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- Joshua Tree

Here it is- our biggest adventure in California yet. We finally made it to Joshua Tree National Park! I will write a separate post about practical advice and tips for the actual trip, so that way I can focus on all the good stuff right now. 

Since we were only planning to be in Joshua Tree for a day, I spent a lot of time researching and trying to figure out the best way to see the park. After reading a lot of articles and guides online, I found one I felt outline the park in a manageable, efficient way. Overall the Outdoor Blueprint website is just really great and I wish my blog was anywhere close to it!
We based our trip on this itinerary. I've bolded the different stops on the itinerary and I'll describe each section as we experienced it. 

We started our day at the southern entrance to the park and stopped in at the Cottonwood Visitor Center. The ranger said visitors don't typically start here and we really didn't see any people until we got further along in the day, which was nice. We got a map and I was the navigator as James drove to our destinations. Overall, nothing was hard to find and there is plenty of signage throughout the park.

We accidentally skipped Cottonwood Springs, which is located near the visitor center, because I was distracted and excited about being in the park. We hopped right back in the car after talking to the ranger and I forgot to tell James to go to the Springs. 
We drove north on Pinto Basin Road for a while and stopped to take some pictures along the way. We then stopped at the Cholla Cactus Garden and walked around it. It is more like a Cholla forest with how many cactus plants there are. Cholla can get rather large also. There were a few taller than me (the ones I've seen in the past were short things). FYI, there is a first aid kit mounted to the fence at the Cholla garden, so I'm guessing some people have not followed the signs and tried to touch the cacti. 

Shortly after leaving the Cholla, we started to see (what I thought were) really large rock formations so we pulled off at another area and started to climb around and explore them. Little did I know, we were about to see some really big rocks. The scenery starts to change as you drive north into the Mohave desert and it is really noticeable, particularly the actual Joshua Trees start to become prevalent!

We soon came upon the sign for Skull Rock. After seeing Skull Rock, I felt like every rock I looked at had some sort of facial features. Skull Rock is impressive but there were some really cool rock formations in the area behind it, so we spent a while climbing around back there. We saw a rock with a hole in the top of it, which showed blue sky behind it, as well as a sort of slot canyon. It was really fun climbing around on the rocks and I have a ton or respect for serious climbers, although rock climbing intimidates the hell out of me. 

We then walked across the street to the Discovery Trail. It's a kid friendly nature trail that loops around some more rock formations and there are little signs along the way explaining different flora and fauna. This is a really great area to just stop and look around and take in the different scenery on the horizons. We also saw a roadrunner near the Discovery trail. I tried to take a picture of it but it darted away. Meep meep!

Next on the itinerary was a choice of either the Pine City Hike or Ryan Mountain Hike. It was close to noon time by the time we got to this point since we arrived at the park later than I hoped. I was worried about running out of time for the rest of the stops on our list. In retrospect, we probably could have fit another hike in, but I didn't want to be rushed. So we decided to not do either of these hikes and ate lunch instead. We just sat on the tailgate and used the hatch of the SUV for shade, which was quite pleasant. 

After lunch we drove to Barker Dam and the parking lot was almost full, so I'm glad we got a parking space. Despite that, we didn't actually see too many people on the trail. The dam was really interesting and actually had quite a lot of water in it. It was just mucky rain water but the reflection of the rocks in it was perfectly clear. It was very pretty! The trail to and around the dam was very pleasant to walk along. Be sure to follow the arrow signs once you get to the dam and not just walk back to the parking lot. Around the side of the dam, there is a rock formation that has petroglyphs on it. Some of them are red or black, which is not their original state. People have drawn over them, which is vandalism. Regardless, it was neat to see. 

The website I got the itinerary from said the Lost Horse Mine trail was the author's favorite hike, so I figured we really should not miss out on it. One thing to be aware of, the trail head is located on a dirt road. It was the smoothest dirt road I've ever driven on, so it shouldn't be an issue for any type of car. We had a SUV but sedans should be fine as well. 
There is a 4 mile or 6 mile option and we did the 4 mile. We had time to do 6 but James was getting pretty tired (he was one who drove to Joshua Tree after all, so I figured I'd give him a break). The Lost Horse trail isn't the most strenuous trail ever but it does have some inclines and there is absolutely no shade. It is a very pretty trail and the scenery all around is great. Lots of mountain views off in the distance with snow capped peaks. There are not really any large boulders or rock formations in this part of the park; the scenery is completely different but really beautiful. The mine itself is enclosed with a fence, I suspect probably due to vandalism, but the fence is easy to look through and you're able to get relatively close. 
We finished the hike around 3:30 pm and then drove to Keys View, which is conveniently located on the same road as the Lost Horse Mine hike. We had a little time to kill before sunset but I didn't want to get too far away from Keys view in the event parking became an issue as more people came to watch the sun set. So we chilled in the car for a while and James even napped briefly (I think). Keys View is a mountain overlook high above Palm Springs with views of the San Andreas fault, Salton Sea, Mount Gorgonio, and more. It was similar scenery to what we saw at Garnet Peak, but yet, totally different looking. The Salton Sea looks really cool at sunset, as it reflects the light and basically becomes a giant mirror. There is a formal viewing platform at Keys View but many people were sitting on picnic blankets on the side of the cliff. As the sun started to set, the temperature dropped significantly and the wind started gusting like crazy. I really wanted to see a good sunset but the wind was pretty unbearable. I tried to stick it out but I couldn't even hold my camera still due to the wind. I have a feeling the sunset got better after we left (it's always the best about 20 mins after the sun goes below the horizon) but oh well. 

Leaving Keys view we drove toward the Joshua Tree exit and saw 2 coyotes crossing the road. They were smaller than the ones we have in Georgia. We also saw some rock climbers come down after their final evening climb. And then suddenly we were back in civilization. There was cell service, power lines, and street lights. Joshua Tree really felt like another world. We didn't stick around long enough to experience the darkness of the park but I could tell just being in the small towns bordering the park, it gets very very very dark. 

Honestly, I feel like we experienced more in just one day than I had all year up until this point. I need to come to places like this more often. Away from people, away from civilization. I literally felt different while in the park. 

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...

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!