The Ooh-Rah MCRD Trip Report with a Whirlwind Glimpse of San Diego - COMPLETED 4/28!! About This Page:

[Nimros]

The Ooh-Rah MCRD Trip Report with a Whirlwind Look at San Diego (and a Side of Drama, too!) 4/16 – 4/18 2008

(UPDATE NOTE : In order to comply with 'violating the privacy' of my DD Alexa - who 'doesn't like how she looks in photos', I had to remove several of my pics from this trip report. My apologies!)

Here’s a quick look at visiting the Marine Corps Recruit Depot for a Graduation Ceremony in San Diego.
Our Proud Family Recon Squad: me, Cathy (46) and oldest daughter Alexa (18)
Support Team at Base Camp: DH Kevin, DDs Kelley (10) and Cory (8)
Destination : Marine Corps Recruit Depot in San Diego, CA
Traveling Dates : April 16-18th
Mission objective: attend son Tyler’s Marine USMC Graduation Ceremony !

This journey really begins almost 20 years ago with the birth of my son, Tyler. Somehow, even from the time he was a baby, I knew he was going to be a Marine when he grew up. Well, at least I knew he was going to be in some branch of the military. The military tradition runs strong on my side of the family; my dad was a Navy WWII veteran; each of my uncles have served in one branch of the military or another and I have two cousins who are career Air Force officers.


Tyler practicing for the Confidence Course at a young age!

Fast forward 17 years to the time when Tyler took the MC JROTC program at the high school he was attending. He loved every moment of it and couldn’t wait until he could sign up for the Delayed Entry Program. As soon as he received his ship date (Jan. 22nd) the reality of his decision became clearer to all of us. We supported his commitment 100%.

While he was home over Christmas break, Tyler and I poured over any information about boot camp we could find on the Web; what to expect, what knowledge it might be good to have ahead of time – AND, I discovered a site dedicated to Recruit Parents to help us through the ‘roller coaster ride’ of recruit training. I read aloud for hours while Tyler sat and listened, absorbing what he needed.

All too soon I was driving him back to the airport to go to his dad’s (he needed to finish his finals so he could graduate in January.) I had a hard time saying goodbye – even though I was used to being away from Tyler for 4 months or so at a time, we talked by phone every single day and I knew I could jump in the car and be by his side in several short hours. Now in two weeks time, Tyler would be beyond my reach for 3 months.

On his ship date, we talked on the phone for long periods of time while he waited for his recruiter to pick him up and drive him to Indianapolis to MEPS, where he would then board a plane for the flight out to San Diego and begin his journey on those infamous yellow footprints.


We were on the phone when his recruiter pulled up outside and the last thing he said to me was, “Bye Mom. See you in 13 weeks.”

And I answered, “Yes you will!”

Now it was just a matter of being Tyler’s support team and writing letter after letter while we waited on pins and needles for his first letter home. In between letter writing, I began to do my research and plan for our trip to meet him at the end!

There are two recruit training stations in the United States. Basically, every recruit who lives east of the Mississippi River attends the facility in Parris Island, SC and those that live west of the Mississippi go to the Marine Corp Recruit Depot in San Diego, CA - the ‘Hollywood Marines’! (All female recruits attend Parris Island.) Our whole family was pumped about the relatively short distance it’d be to drive to SC.

But for some reason, the Indianapolis area recruiting district (where Tyler would ship from) is placed within the western division – so he was going to San Diego.

California!! I had always wanted to visit there but never had the chance! How exciting!

But California was a loooonnngg way from Nashville….

That distance threw a monkey wrench into my plans. I knew it wasn’t feasible to fly five of us to California when we also had a WDW vacation planned for September. Before he left, I had talked to Tyler about the possibility of staying over in San Diego for a mini-vacation – maybe driving up to Disneyland for a day??? (You can see my selfish motivations here!) But he was very clear in stating that after “13 weeks of #*%&” the last thing he wanted to do was go on a sight-seeing tour – he wanted to go HOME!

I then thought about flying our family out earlier before graduation, perhaps vacationing in Disneyland instead of Orlando. But cost-wise, we could spend an entire week in WDW for what it would cost us for 3 or 4 days in California. Plus, no one wanted to give up their WDW vacation! (I’ve trained them well.)

