CARDIFF, SHELTER ISLAND, & LA JOLLA

7/31/08: Well, after I got my luggage this morning, I went back to bed! I was soooo tired from yesterday that I would not have enjoyed myself otherwise. Then I went to the beach. One of my favorite locations is Cardiff Beach. It is way less crowded than some of the other ones. As you can see, there is plenty of privacy and its nice and quiet!! Love it! I got some sun, then turned over and got some more. :) It was almost too good to be true! Finally, lying in the sun on a California beach! I've been waitin' all year for this!!!
This was my spot. I scouted it out and found it to be just about perfect for me!

Shelter Island is near Point Loma and sticks out into San Diego Bay. The view of the city is beautiful from there! The San Diego Yacht Club is on Shelter Island along with a bunch of other boat and ship yards. Its a pretty neat place to check out. There are some great restaurants and hotels along there too. Tonight there is a concert at one of the hotels there. Its Emmilou Harris!! :) Tomorrow night its Dollie Parton. Kinda' cool. Its a really small exclusive area.




After I left Shelter Island, I headed to La Jolla! Its an absolutely one-of-a-kind place! It was the world's best place to live a few years ago. Its also one of the most expensive :( Anyway, this panoramic is looking north up the coast.

One really neat thing in La Jolla is the "sea wall" for lack of a better term. It kind of protects this little beach that at one time was for people to swim on. Now it has been taken over by seals and sea lions and is off limits to people. The animal rights people have made it so that it is illegal to chase off the wildlife, so the sea lions can just claim a dock, a beach, whatever - and it becomes theirs! Oh well, they are entertaining to watch sometimes.

I like to walk out on the sea wall and watch the waves come in and try to dodge the spray!! About every 3rd or 4th wave is really big and will wash up over the wall in places. You just never know where! There are people out there (tourists) that will scream and run from one end to the other trying to avoid getting drenched! I was one of them today! I DID NOT choose where to stand very wisely and got soaked!!!

The water was a beautiful shade of turquoise & aqua green! I love watching the waves and am always just in awe of their power!

These poor little girls got totally SOAKED!! by the next wave that hit! That water is COLD!!! The lifeguard tower had posted that the water temp is 70 degrees, but it feels cold and its always a bit windy by the coast, so after getting soaked, you head for shelter (trust me, I know from experience!)

I took tons of pictures of the waves, but I'll try to narrow it down for ya' so you can see some of the beauty of this place.

LUGGAGE

Well, I finally got my luggage. It came sometime after 3am (6am Ohio time). I stayed up as long as I could. I wanted to take out my contacts soooo bad, but didn't dare because if my luggage didn't come by today, I would not be able to drive or anything!! I had no where to put my contacts without going out and buying new stuff. Anyway, I went down stairs to the lobby and found my bags just sitting by the back door where anyone could have just grabbed them!!! I was kinda' mad about it!! I asked when they were delivered and the Indian guy at the desk said "late in middle of night." Hmmmm. Nice United Airlines, real nice.

SAN DIEGO!!!

7/30/08

Well, I finally made it to San Diego!! I got in around 2pm (5pm Ohio time). It always seems like a long flight accross the country, especially when you are jammed between two other people! :( Of course, put the chubby guy in the middle. My shoulders hurt from holding my arms in for 4 hours! Ughhh!

When I got to San Diego, it was sunny and beautiful!! I was so glad to finally be back! Its only been since the Fall of 2006, but it seems like forever! The only problem was when I went to get my baggage . . . it wasn't there!! The same thing happened last time I came out here! Grrrr! So, I filled out the report and they said it was stuck in Chicago and would be in on the next plane and arrive around 6pm. OK, so I grabbed a shuttle for AVIS and got my car! Better news this time!! They gave me a brand new Ford Mustang!!! Its white and goes ZOOM easily!! I love it!! I paid for a compact car and got that!! :) So I took off and went to the hotel and checked in and then headed for Del Mar for a *$'s and a sandwich and then headed for Torrey Pines State Beach to sit and eat, drink my coffee and just chill for a little bit! It was so nice to be back and smell the ocean and the scent of pine and sage in the air. It was a little overcast toward the West tonight, but beautiful nonetheless!

