the “ghost dog” proved to be a challenge though! Oh well. The house has a very interesting and colorful past that was fun to frolic through for a while. I could tell that the folks who work in the home/museum enjoy what they do too and have some fun with the whole “haunted” thing too, which is refreshing.

Anvil Firing was something I was not familiar with before this most recent Old Town trip and so I learned a thing or two about it as we watched a couple of their demonstrations over in the Old Town Park. According to the anvil firing demonstrators, fireworks were too expensive to purchase back in the early days and when folks wanted to celebrate, they wanted some “boom!”. So shooting off anvils was something cheap, noisy and exciting that happened during the most festive of times. I tell you, it was LOUD! These anvils were going off about every half-hour during our visit this weekend. Something different to see anyway, for sure. I included a few of those photos in the mix below too.

We also visited the Racine & Laramie Tobacco shop this trip, which was new for us. We are not smokers, but my adult son has developed a fondness for an occasional cigar. Though I’m not into cigar’s myself, I have always enjoyed the fragrance of some of them through the years. It may be partially a reminiscent thing for me as it takes me back to my childhood and reminds me of my grandfather Dwight who smoked cigars too. I always liked the look of the traditional cigar boxes too, though I do not own a single one. So, anyway, this Racine & Laramie Tobacco shop is the oldest tobacco store in San Diego – dating back to 1868. It smells like a wonderful potpourri of vanillas and earthy spices inside and looks appealing in its sophisticated, frontier-like charm.

And that concludes another successful family visit to Old Town San Diego. Until next time…
Enjoy my photo share below and feel free to comment on your favorite Old Town stops!