La Jolla

After hiking around the Wildlife Park in Escondido, we decided to explore La Jolla on our way back to San Diego. I think La Jolla would be a great place to set a novel, but the kids weren't as impressed. Lots of hills, little parking, no bathrooms (just honey buckets), and the beaches weren't splashworthy.

We started at Shell Beach, which is rocky, with coarse sand. The boys climbed the rocks while Grace twirled about. Hayden came up with a science project idea - comparing the different types of sand along the Pacific coast. I told him to stick with Oregon beaches and he had a deal.

They waded in the water, explored the sea caves, spied the sea lions sunning themselves on a rock just off shore. From Shell Beach you can see Seal Beach (which is technically named Childrens Beach because it was designed as a sheltered area to make it safer for kids to swim. The seals think it's a pretty sweet place, so they took it over almost as soon as it was built.

Watching the seals was hilarious. They were crawling all over one another. The kids were pretty much over it all at that point, so we grabbed some gelato and headed back to the hotel. They wanted to go in the swimming pool. Which I pointed out they could do at home...