Cali- Cabrillo National Monument

Despite Cabrillo National Monument being just a short drive from Ocean Beach, we didn't come here the last time we were in town. When we first arrived, we were a little caught off guard because it looks like you are driving into a Navy base but the gate is open and a little ways down the road you stop at the pay station for Cabrillo. As of this writing, it cost $15 to enter Cabrillo by car and this gives you a pass you can use again as much as you want during the next 6 days.

We initially parked near the tide pools area, although it was hide tide and we couldn't access the tide pools. Do yourself a favor, go online and look at the tide schedule (just google San Diego area tide schedule) before you go to the beach in the event you want to look at the tide pools. Also check online (either with a weather app or the park website) about any alerts; there was a rough surf advisory almost every day we were there, which means if you are walking on rocks during high tide, you may get splashed!

There is a nice trail along the cliffs and rocks that is about a mile total, so we started out walking along here. We saw some really cool rock and cliff formations. The thing about the San Diego coastline is, every section of beach is different. The rocks and cliffs at Cabrillo are different than La Jolla, which are different than the Sunset Cliffs, and so on and so on. And of course, everything looks different as the tide changes!

After walking along the trail, we drove up to the visitor's center and parked there. Outside of the visitor's center, we saw great views of the bay, Coronado, downtown San Diego, and even Mexico, although it was a little hazy the morning we were there. There is also a trail near the visitor's center called the Bayside trail (which goes along the bay naturally) but we didn't walk this one. It looked really pretty though! After walking through the visitor's center and looking at the exhibits there, we briefly looked at the actual Cabrillo Monument and then headed to the Old Point Loma lighthouse. 

I have a thing for lighthouses. I just love them! When I was a kid, I thought it would be cool to be either a lighthouse keeper or a fire tower watcher (weird, I know). This lighthouse is seriously one I could live in. It's very small but seriously has the perfect amount of space for me, James and the dogs. It has a an adorable little spiral staircase leading upstairs to the tower, which is actually not accessible to the public but you can look into it. The rooms of the lighthouse are also secured behind glass, but they are furnished and decorated with period pieces and overall it just looks like a place I could live. I loved the simplicity and stature of this lighthouse! Throughout the grounds near the lighthouse, there are also displays about military history and relics of WW2, which James found interesting. Although I am not so much into military history, the San Diego area is obviously a must visit area for those who are. 

After walking around Cabrillo, we went to the grocery store and did some other mundane things. We needed to get snacks and non-perishable food to take on our trip to Joshua Tree (I didn't feel like bringing a cooler and ice so we stuck with sandwiches and "hiker food"). In the evening, we walked to a restaurant down the street called Hugo's Cocina. We noticed the night before it had a line out the door, so we wanted to see what all the fuss was about. Fortunately, they have a great variety of vegan options so we made a good choice! It's family style Mexican restaurant with your typical assortment of tacos, enchiladas, and combo options. I ordered a vegan quesadilla. It was HUGE so I had plenty leftover, which I ate the next morning for breakfast. 

It was an early night because we had to get a good night's rest before our big adventure in Joshua Tree!

California Wrap Up

Well, it's been a decent 2+ months since our trip to California and I still haven't finished writing about it. Maybe I'm a procrastinator or maybe I just really have spent the last two months reflecting and trying to figure out what to say. Maybe I subconsciously didn't want to write because I wanted to pretend the trip never ended. 

As for what we did at the end of our trip, we went to the wedding we initially traveled to CA for and went to the beach and we went to a house party and tried to re-live college days. That was about it. Nothing earth shattering. The wedding was lovely and we saw some friends we hadn't seen in a very long time. The beach was lovely too. We had great weather the last few days we were there. Perfect low humidity, sunny San Diego weather. 

But really, the last few days of the trip just felt like normal life (I mean, normal life if we didn't have jobs hahaha). We started to be able to drive/walk from place to place without relying so much on Google Maps. We finally adjusted to the time zone difference. James finally got over his initial culture shock and admitted he really likes San Diego. Dare I say, we felt...at home...