(As it turned out, we all couldn’t have gone anyway. Kevin started a new job just two weeks before I left, and since he would be implementing a new project immediately, he couldn’t have gotten the time off.)

So it looked as though I’d have to stay focused on the purpose of this trip and that was to see Tyler graduate from MC Bootcamp. That meant it’d be just me traveling out for 3 days and then right back home again.

Tyler’s dad, however, called one night to see if we were all going to attend. When I told him it was just me, he said he really wanted Alexa to be at her brother’s graduation and so offered to pay her airfare.

Yay! Now I had a traveling partner (and even though she’s my daughter, she’s also my closest friend.)

Up Next : Logistics and Planning or...."DING! You Didn't Do Right By Me."

[Nimros]

Up Next : Logistics and Planning or...."DING! You Didn't Do Right By Me."


Those familiar with the military will know the old saying “Hurry up and wait.” This was no exception when it came time to make travel arrangements for our visit to MCRD.

In the past, parents and loved ones of graduating Marines had little information or guidance to help them know what to expect when attending Graduation. Fortunately, there are now some excellent websites and organizations dedicated to providing parents with all the info they need. And one of the first things the ‘experts’ suggest is to not make any travel arrangements further out than one month before the scheduled graduation date. Marine Corps recruit training is the most intense and demanding of the military branches; injuries or illnesses that could delay graduation are not uncommon.


For an obsessive planner, that is torture!


But I did discover a hidden ‘gem’ while researching where to stay – billeting. For those of you who, like me, might not be familiar this word, billeting is the military term for transient housing, guest housing, and/or other accommodations while traveling. There are many advantages to staying at billeting; the cost is very budget-friendly, you have the convenience of being right on base and, most importantly to me, you are totally immersed in the atmosphere of the Depot.


The downside to billeting is because it is designed for military personnel, families of graduating Marines are on the bottom of the totem pole when it comes to availability. And, if the rooms are needed for military personnel, you can be bumped. At any time.


But I had my heart set on staying on the base – and it meant waiting a month before graduation before I could make the call and try and reserve a room. In the meantime, I made a back-up reservation at another hotel that offered free shuttle service to and from the Depot. Exactly one month to the day I was on the phone at 7:00am PST – and was one of the lucky parents to get a room at billeting!


Airfare was the more difficult challenge. As a hopeless DING! addict (I watch Southwest fares even when I’m not planning to travel) I was pretty confident they’d be releasing my ‘target’ fare shortly. Day after day I checked the specials, with no luck. In fact, the fares jumped from March travel dates directly to May – skipping April completely!!

To make a long story short, I panicked. Fares seemed to be going up daily and three weeks out from graduation, I decided to just purchase our flights no matter what. It was way over my budget, but I just had to do it.


Now we had our room and flights reserved, I felt I could relax a bit.


Due to our flight schedules, we laid out a basic plan of arriving at SD in the late afternoon, taking a taxi to the Depot and spending the rest of the evening wandering around the unrestricted areas of the base. Thursday and Friday were packed with activities for the families. Our plane left just a few hours after the Graduation on Friday, so we’d have just enough time to hug Tyler one last time and catch a taxi back to the airport. This didn’t leave us any time to do much else and I felt it would be a waste of money to rent a car; we’d just use taxis. Alexa and I both were getting excited to fly out to SD – but it began to wear on both of us that we would be out in California – and wouldn’t actually get to see anything besides the Depot. We had to keep reminding ourselves – “We’re going there to see Tyler.”


Now, I still decided to check on airfare and flights every day. And the very next day, the airfare on the departing flight dropped!! And continued to drop on other flights and the non-stop flight I wanted opened up the following week, etc. I felt slightly embarrassed that I panicked for nothing, but Southwest is very accommodating in allowing passengers to change their flights – so I was able to get the flights I wanted at a great price AND have enough credit left over for another round trip later on.


Suddenly things were looking up. Since we couldn’t check-in at billeting until 4:00pm on Wed. – and our flight arrived shortly before noon, we discovered we had a whole four hours of time on our hands!!! What to do with it???


It was obvious we couldn’t get around with just taxis to depend on – so I made a rental car reservation. Then Alexa and I set down to do some research on San Diego to decide what we’d like to do in four short hours…

Up Next : the Whirlwind Look at San Diego

[chezp]

What a great start - and how wonderful to have some time spare in San Diego. I can't wait to read more.

