Week 28: New Island and More

. . . continuing our trip to San Diego into the next week . . .

The next day was my favorite of the trip. We took an uber up to Torrey Pines State Reserve. The pine tree is extremely rare, found only in this area and on Santa Rosa Island. The tree is illustrated in some of Dr. Seuss' books. It is said that Dr. Seuss could see a huge Torrey Pine from his home in La Jolla.

The reserve has 6 sandy trails that you can take to bluffs overlooking the Pacific Ocean. Though most of the trails are short loops (1 mile or less) they can be steep and rugged in spots. But the views are so worth it!

This was the first lookout spot we got to. Can you see the tiny people on that butte? We made it to that spot later on in the morning.

A great view of the Pacific Coast Highway headed towards Del Mar. Torrey Pines Beach is across the street from the entrance to the reserve, so we walked along the beach afterwards. The one scary moment of the trip was that I couldn't get cell service to call an uber. Fortunately, my husband had his work phone on him and was able to connect through a different carrier. It's the one downside of using a rideshare service. Can you imagine being stuck there for the rest of your life :)

Next stop was the upscale town of La Jolla for lunch at Duke's, overlooking the ocean. We only ever order these sorts of drinks on vacation, but boy were they good. Mine, on the left, was called Lava Flow. I had fish tacos, of course! My family always makes fun of me for ordering fish tacos if it's ever on the menu. I'm thinking fish tacos were born in San Diego.

We spent some time walking along the beaches. Here is La Jolla Cove, famous for its resident seals and sea lions. They are hard to see in the photo, but they sun themselves on the rocks on the bottom left side. I will just mention that the smell is not very pleasant.

Dumb people getting too close, trying to get their selfies. It reminded me of the folks trying to get their picture next to the bison in Yellowstone. Afterwards, we walked up to the town, which was mostly restaurants and fancy shops. We headed back to get our luggage at the hotel in SD where we had checked out early in the morning. Then it was off to Coronado. I guess everyone calls it an island, but it's actually a peninsula.

We stayed at this gorgeous boutique hotel, one block from the beach. The place was perfect.

The next day, we were off to the San Diego Zoo. I've been to a lot of zoos over the years with my kids, and yes, this one was the best. We spent 8 hours there. The animals are all in outdoor habitats, the landscaping is fabulous, and there were volunteer docents all over the place to answer any question. I even overcame my fear of heights and rode the sky buckets across the park to get to the other side. We were exhausted from walking, so I had to just chill like this guy and do it. (I did keep my eyes shut the entire time)

The best part of the day was watching this guy. Zookeepers from above threw food down to him and he was able to catch everything one-handed. I swear he didn't even bother looking up. He would make a fabulous outfielder.

Before anyone asks, no, we didn't see the famous panda bears. They were sent back to China earlier this year due to the conservation research program's scheduled ending. We were disappointed, but aware of this when it happened in April.

The following was our last full day of vacation. We spent the morning at Coronado Beach. You can see how wide it is from this picture. We collected a few seashells and sand dollars and my daughter spent some time making sand sculptures.

The Hotel del Coronado, famous for the setting of Marilyn Monroe's movie, Some Like It Hot.

A relaxing time just walking along the seashore.

After getting cleaned up at the hotel, we walked a mile or so to the north side of the island for lunch. Since it was Coronado Brewing Company, I had to get a flight. The middle one was my favorite, with hints of cinnamon.

Then we kept walking till we reached Ferry Landing Park, with an amazing view of San Diego.

We walked back and strolled around the Hotel del. The lobby was not as fabulous as I thought it would be, but the place was packed. It had that musty, old attic smell to it. It did have a really nice pool area, though.

That evening, we headed back to the beach with beach chairs to watch the sunset. When I think of California, this is how I always picture it.

The Hotel del was having a pre-Independence Day celebration, so we were treated to fireworks from where we sat on the beach. A wonderful ending to our trip.