 
Mental Reflections Colonial Memories A Review of the Grande Colonial Hotel La Jolla, San Diego, California, USA photography, stories & commentary by Grace Divine Introduction This is a review of Le Grande Colonial in La Jolla, San Diego, California, USA. On June 2014, we made plans to visit La Jolla, California. We had planned to attend my aunt's life celebration which was going to take place at the La Jolla Beach & Tennis Club on June 28, 2014, and we decided to stay the night. In anticipation of this small trip I researched online for a hotel. Specifically, we wanted a nice hotel that would be near the club for easy access. Also, I wanted a hotel that would make a claim to being "haunted." Why? Well, because I think it would be fun to stay the night in a haunted hotel. And perhaps, just maybe, the hotel being haunted, creates a small chance that I would be able to pick up some strange orb or light or something with the camera. Online, I found several hotels in that area of San Diego claiming to be haunted. However, one potentially stood out as the one with the greatest likelihood of actually being haunted. And that was the Grand Colonial Hotel. So we made reservations at this hotel. As per online sources, one learns that the hotel was built on 1913. And on several occasions, guests and workers there have seen people, who upon later analysis, have proven to be ghostly apparitions. We arrived at the hotel on the afternoon of June 28, 2014. Luckily we were able to get the room right away. That was nice. The room was a comfortable size, clean, and nicely decorated. Unfortunately, it was facing the street and that night, the noise from the street made it impossible for me to sleep at least for the first several hours. (Who would have known, San Diegans love to party so much!?) Notwithstanding, I was finally able to get to fall to sleep in the wee hours of the night once people partying on the street below dispersed or went home to bed. I would strongly recommend that if you plan to stay here, and you need quiet to sleep, you ask for a room away from the street or in another area of the hotel where there is quiet. And what did I learn from my stay in the hotel? In order to capture paranormal phenomena, energies or ghostly lights in the hotel with my camera, I walked public areas of the hotel. This is what I was told to do by two of the workers there. So I went up and down the stairs taking photographs. I personally, did not sense any specific presence, or entity, in the hotel. As an artist, I pride myself on being intuitive or a 'sensitive.' And there was nothing specific that materialized. However, as I walked down the hallways, I did get an overall sense of being somewhere else. Almost as if we were on a ship or some kind of water based vehicle. Now that I think about this feeling, it makes me wonder if the hotel's history, construction or ownership was ever connected to maritime endeavors? In addition, the hallways are lined with old photographs. Looking at these photographs, I started to think about reflections. How, after so many years, most, if not all of the people in those photographs are probably gone. But yet, their reflection remains here, in these photographs. The hallways were also lined with an occasional mirror. Every time I walked passed a mirror, I would see my reflection, but for one moment. That started me thinking about my reflection. And then it occurred to me that relative to the room I was staying in, I was also just like a reflection being there for just one moment. And then I thought, what if, we could conceive of life itself, as a reflection? I have heard it said that when God created the world, God did so as a reflection of itself! And what if just for benefit of a brainstorm, we conceived of everything as a reflection. How would that affect our identity? How would it affect our feelings, wishes and desires? How would it affect our concept of time? Yes, I took pictures at the Grande Colonial Hotel. And the experience did take me to another time and another place in which I was merely a reflection. I do recommend a visit and stay to the hotel. It was nice. Grace Divine by Grace Divine 
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