[RobDVC]

Great beginning!

[Colexis Mom]

Great start

[Nimros]

The Whirlwind Look at San Diego

So many possibilities! So little time to explore them!

Part of what was bugging Alexa was that her dad and his side of the family were arriving in San Diego earlier in the week and making a mini-vacation out of their trip. (Therein lies part of the ‘drama’ portion of our trip – but I’ve decided since this is the General Trip Report board, I’ll move the drama portion over to The Family Room for those interested.)

San Diego looked delicious – so many tempting activities! Our time constraints naturally eliminated some of our choices; the San Diego Zoo and Sea World were out. Some activities were unavailable at the time we would be there and that whittled down the list further. We decided to narrow it down to three activities – each of us would choose one thing we absolutely HAD to see or do and then we’d eat somewhere that had some ‘local color.’

Alexa already had the dining worked out. She’s a big fan of the Food Network show “Diners, Drive-ins and Dives” and looked online to find out if there was anywhere in SD that had been featured. A Mexican restaurant called El Indio was on the list – and unbelievably, was just a few blocks down from where we picked up the rental car!

I knew that I couldn’t leave California without visiting a beach and seeing the Pacific Ocean for the first time ever. Though I was hoping to see a more ‘West Coast’ type coastline with cliffs and sea lions, Mission Beach was the closest drive.

And Alexa’s activity? She wanted to drive downtown to Urban Outfitters!!

“Urban Outfitters?!?!? You mean you want to go all the way to San Diego to shop??? We can do that at home!”
“But Mom, I have a gift card from my birthday!”

Alexa lives for UO. We had a store when we lived in Charlotte and when she visits her dad’s, it’s a short drive into Chicago to shop at one there. But we do not have an UO here in Nashville – so I could understand her point. Plus, as she pointed out, we’d get chance to check out downtown San Diego.

Itinerary done!

I was really getting excited to see my son now. Thirteen weeks felt more like thirteen months and except for the occasional letter I received, I’d been in the dark about what was going on, how he felt, what he was doing. But now, in just a few short days, I’d get to actually see him! It felt a lot like I was going to the prom with the guy all the other girls want to go with!

The morning before we left, Alexa came up to breakfast looking very pale, with her hand to her throat. “I don’t feel very well.” I had to admit, I was pretty upset. I needed to stay healthy for this trip and I needed her to feel well too. Plus, I didn’t want her little sisters to come down with something to add to my worry. All day long, I made her take vit. C and Zicam and do the neti pot – anything to get over whatever was in her system. No improvement.

Our flight left Nashville at 9:20am on Wed. morning. Alexa still felt bad but was up and moving. Kevin was able to work from home the 3 days we’d be gone and watch the girls at the same time. (Ha!!) Both Kelley and Cory were a little teary-eyed as they dropped us off at the airport. Yes, they wanted to go and see their big brother, but they also had never been away from Mom overnight before – and it was a big step for them. (Kevin said as soon as we’d left, they were perfectly normal and you’d never even know I had gone.)

We had decided not to take the chance of checking luggage and packed everything in our carry-ons; we breezed through security and were boarding the plane in no time. I had the opportunity to try my new Ear Planes on this flight too, as I have severe problems with pressure changes. They worked like a charm.

During the flight, I got out my new “The Unofficial Guide to Walt Disney World 2008” to read – and got several confused stares from the flight attendants and passengers who probably though I picked up the wrong book for Disneyland!

One of the Marine parents’ websites I had read suggested making sure to sit on the right side of the plane; MCRD butts right up against the SAN runways and you can get a fantastic view during landing. They were right – you could see the entire Depot!

Time was ticking; we fairly ran off the plane and down the skyway to catch the next shuttle to our rental car location. Shuttles were pulling up and taking off one after the other – it felt a lot like waiting for the right park bus to pull up at the bus stops at WDW!

When we finally boarded our shuttle, Alexa and I sat back and took our first real look around at San Diego. The view of the city from the bus was breathtaking – bright sun, blue skies, lots of palm trees! It looked exactly the way I pictured southern California would look and I could tell already that this was a city I wanted to come back and explore someday.