The last time I felt this way after a trip was when I traveled to Athens, GA in 2007 for a long weekend with my ex-boyfriend who had friends at UGA. I decided right then and there, with almost no thought process whatsoever that I would go to UGA for grad school. I immediately loved Athens and felt at home more than I did in my actual hometown. So I'm not saying we're going to drop everything and move to California but I will say my snap decision to up and move to Athens did turn out to be a good thing. Maybe I should trust my instincts more than my logical, cold, little brain. 

The good news is, we're definitely in the midst of planning another trip to California. It will be after the winter holidays when everyone is in the doldrums of January in Georgia. Stay tuned...

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- La Jolla

Our second day in California, I was stunned to walk outside and see it had rained the night before and it was so foggy it looked like we were in the Pacific Northwest. Despite the gloomy weather, we decided to go to La Jolla Cove and look for the famous seals and sea lions. This was, all in all, not the worst decision because there were fewer people there due to the weather. We saw about a dozen sea mammals and quite a few other sea creatures in the tide pools. La Jolla is very beautiful and no wonder it tops a lot of "must see" lists for San Diego. We walked around for a few hours and then left to get lunch.

For lunch we upped our vegan game and went to a restaurant in Little Italy called Cafe Gratitude. James really embraced the California lifestyle by ordering a watermelon infused water that cost $9.50. This is a man who typically will not even drink free water, let alone pay for it. Joking aside, it really was a fantastic restaurant. I ordered a Mexican style bowl and James got a raw "lasagna" made with squash ribbon noodles. Both our dishes were great and kept us full for the rest of the day, which ended up making the meal economical. We walked around Little Italy for a bit and then napped before walking down to the Crystal Pier in Pacific Beach. 

This is no ordinary pier. It has adorable little vacation cottages on it. I was a little weirded out by the fact you can drive onto the pier to access the cottages (if you're staying there). I couldn't help but wonder how the pier holds up with all the cottages, vehicles, and rough surf over the years. But it's been there for nearly 100 years, so I guess none of this is an issue. 

We didn't get a stunning sunset but still enjoyed the view from the legendary Pacific Beach Shore Club. Seriously the people watching is second to none at the beach and the Shore Club has a big upstairs area overlooking the beach. Unfortunately we did witness a fight and probably a drug deal (unrelated to each other) but overall I felt really safe walking around Pacific Beach. We wended our way through these charming alleys to get back to the rental and saw the cutest houses and yards. If only I was a millionaire...

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. 

The theme for 2017 is "West is Best"

Literally the day we arrived home from our trip to AZ earlier this year, we had a wedding invitation in the mail for an August wedding in San Diego (thank god, our friends live in desirable places). So, I immediately started planning for that trip. It gave me something to look forward to in dreary late winter Georgia. It also motivated me to exercise since being out of shape on a beach is not something I want photos of. I ended up losing 30 lbs, whoop whoop. 

Ultimately, we didn't do many of the things I would want to do during a trip to Southern California, but that is fine because we'll definitely go back. Since I over planned our trip to AZ, I figured I'd just take things as they came in San Diego and not schedule everything down to the minute. California truly is like another country and I figured our first trip should just be to feel things out. That being said, we learned some valuable lessons which I will share here:

1. It is not 72 and sunny year round in San Diego. In August it can be 85 and cloudy. Related lesson- air conditioning is apparently less common than I ever would have thought. 

2. The cheaper airfares to Los Angeles Intl (LAX) are very quickly diminished by the drive between LA and San Diego. I must have had temporary insanity when I booked our tickets and thought this would be a good idea (seriously though, I could not make the math work. It was cheaper to fly to LA and rent a car for an entire week than to fly to San Diego).

3. Air BnB is not always what it's cracked up to be. Again, you get what you pay for. In this case, a very tiny un-air conditioned studio with paper thin walls just a short walk from the beach. But when you are a numbers person like me, the price and location couldn't be beat.

Once we recovered from our drive (escape) out of LA, adjusted to life with no AC, and met up with our friends, all was well. This was the sunset on our first night:

 More to come soon!