When we got to San Diego, it felt like we were on a different trip. We were staying in a hotel that turned out to be kind of gross and right next to the fast food joint that was really popular with the local homeless street folk. The restaurant had a unique scent that one does not want associated with a place where their food comes from, so we stayed away. The room we had was recently a smoker's room which had been heavily perfumed to cover up that odor. The bathroom sported a wet mold decor, so you had to wonder, "If I shower in here, will I end up clean or more dirty than when I entered?" Seeing how we were there for three days, we had to endure that. However, after arriving we dumped out stuff and set out for more adventures. First up was to go see the Spreckles Pipe Organ concert that was taking place in Balboa Park. The organ was beautiful, which you can see by the photo I've included here. The weather was perfect. It was just what my husband had hoped for. The music was nice as well. Some of the pieces were calming while others were stirring. Too bad I did not remember to keep track of the titles.
The next morning we were off to Point Loma with hopes of going tide pooling. The low tide was actually too high for tide pooling and the hours of the park would not work for that activity, so we simply enjoy the views, took in the historic video at the visitor's center and such. It was such a dramatic coast, with waves crashing upon the rock and splashing you. A fog hung over the distance as we watched the fishing boats go by. The guys were feeling adventurous so they climbed down and found interesting little cave like spots in the rock and the cliffs. Ellie was tired, so we zoned and semi-napped on the edge of a nice rock. Later we learned about Coronado Island and the fact that you could find good tide pooling there, so we were off again.
Coronado Island is a fun little place that is connected to San Diego by a very long, high bridge. The beach we visited is next to The Del Coronado Hotel, a stunning, historic place where movies like "Some Like It Hot" were filmed. It seems that the beach is public, but the hotel keeps it nice. We found rock outcroppings and went to work looking at what we could find. We found a few sand dollars and a lot of anemones, both large and small. We also found Katheryn, the local tide pool conservation volunteer who told us about the tide pool and that it would be better to come early the next morning. We left knowing we would return before sunrise the next morning. Once it was dark we also explored the hotel a bit. They have a lot of fun little shops that we visited. Ellie got a spiky, glow-in-the-dark ball and Ethan thought he needed to wear it.
That evening we had dinner with Cousin Jean, her husband Greg, Claire and Ingrid. Larr and Jean were great buddies when they were growing up. We had a casual dinner of Mexican food from a local restaurant and lots of good conversation. Ellie and Ingrid got out Prince Yaz, also known as Mr. Bunny. He got a good grooming, a romp on the porch and lots of homemade food containing tons of parsley. Prince Yaz seemed to enjoy it all. Ethan and Claire stayed for much of the conversation as we plied Greg for stories of his bike riding adventures. We recounted the tales of those we saw riding in Encinidas. Seeing those riders made up miss our bikes. Greg is getting ready for the Paris Brest Paris ride in the fall. This is a major ride that is something like 720 miles long. We are looking forward to hearing how it goes for him. We all had such a good time that we did not want it to end. We were headed back to the beach the next day. They lent us a table, chairs and boogie boards and agreed to come play with us on the beach the next day, our last night of the trip.
It was a good end to a busy, diverse day.
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