San Diego

We took the coastline down to San Diego in order to visit a friend dave grew up with. Adam lives in Crown Point, a peninsula almost completely surrounded by Mission Bay. His apartment is literally biking distance from everything you would need (grocery store, restaurants, the Pacific Ocean, Mission Bay, bar). We had a great time hanging out with him and meeting some of his friends.

Adam’s Backyard

We never entered downtown San Diego. Instead we focused on the areas just outside downtown that we knew we would like. First we saw La Jolla Cove. It is a harbor seal birthing area. Their pups are born in a small cove protected by a seawall.

La Jolla Cove Seal Pupping Area

Seal Pup

Then we took a closer look at the tidal pools nearby. At high tides the indentations in the rocks near the ocean edge are completely covered by the pounding surf. Then at low tides those same indentations are partially exposed, allowing you to explore this normally inaccessible setting. Surprisingly, some animals flourish in this turbulent environment. This was my first experience looking into this underwater world.

Anemone

Tidal Pool

Us at Tidal Pools

We were lucky enough to see a skateboarding competition at Mission Beach. You know those crazy contests you will sometimes see on TV where guys are doing all sorts of crazy skateboarding tricks. This time it consisted in guys launching off a ten foot platform, over stairs or down handrails in some cases. The best trick won $25,000 so there was a lot at stake for the people skating. Ironically none of the contestants wore any sort of safety gear. We didn’t see or hear of any terrible accidents.

Skate Contest (Yes, they were doing tricks off that car in the background!)

Crown Point, Mission Beach and Ocean Beach all seemed to be pretty laid back areas. They all had boardwalks similar to the one we were so excited about in Newport Beach with Jenny a week or so ago.

Street Sign at Pacific Beach

We took the dogs to the beach on Mission Bay one night and were surprised to see a bunch of washed up jelly fish all over the beach. The dogs went swimming and didn’t seem to be negatively affected.

Sunset on a Jelly Fish

Before we left our new favorite town of San Diego, we drove south past Sunset Cliffs to Point Loma, at the tip of a peninsula looking into the Pacific Ocean. It was a great way to end our trip and get back on the road. The surf was definitely up and the surfers were out. Yet it was only the older guys who were experienced enough to chance the choppy waters.

Surfer

Point Loma Scenery

Strangely enough we are now back in Irvine at Jenny and Tommy’s place. We will leave Sunday morning for Death Valley. It will be nice to be out of the city for a while!