At the rental company, I got into a conversation with the clerk (she had an “Army Mom” lanyard around her neck, so we had a lot to talk about!) We mentioned we were going down to El Indio for lunch and asked her if she had been there. She said it was good, but more of a ‘taco stand’ than a sit-down restaurant; if she were going to spend her money, she’d go to the Old Town Café in the Old Town section of San Diego. I asked her if it was near Café Coyote where several of the MarineParents board families were going to eat that evening and she said it was right next door.

Out in the rental car, Alexa and I looked at each other – where should we eat? We headed down to El Indio (which did have that ‘dive’ look to it!) and I let her make the call: she decided we’d try the clerk’s recommendation. Since she was a local, she probably knew better than us.

Now, I did not bring a detailed street map with me. Since we were only going three places, I simply printed out written directions for each stop. Now we were headed to Old Town and although the clerk had given us directions, and I had studied the maps pretty thoroughly before we left home, I still felt a bit lost. Especially since our rental did not have a compass!! We lost our street (or so we thought) and had to turn around once (and drive up some hilly residential streets that I swear were at a 45 degree angle – with cars parked on them!!) but as we went just a bit further, we saw the signs welcoming us to Old Town.

Old Town San Diego is considered to be the ‘birthplace’ of California as it was the location of the first permanent Spanish settlement in the state. There are many historic sites maintained and some beautiful adobe structures, a museum, shopping, restaurants and other attractions. We saw Café Coyote immediately and just down the street, Old Town Café.

Lots of tourists meant parking was at a premium, but we discovered a well-maintained parking garage an easy walk away. It was a breezy, yet cool day and the fresh air and sunshine felt wonderful. Café Coyote was brightly colored with an open-air courtyard and lots of Latin music playing. Old Town Café, on the other hand, was a small enclosed restaurant with not much charm from the outside. We looked at each other and made a snap decision to go to Café Coyote for lunch (probably the ‘touristy look’ drew us in.)

Here’s where I hope you’ll excuse me for the lack of photos. I knew I’d be taking tons of photos and videos at Tyler’s graduation and I was nervous about not having enough space on my memory card – so my photos of SD and few and far between.

We enjoyed a huge lunch of quesadillas, burritos, carnitas tacos, refried beans and rice while we were serenaded by two musicians playing Mexican guitars.

It was delicious, but I think we’ll always regret not giving El Indio a try.

After lunch, we decided to take a bit of time to stroll around and peek in the shops. And when we saw the sign pointing out the Whaley House, we headed right over. As die-hard T.A.P.S. fans, we had wanted to take the tour of the Whaley House but as luck would have it, it was closed on Wednesdays! But who can resist standing on the porch of what The Travel Channel calls ‘the most haunted house in America’ and peeking through the windows? Not us!

We could have easily spent the entire afternoon exploring around Old Town…but time was ticking away… We jumped in the car and drove the fairly short distance to Mission Beach. Alexa had been there once before 10 years ago while visiting her dad’s relatives in Arizona and she was able to say, “I remember that! I remember that!”

We stopped at Belmont Park right by the historic Giant Dipper roller coaster and walked south along the boardwalk, enjoying the very cool ocean breeze and the myriad of folks out and about; rollerblading, surfing, or just hangin’ out. It seemed like a very interesting community and reminded me just a bit of a ‘Coney Island’ style beach. I was really hoping to see some sea lions...But it was a bit too cool to stay for very long…AND Urban Outfitters was awaiting us, so off we head to downtown San Diego.

Yes, I got turned around again and lost our way for a bit – that’s one thing I really disliked about the San Diego area : their inadequate street/hwy signage. There was little warning that your turn was coming up and then zoom! – you’ve passed it!

Once I got us straightened out, it was an easy drive. Downtown was beautiful; very clean and inviting with lots of interesting-looking shopping and restaurants. (I would have taken photos but Alexa didn’t want us to look like tourists – we needed to look ‘native!”) We found a free parking garage (with a validated ticket) just a few blocks from Urban Outfitters. Of course, I knew this portion of our itinerary was going to take the longest, so I tried to relax and let Alexa look around to her heart’s content. She found everything she wanted, but I had to keep tapping on her shoulder to remind her that time was running out; we needed to get to MCRD before the evening rush hour.

