In the spring of 2015, we decided to do a tower tour. Now, San Diego doesn’t have a lot of towers to tour. In fact, there are exactly none. What were we to do?

We decided to ring our bells in various locations in San Diego, and do it all in one day. There are a few options. The first suggestion was to just drive to a few places and ring. Another option was to take the Old Town Trolley Tour with our bells, and ring at some of the stops. In the end, we decided to drive to some of the Old Town Trolley Tour stops, and ring there.

So on Saturday, May 2, 2015, Jane, Sally, Ange, Paris, and Randy met at Jane’s house and drove downtown. Our first stop was the Harbor. We parked near the Maritime Museum, and rang a bit, walked south some, rang some more, and continued until we got to Tuna Harbor Park, near the Fish Market. At one point, Jane and Randy were walking faster than the others, and stopped to wait. But while waiting, we got out the low 4 bells, and started ringing Plain Hunt on 4. When the rest arrived, each took the next two higher bells, and joined in, one person at a time. So we rang Plain Hunt on 4, then 6, then 8, and finally 10. Very fun. We attempted to ring Plain Bob on 10, but there were too many distractions.

We jumped back in the car, and drove to Coronado. At Spreckel’s Park, there is a gazebo, and we decided it would be fun to ring under the dome. The sound there was exquisite! And there were many parents with small children at the park, who had a chance to hear what change ringing is all about.

We stopped for lunch at Leroy’s Kitchen and Lounge, and had a delightful meal. Some of us even decided to act like bell ringers and enjoy a pint of something local!

After lunch, we walked across the street and rang in front of a fountain. Note – ringing handbells in front of a fountain is not conducive to hearing the ringing. So after just a few minutes, we left.

We phoned LeeAnn, and told her we were on our way to Balboa Park, and to meet us there as planned. We wandered around the park and rang at a few locations, with 6 people now. Sadly, we had our Schulmerich bells, which is a set of 10, and so we could not ring with all 6 at once. At one point, we noticed that the San Diego Astronomy Club had their telescopes out, and were offering people a chance to look at the sun through a telescope (with the appropriate filters, of course!). Paris and Randy found that too good an opportunity to pass up, and so stopped and looked while the others continued to other locations in the park. And we found them again, and continued ringing, up until our finale at the Spreckel’s Organ Pavilion, which was quite stunning as well. There was even a small audience!

After Balboa Park, it was time to head home. We all had various plans for the evening, and needed to get back home.

In all, it was a very fun day of bell ringing, our very own San Diego Tower Tour.