Highlights:
Hotel De Coronado, Sunset Cliffs Surfer, La Jolla, Ocean Beach Pier, Mission Beach / Cannonball Restaurant
Ocean Beach:
This was our least favorite beach. I wanted to go because it has the image of the old school beach and pier with surfers and a bohemian atmosphere. The truth was the area looked a little sketchy. The people hanging out along the grubby looking cement sea wall were mostly smoking pot. The pier was a nice walk, but even though we parked in front of a restaurant/bar we decided to move on after our walk. While homeless people are virtually everywhere in San Diego, this ws the only place where we were approached for money.
Old school look Cafe on the pier.
The bars and t-shirt shops approaching the pier.
La Jolla is just north of San Diego and seems a world apart from Ocean Beach and a lot of fun. Here were Bentley convertibles driving by and high end shopping.
Ellen Browning Scripps Park is on the waterfront and has a reasonable amount of free 3 hour parking.
There is a walkway along the shore in front of the park that goes to The Children's Pool - home to many seals.
Point La Jolla on the north end of the park is home to Sea Lions.
Hotel De Coronado: Is magical. It is where Some Like it Hot was filmed which was reason enough for me to go. Just bring your checkbook! $20/hour for the valet parking. You get 2 extra hours if you spend $50 inside. That wasn't a problem. I felt we had to have lunch at the waterfront open air deck. That is why we came, right? I think our bill for two drinks, two sandwiches and a ceviche appetizer was around $150. But the view was great ha ha.
The place is so big the best view is to look back from the water.
This man builds sand castles for tips.
The waves were really nice that day.
We had to take Stephanie here when she came to visit. AS the sun started going down, it just got prettier and prettier.
Adult beverages to watch the sun go down at the tiki bar.
Looking at the water from the tiki bar. Those cabanas were $$$ to rent! We went for the free stole at the tiki bar.
There are many outside dining options here. The main dining room is gorgeous. This is just a table on the walk and it looks nice. Don't think the umbrella was on fire.
Leaving the Hotel De Coronado.
Mission Beach was our favorite in San Diego. It is on the north end - just south of La Jolla and near Sea World and Mission Bay which is a beautiful park.
A couple restaurants and bars are at the end with a huge free parking lot. Rare and a great reason to go there. This walkway goes on for a couple miles to the pier.
Along the way to the pier we people watch and look at the endless row of homes/condos.
Crystal Pier at the north end of the beach
Surfing around the pier.
Cannonball was a great sushi restaurant on the second floor with great ocean views. I had the best hand roll ever and excellent drinks. This was my happy place on this trip.
We enjoyed it enough to bring Stephanie on our second trip to this beach. This time we stayed for sunset.
There is a long row of seating along the length of the building so that everyone has a water view.
There are several of these community seating areas with a fire.
The view!
Sunset Cliffs. This is between Ocean Beach and Cabrillo National Monument. A few spaces of roadside parking give access to a great surfing spot. I got out the big lens and captured some good surfers.