And here again, the lack of a directional compass inside our little rental car caused us some problems. My directions stated we needed to head north on one street and turn west on another. Not knowing exactly what direction we were headed meant I had a 50/50 chance of going the right way. No dice! Somehow our ‘street’ turned into a highway heading out of town completely in the wrong direction!!

Just as I was getting really frustrated, Alexa’s dad gave her a call to see what we were up to. HE had a detailed map at his hotel and got us back on track and in just minutes, we were pulling up to Gate 5 at Marine Corps Recruit Depot!!!!

Up Next : Recon at the Depot

[Jookiba]

You're bringing back unfond memories of my military past! But glad you got to do some brief sight-seeing!!

I'll be waiting to read about the drama......why do we always have to have drama?!?!

[Nimros]

Originally Posted by Jookiba

You're bringing back unfond memories of my military past! But glad you got to do some brief sight-seeing!!

Ohh - now you're going to have to share more about your 'military past' - which I had NO IDEA about!!!

[chezp]

Great update - you're bringing back some great memories of our visit to San Diego. We loved the place and it sounds like you did as well - well, apart from getting lost!

[Colexis Mom]

Glad you're having a great time in San Diego (barring the directional issues )!!

[Nimros]

Up Next : Recon at the Depot

A lovely young MP greeted us at Gate 5 and gave us directions to Billeting. There are no signs on the roads pointing you here or there; this is an active military base and it’s assumed you know where you’re going. We found the building that housed billeting with no trouble.

After checking in, we went straight to our room to see what it was like. We had an enlisted billeting room with twin beds and a bathroom we would share with another female guest. Think college dorm room and you’d be about right – MCRD is home to both a Recruiter’s School and a Drill Instructor’s School. (The Officer’s Quarters are much more elegant and home-like.) The rooms are built around open-air courtyards and everything is beautiful and extremely well-maintained.


I was anxious to unpack our bags and start doing some reconnaissance to be prepared for tomorrow’s activities – AND catch my first glimpse of the Parade Deck. Alexa, however, was starting to run down; her throat was beginning to hurt and she really wanted to rest – but she valiantly came along.

We had a map of the Depot with us and were given another one when we checked in- using those as a guide, we walked over to the Exchange Courtyard. This area has several stores and a Food Court and would be the main gathering place for new Marines and their families tomorrow. And yes – there was a Starbuck’s on the corner! (Making Alexa the Barista feel right at home.)

We walked to the end of the Courtyard and found a little Marketplace Convenience Store, which I had been told carried all the snacks and goodies our Marines have been craving for 13 weeks! Yes, they had Monsters and Chex Mix for Tyler, so we were good to go.

We then went through the Marine Exchange Mall (no shopping there unless accompanied by your Marine) but you could walk straight through and exit on the other side of the building – right in front of the Parade Deck!

There it was – the Parade Deck (more formally known as Shepherd Field.) Imagine, if you can, three concrete football fields put together side-by-side and you’ll have the approximate dimensions of this enormous deck. If you remember just one rule when visiting MCRD, it’s STAY OFF THE PARADE DECK!!! This is sacred ground to all Marines and the DIs will not hesitate to tell you to “get off my parade deck!” if you dare set foot on it. Don’t do it! It is the height of disrespect.

Beyond the Parade Deck, the viewing stands for the Graduation Ceremony were visible, and behind them, the barracks where the recruits had been living for the past 3 months!!

My heart was just leaping in my chest – I was so close to my son now, I just wanted to run across that Parade Deck and go find him! Just then, we heard (even before we saw) a platoon of new recruits come marching up next to the barracks. Even at this distance, they were LOUD – and so was their DI. In fact, we got to witness the DI pull out a new recruit and give him a good chewing out – the DIs are not intimidated by your presence while you are visiting. To give you an idea of distance, I had to watch the scene through the zoom of my camera – but we could hear the unlucky recruit yelling “Yes sir!!” at the top of his lungs quite clearly.

(A platoon of recruits in front of the barracks.)

That was it – Alexa was ready to fall down and just wanted to get back to our room and conk out. I had to agree; we had a very early day tomorrow and needed our rest. We headed back to the Exchange Courtyard, stopping at the convenience store to get some water, milk and individual cereal packs for breakfast.

