TUESDAY, JUNE 30

TUESDAY, JUNE 30:

      Steve & Loretta picked us up around 9:45. Enjoyed a beautiful sunny leisurely drive on the Coast Highway throuogh the cute little beach towns south of us – Carlsbad, Leucadia, Cardiff by the Sea, Solana Beach, Del Mar, arriving at our destination, picturesque La Jolla, around 11:00 or so.

      What a beautiful spot! We just strolled along the waterfront for at least an hour, taking in the scenic coastline. Although not as rocky as the northern Calif and Oregon coastlines, it's still evocative of those places . . . northern California to be seen later in this trip, and Oregon seen last year.

                                                                         

                                                                        

 

 

An artist on the beach with whom Bill & Steve visited quite a while recommended a place for lunch called George's, just up from the beach on the main street of town. Easily walked up there.

                                                         

 
                                                      Quintessential Californian landscape

A wonderfully delightful place – on the roof of a building, overlooking the Pacific.

 

                                                 Umbrellas on top of the building gave us nice shade:

Great fish tacos with great friends!

                                                                 

 

 

     Just as we were winding down our meal, we felt it getting cooler, and noticed the clouds coming in, and Loretta remarked, “Gee, it looks like it could rain.” Within 3 minutes, it did! Big raindrops, but only for a few minutes. But enough to get everyone scurrying for cover. We told them it was ourgift from Missouri to help ease the California drought! Loretta & Steve say that the weather patterns here have changed in the past decade or so . . . hotter (which we know is pretty much true all over), but also significantly more humid, which we have noticed the last couple of times we've visited. They say it's due to more tropical storms down off of the Mexican coast.

       After browsing through a stunning art gallery, with paintings from places we recognized like Grand Canyon and Glacier Nat'l Park, as well as places we'll see, like the Italian Amafi Coast, the rain had ceased and we walked back down to the shoreline. Another beautiful walk – this time past stunning sea caves and rocks favorited by California sea lions, pelicans, cormorants. The sea lions' barking followed us. It was especially fun to hear them barking from inside the sea cave.

 

                                                                           

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Even spied a couple of young seabirds hidden away in a nest on the cliff.

                                                                          

      Decided to leave around 2:00. For another nice ride home, to arrive in mid-afternoon, right? Think again! Took nearly 3 hours to drive the 30 or so miles!! Seriously! We simply couldn't believe it – not even Steve and Loretta, who are used to this. We tried I-5, crawled on that for a while, then got off onto a surface street, along with hundreds of other like-minded motorists, apparently. Continued to crawl our way north, but at least with interesting beach-town scenery accompanying us. All any of us could figure out was that it was a mixture of home-going commuters (Loretta explained that lots of places begin have rotating times when they begin their shifts/business days; hence, 2:00 is quitting time for some employees) and summer vacationers. No wonder Californians pay about as much for their vehicles as they do their homes – they practically live in them! I really didn't mind the drive, nor do I think Loretta did (we were both passengers in the back seat), as we just chatted and took in the scenery. But I'm sure it was stressful for poor Steve the driver, and somewhat physically stressful for Bill, with his sore back. This morning, he'd said that he felt much better – almost good as new - the only thing really bothering him was that it hurt to bend or stretch his affected elbow. And he seemed to be fine during the day, and really enjoyed everything. But this long in the same position in a car – that couldn't have been fun for him.

      So when we got back to Oceanside at 5:00, we decided to have dinner on our own. Loretta & I felt that the guys both probably needed to de-stress and relax on their own turf. I think I remember her saying something like going back to the hotel and drinking!

      Shortly after dinner (grilled chicken), Bill went to bed with an achy back. But I expect he'll feel much better again in the morning. It looked like Oceanside had gotten a nice little rain - puddles around, and all of our beach towels left out on the picnic table were soaking wet!