Like most trips these days, my recent jaunt to San Diego was a mix of work and pleasure. As a working fine art and stock photographer, any travel to a new place is fair game for creating portfolio works as well as enjoying a new place – new food, new sights, new sounds, new people and even a change to the weather.
We left the cold, snowy winter of New Hampshire at 5 am. Grabbed the Dartmouth Coach to Logan Airport in Boston and boarded a direct Jet Blue flight to San Diego, California. Touch down 2 pm or so.
First stop after picking up the rental car was Galaxy Taco, in La Jolla Shores for some out of this world gourmet tacos with home made blue corn taco shells. Delish.
Then a walk down Scripps Beach and the pier at the Ellen Browning Scripps Memorial Pier. You’ve probably seen this pier before in fine art photography galleries like one of the Peter Lik galleries. It’s become a standard photo spot. The public is not allowed on the top of the pier as it is for scientific uses, but an under the pier shot is popular especially at sunset.
Then check in time at the Estancia La Jolla Hotel & Spa for my wife’s conference. She had a working dinner scheduled so I jaunted around the corner to check out the Gliderport and Black’s Beach at sunset.
The next morning took in the Salk Institute to soak up some modern minimalism vibe and Black Beach for some natural beauty and occasional nudist walking around strutting his stuff. Not something I needed to see, believe me.
Back up to the Glider port for a drink and then a tour of the University of California San Diego campus. The UCSD has a beautiful campus full of interesting modern architecture as well as an acclaimed collection of sculpture spread around the campus including a cool piece called “Fallen Star” which is basically a small house that appears to have been dropped from the sky like in the Wizard of Oz. We lucked out and got to go inside. And by
For sunset I headed back to Scripps Pier as well as another round of tacos at Galaxy Taco. This time I tried the mushroom taco recommend by the waitress and it was amazing.
I have to say the weather in San Diego in February was nice but it wasn’t exactly the type of weather I usually think of when I think of California surfers and beaches. It was in the 50s and 60s for most of our trip. Great in the sun but a bit chilly at night as I refused to pack a parka for a trip to San Diego but I did see people in ear muffs and winter coats on the beach.
Someone mentioned that when they moved to San Diego they purchase long underwear. Not so much for the outside but for the inside as I guess they like to crank up the air conditioning. We didn’t see any AC but plenty of outdoor heaters.
Over the next few
We checked out the famous San Diego Zoo at Balboa Park and the Model Railroad Museum plus the Museum of Photographic Arts. We also enjoyed walking the two-mile boardwalk from Mission Beach to Pacific Beach including Coasters for BBQ and Marcy’s Mexican Food as well as walking around the Belmont amusement park doing a lot of people watching. Just watch out for bikes, skateboards, errant surfboards and electric scooters.
One day we traveled over to Point Loma and Cabrillo National Monument. Checked out the Liberty Station complex of re-purposed military buildings into restaurants, shops
I think the only disappointment on the trips was a stop at Ocean Beach. A couple of people recommended it but when we got there we found some of the most disgusting public bathrooms, and tons potheads, stoners, hippies and homeless people. I don’t know, they might have been nice people but it just seemed a bit sketchy. Plus the pier was closed due to some recent high waves that crashed on the pier and took out some railings.
Probably one of the highlights was walking around the La Jolla area near the contemporary art museum and The Cave Store, checking out the cave ($5 each) and walking the cliff trail seeing seals and sea lions basking on the rocks and in Children’s Pool. Very cool and a lot cheaper than a ticket to Sea World!