San Diego - Day 3 - La Jolla and Mission Bay

The first place we headed on Wednesday morning was La Jolla Cove to see some sea lions up close. Eric's sister and one of her daughters met us there for the morning since they also live in San Diego. We started by heading to Children's Pool, where a big sea wall was built and we were told lots of sea lions like to hang out. The beach part of Children's Pool happened to be closed for mating or something, so we started out by walking along the sea wall. It completely exceeded my expectations. We saw tons of sea lions, and the beaches of La Jolla are just gorgeous!

The water there was so blue and clear! I took this picture because you can see through the water to the seaweed below - that's how clear it was:

The waves were crashing up on the seawall (which protects Children's Pool from the harsher waves) and a couple of us got a bit drenched unexpectedly! Lots of sea lions were dozing on rocks, and though I had been warned they were pretty stinky, we were far enough away at this point not to suffer that odor.

Then we walked down to another beach (that wasn't closed) so we could play a bit in the water. I hadn't brought bathing suits or anything because I figured the water would be too cold and we were planning on just exploring La Jolla anyway for the morning.

Eleanor was wearing a long dress, so I ended up tying it up around her waist because she wanted to run in the waves. Next thing I knew, Chris was carrying a drenched Eleanor up the beach because a wave had completely taken her out! She was surprisingly good humored about it all.

I only had one backup outfit for both girls to share and had completely forgotten to pack back up underwear for Eleanor, so she was stuck in shorts and a tank top the rest of the day.

From there we headed on a walk to another beach along the coast line and saw piles and piles of sea lions laying on the beach and a handful swimming right on the beach in the water.

Here is where they got really stinky. We were obviously very close this time, so could smell them quite well...yikes. Chris took a picture with the sea lions and then Eleanor wanted to copy him, which was super cute.

From there we headed back up the beach through the parks on the coast. There was a man blowing huge bubbles with fishing poles and tons of kids were running around popping them. Eleanor had a blast.

EleanorPopsBubble from Katie Stratton on Vimeo.

For lunch we went to check out a local brewery in La Jolla called Karl Strauss Brewing Company. The beer was good (according to Chris and others) but the food was also amazing!

After lunch we went back to Lauren's apartment for naps, and then my aunts, their spouses, and one of my cousins joined us again for the afternoon!

We went back to Mission Bay, prepared to swim this time (because we knew the water would be warmer in the bay than in the Pacific), and Eleanor was desperate to fly the kite Lauren had bought. 

Even Jane took a turn a few times though once just completely let go, walked away, and said, "all done" without realizing the kite would sail away. Chris thankfully was able to catch it.

We also swam all the way to a little island (Chris with Eleanor and me with Jane, along with Auntie Lo and Uncle Benny) before realizing there was a sandbar a little ways down that we could have walked to the island with. The island we swam to is the one with palm trees behind everyone:

We stayed there until dinner time because the weather was so perfect. The girls alternated flying the kite and playing at another little playground nearby.

My sister and I headed home with the girls and the rest of the crew headed out from there to check out a couple San Diego breweries: Bay City Brewing and Coronado Brewing Company (which was the more hipster of the two, with their flights being served out of cigar boxes, a counter made of all books, and a mural of Michael Jackson made out of post-it notes).

All in all, another great day!