The Pine trees in this area are Torrey Pines. They only grow in a few areas in the world and are different from the pine trees on the east coast. This is a pic I took of one of the branches of a tree near where I parked.
Right over the edge of the cliff, you could see one of those "Dream Homes" of California! I could not imagine actually living there!! So beautiful!!

This is the road that leads down to the beach. That is where I parked the first time to take the picture of the house. I usually go on down the hill and park right by the beach, so I went on down there and sat on the big rocks overlooking the beach to eat and sip my coffee.

After that, I went downtown to Seaport Village. Its right on the waterfront and looks out towards Coronado Island. Behind it is the city's skyline. It has tons of little shops and restaurants. What a great place to be! I usually go there about every day when I'm out here. Sometimes, more than once a day to eat or something.

When I got there, I headed straight for Margarita's! Its a great place for authentic Mexican food! I was in the mood to grab a couple of fish tacos or a burrito or something, but this caught my attention! Its a chicken fajita plate. It came with a few fresh made corn tortillas to wrap all that goodness up in! Yum!!!

One of my other favorite places it the Upstart Crow! I love that bookstore! They have the most quirky things in there! Plus they have little seating areas all through it and even up on the next level! Their coffee is great too. I stop there just about every time I'm there.

I was also pleasantly surprised to find out that they were having a sailboat race going on in San Diego Bay right then!!! I got some great shots of the boats as they passed by. I can't include them all on here, but here are a few.

Below is the Coronado Bay Bridge. It links the Island with the downtown San Diego area more easily. You can take a water taxi across too or drive all the way down to the U.S./Tijuana border (only about 10-15 minutes) and drive up the Silver Strand which also connect to the "island" but is the loooong way around.


This tree is one of several at Seaport Village that are my favorite kind of tree out here. They remind me of the Swiss Family Robinson! I can imagine the fun I would have had as a young boy climbing and building tree houses in them!! Even now I'd probably climb them if no one was looking! Ha, Ha!

When I left Seaport Village, I was exhausted, but couldn't stand the thoughts of just going back to my room yet, so I headed back up I-5 and went back to Torrey Pines Beach. I watched the last bit of the sunset from there. Like I said, it was a bit overcast out toward the West, but I got what I could!! There was a guy out there beyond the breakers that was kayaking!! He came in to the beach just down from where I was standing. A beautiful way to end the day!!

Well, its 3am (Ohio time) and midnight here in Cali. I still don't have my luggage!! So much for 6pm (like they told me originally). Wish me luck! I'd really like to take my contacts out, but I have no contact case or glasses with me. Dumb!!! They are in my luggage!! Guess I learned my lesson right?

CHICAGO!!

Chicago!!! Its one of the most unique cities that I've ever been to. I love the big city, riding the trains and the subways, shopping, walking by the lake, etc. There is so much to do there. One of my favorite places is Navy Pier! It is so beautiful there!! Michigan Avenue is great too and has the best shopping ever!! Going to Chinatown is a fun experience too!

Becky & I first went there a few years ago on a whim. I was visiting her when she still lived in Cincinnati and we just decided to go the next morning and then drive back that night! That was a crazy idea and very tiring, but it was so much fun!! Unforgettable!! I've been back a couple times since then, but this May we went there for Rob's graduation. He hot his Master's in Near-Eastern Archaeology and Ancient Languages (or something!!) from Trinity University.

These pics above are from the graduation. Top left clockwise: Rob and his wife Jessica, Rob with mom and dad, Me & Rob, Rob & Becky.

This is Union Station! It was so huge and beautiful!!

It was sooooo windy that we could barely walk around downtown! I don't know what on earth we thought the umbrellas were going to do for us! It certainly didn't stop the rain from getting us wet!! The wind totally turned the umbrellas inside out and we started laughing so hard that we could hardly breathe!!! So funny!

Train wheels! I don't know why, but I just HAD to take a picture of them. They were newly painted and looked so good I thought they were picture-worthy :)

Navy Pier!! I love it there! The Ferris Wheel is not to be missed! The view of the city is gorgeous from up there!!

Well, as you might have guessed, I didn't take the pics of the skyline above as I left my helicopter at home this trip!! :)
But, I had to put some in here to show just how beautiful the city is!!