Every year our kids get a full week off from school for Thanksgiving, right about the time the weather starts to turn, so it's the perfect time for a family vacation.
This year we decided to check out San Diego. The weather is great year round, the ocean is beautiful there, and there's tons to do. We planned to have a rather large group of family join us, so we found a large house close to the beach to rent for the week and booked our plane tickets.
Our flight to San Diego, had a layover in Salt Lake City. This trip, I was lucky enough to get a window seat, and I saw a side of the Great Salt Lake that I have never seen before (my prior visit to antelope island in the early summer of 2013 was less than awe inspiring...).
It turns out, I like it a lot more from the air.
These patches with varying shades of green and teal are very intriguing to me. I will have to do a little research to find out what they are all about.
We had a couple of hours to spend in the SLC airport, so we grabbed some lunch and teched out for a bit.
Even Great Grandma Verba joined in, making quick use of her new Kindle.
After a quick flight from SLC to San Diego, we ran into Grandma Janis at the airport (imagine that!) and then we picked up our rental car (a dodge caravan) and headed to our house. We arrived just in time to catch the sunset.
Grandma Sanna, Grandpa Max and Great Grandma Win arrived about an hour after we did. We went and picked up a few groceries and then went out for dinner at Shades restaurant in Ocean Beach.
The next morning, we hit the beach. Some of us walked to the beach, taking the "Sea Wall Adventure" route suggested by the owner of the beach house. We walked a few blocks straight down to the ocean, where the road dead-ends at a small cliff.
We took a set of cement stairs down to the sea wall path and started to make our way to the distant pier.
The path was sometimes cement sidewalk, sometimes slippery rock, and sometimes hard pack sand/sandstone. There were lots of tiny coves and rock formations. About 300 feet out in the water, we could see several dolphins swimming along the same direction we were walking.
Then, we came across an anomaly. My name written in the sandstone!
It was a nice walk. Not too adventurous, but there were a few spots we thought would be tough for GG Win. Of course, she disagreed and trucked right through!
We finally made it to the pier and meet up with the rest our group there.
This particular pier, in Ocean Beach, is supposed to be the longest pier in the state of California.
We walked all the way to the end and back. We enjoyed watching all the fishermen, the pelicans, and a couple of harbor seals along the way.
After we finished at the pier, we hopped in the car and headed to Coronado. We stopped near the Hotel Del Coronado and walked the beach for a while.
The sand at this beach is full of mica, so each wave looked like it was carrying a load of gold. It was enchanting! We also found lots of sand dollars and shells here. It was a beautiful and well maintained beach.
After a quick bite to eat at a cute street cafe, we jumped back in the car and headed to La Jolla for the sunset.
La Jolla cove was teaming with seals, cormorants, and pelicans! We could hear the seals barking as we drove up. Then, when we got out of the car we were hit with the stench! Fishy!!!
The black dots are cormorants mixed in with seals. There were hundreds of both.
We made our way into the cove and found a small cave at one end of the cove that was fun to walk through.
We climbed out of the cove just in time to catch the sunset.
Going, going, going, gone!
A perfect end to a spectacular day at the beach.
1 comment:
Another awesome trip that I was very excited to be a part of. Thanks Janae and Michael for inviting me along.
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