Fast Trip to La Jolla

My niece and I have had a difficult time getting more than one day off together. She made a trade and we were able to make a lightening fast trip to California. We planned a beach day. We were headed to Carlsbad, North of San Diego. On the way, we got a facebook message about the bad fires that were going on. We had been clueless. We called our hotel and found out it was in the middle of the evacuation area. We cancelled our reservation and went with plan B. We found another place in La Jolla that probably worked out better for us any way.

We got in late Thursday night. Friday morning, I had bought a Groupon for us to go kayaking and see a sea cave. I was quite excited about it. I have brought my camera with me before, but this time I was a little nervous and left my camera, phone and keys on dry land.

So no photos.

It was a good sized group. And we were in double kayaks. I had not done that before. I prefer the single. My niece and I had to coordinate our paddling. She was a little faster than I and I had to slow her down a little.

The water was beautiful. And they said it was one of the calmest days they had had. The water was very clear. We did not go into any sea caves. Just by them. And they weren't really very deep any way. But it was still fun and we saw pelicans, comorants, bright orange garibaldi's and sea lions.

We did fine. Then when we were in 6 inches of water, we went side ways to the shore and got dumped over! I went face first into the water. I was very glad I didn't have my camera or phone.

We spent the afternoon on the beach. Keegan had never swam in the ocean before. She enjoyed herself. I waded out a ways and then relaxed, read and watched the ocean. The temperature was perfect. Warm enough to enjoy the water, but not so hot you fried.

We cleaned up and then went out for some nice seafood.

 After dinner we walked along the shore area. There was a beautiful sunset. The sea lions were barking. There were some people scuba diving in the dark with flash lights. That was interesting to see. We walked to the other side of the point and the waves were pounding in as the tide came in with a full moon. It was awesome to hear them, it was really like thunder. And the spray went really high.

This morning, we went to the Glider port to enjoy the view. This beautiful beach down below was almost deserted. That's because it's down a long steep path to get there. We did NOT go down.

 I was excited to find that the Salk Institute was located in La Jolla. I have always enjoyed the photos of this architectural gem. I wanted to see it in person. It was amazing to see, but really hot today in this stone courtyard.

 Our last stop before leaving to come home was the Birch Aquarium at Scripps. I loved these life size grey whale sculptures out front.

 

 And I love see the beautiful jelly fish. These are moon jellies. They had several different kinds.

 I thought the name of this fish was amusing.

 More jellies.

 A beautiful tank, huge, of the kelp forest.

 Tide pools, where you can touch the sea urchins and star fish.

 And these unusual sea dragons were cool too.

We were really only there a day and half, but we had a great time!