Back to California - La Jolla

Once again I am continuing my  love affair with California.  This year we decided to spend a few days in La Jolla in the north end of San Diego before we headed up to the Central Coast. 

Clear skies on the flight to LAX afforded spectacular views of the mountains and canyons in New Mexico and Arizona.

This year we planned to stay for almost 2 months so we picked our car up outside the airport, which saved on the cost.  We took the San Diego Freeway (405) south to Irvine to pick up Hwy 5, which follows the coast.  Of course California captivates me with the first row of palm trees and then it just gets better.

The coastal communities vary from the typical beach type with and eclectic mixture of low rise adobe and clapboard buildings to the higher end towns with beautiful architecture and lovely shops.  We stopped in Oceanside for lunch at the Hill Street Cafe and Gallery and had good food and a stimulating conversation with the owner about the native history of the area 10,000 years ago.

La Jolla  is an upscale part of San Diego with beautiful homes, good restaurants and the beach just down the road from our hotel.  We started our first morning at Ellen Browning Sports Park for a walk in the sun and to see the harbour seals.  There were about 50 sleeping on the rocks across the bay, a few swimming in the ocean feeding in the shallows. One lazy but playful fellow was lying on a smooth rock then he would slide off when a wave washed over him, haul himself back up and do it again.

Groups of human swimmers looked as if they were training for a triathlon by swimming out into the bay and around buoys, then back to the beach. They must be very tough because they were only wearing bathing suits even though the water temperature was around 60º F (16ºC).

This beautiful old park has gardens and a classic building housing the La Jolla Cove Bridge Club.

 At another park by the sea, we watched pelicans gliding just above the undulations of the ocean, exquisite performance and this magnificent specimen sight seeing just like us.

How wonderful to sit outside in the February sun and drink coffee and watch the passing scene at Pacific Beach.

By The Way: When you go to La Jolla, or anywhere in southern California, go to an authentic Mexican restaurant and treat yourselves to guacamole made right at your table.  Fantastic!