Friday, July 28, 2017

Exploring San Diego - biking and La Jolla Cave

As soon as we officially moved our stuff in, one of the things we were most excited about arriving was our bike pump! When we got to San Diego, we had our bikes but our tires were completely flat. We couldn't justify buying a new one when we knew we had one on the pod coming in a couple weeks. As soon as our tires were inflated I couldn't wait to bike to Mission Bay.



As it's just over a mile to the bay, it's an easy 10-15 minute bike ride. Fortunately, we have bike paths leading from our apartment all the way there.





Everytime we've been here (usually weekends), it's been so active with people riding bikes, kids' birthday parties, flying kites, swimming, and playing on the playground. It's such a great spot to have close by.





The fact that we can bike to the beach is probably one of my favorite things about living here.



I am eager to take advantage of some beach days - something we actually haven't done a whole lot of since being here. With getting settled in, unpacking, Eric starting work, and exploring our area on weekends, we just haven't made the time for it.

Thankfully next week we will be taking advantage of the beach when some of my family comes to visit(!!!!!), a trip I have been SO looking forward to since we got here.







It's completely different exploring our area on a bike than in the car. There are bike paths literally everywhere in San Diego. It's something I hope to do a lot more of now that things are starting to settle down.



I had also heard about a place called The Cave Shop that I wanted to check out. One afternoon after Eric was home from work we drove up to see it.



It's basically a store that just sells little knick knacks, nothing too exciting. But the cool part is that in the back of the store, they have a door that leads down into a cave.





The stairs were steep and at some points you had to hunch over because the ceiling was so low. As you got further down into the cave, the stairs were wet and slippery.



It lead down to a view looking out of the cave into La Jolla Cove.







Of course being a geology fan, Eric loved looking around and discussing how it was all formed.



We saw lots of kayakers go by, as well as some snorkelers that came to see the cave from a different perspective.







Pretty cool to see! Although no one really looked forward to going back up the stairs...





Outside of the store, there was a place to go out and look over some of the cliffs.





Unexpectedly, we saw some seals and sea lions at the bottom of the cliffs!







Again, it wasn't the safest/easiest place to traverse, but it was definitely worth seeing. Although I'm thinking The Children's Pool Beach may be a safer place to take my family to see seals (another place we haven't been yet!).





And you can't beat that view.



One of these kayak tours has definitely been added to my bucket list to do while we're here.



Happy Friday, I hope you all had a great week! I am sooo excited for my family to get here in just a few days!!

Monday, July 24, 2017

Exploring San Diego - Cabrillo National Monument

After we went to Point Loma, we found out if we had driven further down, we would run into Cabrillo National Monument where we could see some tide pools and get another view of the city. We decided to go back one Saturday to check it out.



There were beautiful trails around, but you could also climb down and see the tide pools during certain times of the day.



There were lots of kids with buckets looking for crabs and various creatures.







It was fun to walk along some of the cliffs and see what the water has carved out.



I feel like we're standing in front of a backdrop in the picture below.











We could have spent a lot more time here just exploring all the trails and cut-outs, not to mention Eric loves anything to do with geology.



Then we drove up the hill to see the view of Point Loma.



Definitely a beautiful spot!







They also had a little museum you could walk through and see what some of the rooms looked like in the lighthouse.













I'm so glad we heard about it - we are learning there is SO much to see around here! I can't wait to spend more time at some of these places.