Cali- La Jolla + map museum

After our grand journey to Joshua Tree, we wanted to do something nice and relaxing. So we slept in, then ate at Plant Power (duh), and headed to La Jolla! I think of all the places we've been in the immediate San Diego area, La Jolla is my favorite. Sure it's extremely high dollar and touristy but the beach itself is just amazing. The color of the water is like sea glass, the cliffs are stunning, and of course, I love the seals! This time we were able to see some baby seals because it was "pupping season". They were so cute! They played just like canine puppies. Since the water was so clear, we could see the seal pups swimming around and frolicking. They would let the waves push them onto the beach and then just roll around and play in the surf. For the safety of the animals, parts of beach and seawall were closed, but I have no problem with this because I know people are jerks and stupidity knows no bounds when trying to get that perfect Insta photo. Bring binoculars or a camera with a decent zoom if you want to see them up close! 

Once again, we missed low tide so we didn't spend a lot of time on the beach, but that's ok because we actually came back to La Jolla for another reason. While planning this trip, I was looking at a map of La Jolla and noticed a place called "The Map and Atlas Museum of La Jolla". I hadn't noticed it the last time we were here even though it's smack dab in the middle of the La Jolla business district. James and I both enjoy looking at maps immensely, but initially I wanted to come here was because our friend is obsessed with maps and we were going to bring him here as a surprise. Buuut obviously he was out of town so we came by ourselves. 

If you've got an hour (or 3) to spare, definitely go visit the Map Museum! It's free and mind blowing. They do have limited hours but given the free admission, I think that's reasonable. Probably not the best place to bring young children, as the atmosphere is quiet and library like, but great for older, studious kids and adults. The Map Museum has reaaaallly old maps and documents, dating back to the 1400s. Everything is amazingly preserved and the place is just beautiful to look at. I've never seen anything like it before and I've been to a lot of museums. They also have some more recent colorful, artistic maps showing different parts of California and the world. So if you're in San Diego and it's by chance raining, cold, or you just want to do something different, give the Map Museum a visit! Check their website for hours and other details. 

After La Jolla, it was mid-afternoon so James wanted to nap. He did drive 5+ hours the day before, so he deserved it. Around this time, I started to go into my "vacation is winding down depressive state" so I started looking at San Diego houses for sale online and plotting my escape from the Atlanta suburbs. Of course, that made me more depressed so I made James get up and we walked around Ocean Beach again. There is a tide pool area south of the Pier and it was low tide so we sat on the rocks to watch the sun set. It wasn't as magnificent as our first night but it was pretty as the light reflected off the tide pools. 

Cali- Ocean Beach and Balboa Park

This time around we decided to fly directly to San Diego so we could jump right in and not waste time driving all over southern California (although we did plenty of that later in the week). Yes, the plane tickets were more expensive but the benefit of the San Diego airport actually being right in San Diego (seriously, like 15 mins from where we stayed) finally won me over. 

After a good nights rest, we woke up bright and early on Sunday morning and spent some time getting re-acquainted with Ocean Beach. We are SO SO SO lucky to have a friend who lives just a few blocks from the beach and since he was out of town for work, we had his whole apartment to ourselves. Of course, we were sad we didn't get to see him but adventures called him away. 

We walked up to the Ocean Beach Pier (which is frighteningly long, by the way) and watched the surfers for a while and then walked up and down the streets of OB daydreaming about living in one of the many adorable (aka million dollar) bungalows we saw. We like to spend time wherever we are acting like we live in the neighborhood. We enjoy seeing people in their daily routines, walking dogs, washing cars, whatever else people do on Sunday mornings. 

Eventually we found our way to James' absolute favorite place in California, Plant Power, which is also conveniently just a half a mile walk from the apartment. After he re-established himself as their number one customer by purchasing at least 3 breakfast items, we walked back to the apartment and rested for a bit before heading to Balboa Park. 

I wanted to go to Balboa Park specifically to attend the organ concert, which is held every Sunday at 2 pm. We weren't sure how popular the concerts are or how difficult it would be to find parking, so we got there an hour early. We had no problem finding a parking spot right near the organ pavilion, so we went to the Japanese Friendship Garden and walked around before the concert. The garden was really peaceful and beautiful, so I am happy we had extra time to do this. 

