The down Loews

- Photo by Jeff Turbo Corrigan

CAYS LOUNGE
@ Loews Coronado Bay Resort
4000 Coronado Bay Road
Coronado
loewshotels.com/coronadobay.com

Last fall, I declared bus route 901 “the most beautiful Sunday ride in the county.” And, as a San Diegan without a car, that means a lot.

I’d experienced the route firsthand, cruising from Coronado to Imperial Beach down the eight-mile Silver Strand isthmus, in order to write about the problems that would arise if the Metropolitan Transit System cut the route to fill a hole in its budget. The best argument came from Loews Coronado Bay Resort, which claimed that 40 percent of its workforce relies on that route. The story ran, and days later, MTS announced the bus would keep running.

I didn’t visit the resort on my ride, mostly because I couldn’t find a sidewalk entrance. So, for six months, I waited for an excuse to visit if only to see what kind of luxury my story helped preserve.

In addition to the bus, there are three other ways to visit Loews: Car, boat and bike. This time I bribed my lady to drive, and she took the long way around (“There are two many stops in Coronado”), approaching from Imperial Beach in the south. It’s still a beautiful ride. I have some blurry camera-phone photos to kinda, sorta prove it.

My blurry photos also show what makes Loews special: Located on the isthmus, it has views of the Pacific on one side and the bay on the other. The latter is just spectacular. For the local sitting on the patio, seeing the skyline is like an out-of-body experience. Somehow you are still in San Diego, but looking down on it, too.

Had we arrived earlier, or had the night been warmer, I could have lost myself in that view. Instead, we lounged on pillows in highbacked chairs in the hotel bar.

My lady returned from the restroom with a scowl and a story about two 20-somethings who were dropping f-bombs like it had just come into style.

“I don’t care how pricey it is, there are some trashy people here,” she whispered. After a pause, she leaned forward and corrected herself. “Actually, it’s not that they’re trashy, but that they’re trashy and snotty at the same time. That is amazing.”

I devoured the snack tray—mixed nuts, wasabi peas and M&Ms— handful after handful, crumbs and chunks spilling into the cushions and onto the floor. In hindsight, I realized this, too, was pretty, trashy, and I have decided to stay in my lady’s good graces by cutting out anything that might be perceived as snobby.

Each Loews hotel has a signature cocktail for the city. San Diego’s is the Green Flash, a martini-style mixed drink of Jose Cuervo Platino Tequila, Midori liqueur, agave nectar and lime juice. The lady sipped on that, while I ordered The Dolley (gin, green tea, basil and lime juice), which I sent back, rightly assuming that a $14 drink inherently comes with a money-back guarantee. Loews graciously exchanged it for an agave margarita, the signature drink of its Ventana Canyon Resort in Tucson, which was yummy.

It was yummy, I have decided, because the bartender was able to get to work on the bus.

On the way back, we again avoided Coronado. The ride isn’t so beautiful in the dark, and as we passed by the Imperial Beach DUI checkpoint, we were glad that we didn’t stay for another drink.