Back at our rooms, we lay down on the beds and turned the TV on just in time to see “Ghost Hunters” (we never miss it!!) and were just beginning to get comfortable when I thought I heard a man’s voice coming from next door. Military regulations have only women/women or men/men sharing bathrooms, so I was a bit confused. I told Alexa I thought I’d go next door and introduce myself to our bathroom-mate and see how we could work out shower schedules for the morning – that way, I could check on the male voice situation.



I knocked on the door, and sure enough, a little elderly gentleman answered the door – all dressed in his blue pajamas! He said he thought he had heard women’s voices and it about scared him to death! I told him not to worry; I’d go to the front desk and take care of it.

The front desk clerk was very apologetic and quickly found another room for us to move into. But now we had to pack all our stuff (poor Alexa was already in her p.j.s and still feeling bad) and cart it all over to the new room.

Luckily, I didn’t hear any other voices coming from the room next door and was hoping we wouldn’t have to share this bathroom in the morning.

Sleep didn’t come easy – I was just too excited thinking about seeing Tyler the next day. Outside, I could faintly hear the bugler playing ‘Taps’ and the recruits answering (loudly) whatever evening command their DIs had given them. I felt so thankful to be able to stay right on the Depot and get a peek into the military world, even for just a few days.

Tomorrow began at 6:00am ….if I could ever fall asleep!

Up Next: Family Day at the Depot

[Colexis Mom]

Another great update! Sorry you had to change rooms The poor old man Sounds like tomorrow is going to be a great day

[chezp]

What a shame you had to change rooms, but hopefully you didn't end up having to share with anyone.

[DyanKJ130]

Just catching up! Great updates! to hear about the room mix-up, but glad to hear it was quickly remedied. Hope Alexa is feeling better soon. Can't wait to hear about the reunion with your DS!!

[Nimros]

Family Day at the Depot

The alarm was set for 5:00am the next morning, but I awoke just before it went off, after a restless night’s sleep. I heard nothing from the room next door so decided to hop in the shower immediately. Let me tell you, the Marine Corps does not mess around with their shower heads. The water pressure was so great, you could almost let the spray scrub you clean!

As soon as I was dressed and ready (wearing my ‘Proud Mom’ tee shirt,) I went to grab the milk we had purchased the night before for our cereal – and found that the refrigerator wasn’t working! Warm milk! Grabbing a handful of dry cereal to tide me over, I told Alexa (who wasn’t feeling well at all) that I was heading down to the Parade Deck and that as soon as she was up and ready, she could call me and we’d meet at Starbuck’s for breakfast.

Parents from my MarineParents board who had already been through graduation advised everyone to get to the Depot early on Family Day as we might have the opportunity to see our Marines out practicing on the Parade Deck. I was not going to miss this possibility, so I hurried along.

The sun was just coming up as I walked towards the Exchange Courtyard and around the Museum, through the archways and out into the parking lot that surrounds the Parade Deck on three sides.

It was just becoming light enough to see – and I could see Echo Company platoons beginning to form up and march through the parking lot!!! My son was in there somewhere – would I be able to recognize him?

There was only one other person out on the deserted parking lot – a dad who was also watching the platoons practice. Since they were so far away from us at present, we introduced ourselves and had a nice conversation while we got out binoculars and kept our eyes glued on the Marines and their DIs.

Here they came!! There are seven platoons in Echo Company; Platoons 2101 – 2103 are the lead series and 2105 – 2108 are the follow series. Each platoon had a Guide who held the guidion (which is the unit flag with the platoon number on it.) We watched as the platoons marched closer and kept our eyes on the flags. And there was 2105 – Tyler’s platoon. They stopped very close to where we were standing and I quickly scanned each face, trying to find my son.

It’s amazing how much they can all look like each other – heads shaven, wearing the same uniform, walking alike, looking straight ahead. But I had a good idea what Tyler’s position was and I found him quickly!! I was so relieved and excited to see him, but just as interested and happy to see all these fine young men who were probably just as excited to see their families today.

The DIs did not look very happy with my binoculars so I put them away, grabbed my camera and started snapping photos instead.

The platoons eventually marched on to the Parade Deck in formation – all of this I assumed was in practice for their ceremonies today and tomorrow.

I watched them for a long while, until I couldn’t identify Tyler’s platoon any longer. More and more families were beginning to arrive in the parking lot, so I said goodbye to my new Marine Dad friend and made my way back towards Starbucks.

Family Day Part II cont. next....