Now onto the organ concert- it was amazing and it was FREE so if you are in San Diego on a Sunday, I highly recommend you go to it. The organist was young and very engaging; he explained the history of the music he played and about the mechanics of the organ. James thought it would be boring but he actually ended up having a great time. So Sunday, 2 pm, Balboa Park, go there!

After the concert, we walked around some of the other areas of the park we hadn't seen before, namely the Spanish arts village and the carousel. James actually wanted to ride the carousel but we both noticed it seems to spin very fast and we both got dizzy looking at it. Yep, we are wimps. It is really cool though and the artwork on it is interesting to look at. 

After walking around for a while, I realized it was getting close to sunset and I really wanted to be at the beach for that. So we booked it to the Sunset Cliffs area but couldn't find parking actually in the park. So we parked on the street nearby and walked to the cliffs. Just like the last time we were in California, the sunset on the first night of our trip was amazing (the sun had already set when we arrived the night before)! Everyone else thought so as well, because there was totally a traffic jam getting back into Ocean Beach. It took us well over an hour to get from Sunset Cliffs to Plant Power (2.5 miles). Yes, we ate at Plant Power twice in one day and yes, we did this several other days of this trip as well. Seriously, James is their number one customer. 

After dinner, we were feeling kind of tired due to the time zone difference, so we took it easy and went to bed pretty early. Plus we're old and boring- reference earlier activities of watching surfers at 7 am and getting dizzy looking at a carousel...

California Trip- Balboa Park

So finally on the third day of our trip, the sun decided to come out. It was a stunningly beautiful day so we decided to walk around Balboa Park. We got a pretty early start so there were not too many people around. We parked in the 6th Street and Upas Street parking lot and had no trouble finding parking. We pretty much just followed the trails and visited many of the various garden areas. My favorite part by far was the rose garden. I have never seen so many varieties of roses in my life. I also enjoyed the botanical building. The desert garden was a little lackluster. I would have much rather just visited the desert (but not a good idea in August!).

It was my goal to not pay for very many attractions but we did end up visiting the Museum of Man. It was OK; probably a good choice for people with kids because it's not very extensive and you can move through the exhibits fairly quickly. Overall I am more of an art museum person and I wish we had done that instead. We also opted to not pay the extra admission fee to visit the Japanese garden, although it looked very pretty. We barely scratched the surface and definitely could have spent another day there. I've never been anywhere like Balboa Park before. 

After walking around for 5+ hours, we were feeling rather peckish so we went further into downtown San Diego and ate at an epic Mexican restaurant called Pokez. The vegan options were endless and the prices were amazing, not to mention the vibe which definitely had a artistic flair. I got an indescribably large taco salad (seriously, I don't know how they made the taco shell bowl it was in) that I had a hard time finishing. 

In the evening, we met up with our (formerly) Arizona friend Chris who ended up moving to San Diego after we already planned to be visit. That's serendipity! We went to a bar in Ocean Beach, the name of which I did not catch, and just sat and talked for hours. It was a very peaceful, beautiful evening- exactly what I imagined a Friday night in California would be like. 

California Trip- Ocean Beach Dog Park

So as described in my previous post, much of day one was spent traveling (getting to the Atlanta airport is no walk in the park either). We arrived to our Air BnB in Pacific Beach around 5 pm and James was literally about to eat his hand. Hunger combined with no air conditioning is a bad mix for a man (strangely, though, he claims "hangry" is not a legit feeling). So I pulled up the handy list of vegan/vegetarian options I found online and found the closest one, which was a "fast food" place in nearby Ocean Beach called Plant Power. Well, nearby in rush hour meant another 25 minute drive BUT it was so worth it. By the end of our trip, James became a walking billboard for Plant Power and spent enough money to probably keep the place in business through the end of the year. 

After eating $50 worth of probably not the healthiest vegan food ever, we felt the need to get some exercise, so the next logical stop was the Ocean Beach dog park. Because it's not at all creepy to go to a dog beach without your own dogs and fawn over other peoples' dogs. We walked around the dog beach and were quickly refreshed by all the pups and people enjoying the evening. I dipped my toes in the Pacific Ocean for the first time ever and we caught the most stunning sunset. Even locals said it was unusually beautiful. The pictures really didn't adequately capture it. 

After the beach, we went to Trader Joe's to get coffee and essentials for the morning and quickly learned another lesson- you have to pay for grocery bags in California. I don't have a problem with this; just wasn't expecting it. James declined to pay .25 cents for a bag so we ended up carrying all our stuff out and have it roll around the back of the car. We are such noobs.