Trip Report 20121202
When you return home
from traveling, you see your own hometown in a totally different
light. Truth be told, we live in a city that people visit
for vacation. So, that being the case, we decided to do a
bit more exploring in our own town. Some places you visit
so frequently that you sort of forget that they are interesting,
so I decided to bring my camera along to record some of the
things that we see with relative frequency. These photos
were taken with my Olympus OM-D E-5 mirrorless camera with a
14-150mm lens (28-300 mm equivalent).
The photos below are
what we saw.
There were a whole set of koi in the pond but only a few were in our area close enough to photograph. The white koi was about a foot long and the yellow one perhaps 9 inches. Back in the day, there was a sushi bar in the building and I always wondered if the koi were secretly on the menu. Of course, that never deterred me from eating the sushi.
From Karl Strauss we
decided to head to the beach at La Jolla Shores. The
Shores are only 3-4 miles from our home, but we don't go there
that often. In fact, I could not recall the last time I
had been there. We knew that there was a big storm off
of northern California and Oregon, so the waves would be
pretty big. La Jolla Shores is an exclusive area but
there is a publically accessible beach there and it is heavily
used during the summer months. Visible in the distance
to the north are the Scripps Institute pier and the cliffs of
Torrey Pines.
The Scripps Institute
pier is used for research and in addition to the cranes at the
end of the pier there are a bunch of instruments that allow
remote monitoring of ocean conditions.
Some of the most
expensive property in the county is on this beach. These
homes have property lines that come right to the waterline.
In the distance are some of the buildings of the Scripps
Institute of Oceanography including their aquarium.
Given the larger
waves, there were plenty of surfers out in the water. We
passed these two gals in the parking lot as they were suiting
up. Now they are getting in position for entering the
water.
Some of the surfers
were actually quite accomplished.
The gal with the red
board spotted a flock of sea gulls that were resting on the
beach and took off at dead run expecting to see them fly off
en-mass. Instead, the birds were so accustomed to being
harassed that only the birds directly under foot moved and
even then not very far.
Once the blond girl completed her fool's errand, they headed into the surf to get wet.
We watched the large waves come rolling onto the shore for quite awhile.
The city counsel in
their infinite wisdom has decided to impose a series of
ever-stricter rules on beach behavior. I am waiting for
them to ban fires and cooking on the beach next.
To the northeast of
the beach we could see the high dollar homes of La
Jolla. The homes on the hill all have ocean views.
Some of the sets were
pretty big and would surely produce powerful rip currents.
This very nice home
was at the north end of the La Jolla Shores parking lot.
Closer inspection suggested that the home was not occupied as
we saw no furniture inside.
To the east of the
shores were some very nice places.
Kathleen decided to
walk along the beach to check out some of the homes there.
We watched this
fellow stand in the surf and gaze at the waves for some time
as though he was unsure he could handle the bigger
waves. He did finally go in.
We decided to mosey
on and drove south to the "real" portion of La Jolla.
The beaches switched to cliffs that were much less hospitable
to swimmers.
At the foot of Marine
Street were some pretty nice places, right on the beach.
We looked at the ocean at a several overlooks and then headed
south into Pacific Beach. We were lucky enough to get
one of the very few free parking places very close to our
destination.
The fire station in
Pacific Beach, or "PB" to the locals, is iconic and must be
the best gig in the fire department. During the summers,
I am sure that there is a constant stream of bikini-clad babes
who roll in with stubbed toes looking for assistance.
The PB boardwalk is
always an interesting time. Even when the weather is bad
(and it was not bad today) there are runners and bikers doing
the beach path. Today, given the sunny weather and warm
temperatures, it was quite crowded.
The viewfinder on my
camera is small and my intention with this photo was to
capture the statue of the pelican. Only when I got the
photo onto the computer did I notice the Mohawk "do" on the
older kid. Whatever they are looking at on his phone
appears to be very engaging.
The northern end of
the PB boardwalk has been redone and is now flanked by nice,
new condos and apartments. Some of the older beach-side
dwellings were real dives.
The height of the
waves was high enough to cause closure of the PB pier. I
am sure that the bridge pilings take a pounding in the strong
surf. Note the Christmas tree on the end of the pier.
The PB pier, AKA
"Crystal Pier" hosts a set of bungalows that can be
rented. I am not sure if they were closed by the waves
as well, but likely were.
There are plenty of
dive beach bars in the area and the PB Shore Club is surely
prototypical.
The lifeguard tower
had their whiteboard sign out on display.
Joe's is right on the
beach and Kathleen spontaneously offered up here appraisal as
we walked by: "I have eaten there many times and never had anything
but a mediocre meal". I agree.
We ate at Armando's
Green Flash and had a nice lunch. Then we went south
along the San Diego River slough and spotted these pelicans.
These are rather foul creatures, foul fowl if you will, and
have a long history of "strafing" the bathers on the beach and
surfers alike.
From the San Diego
River slough, we could see the San Diego Mission.
Mission Basilica San Diego de Alcalá was the first
Franciscan mission in the Las Californias Province of the
Viceroyalty of New Spain. We have been there before, but
never took photos (??). We will visit again soon.
San Diego is an
awesome place and we fully intend to get out more often.
Bank on that.
Copyright Bill Caid 2012. All rights reserved.