Visitor's Tours

Being a tourist in your own town

Event Report 20130118

Back to Bill Caid's Home Page

The Experience

We had been sitting around the house for a few days when we were informed that Jessica's mom, Violet, was going to be in San Diego for a few days visiting.  We happily agreed to take her around town to see the sights.  We went to the marina district downtown and north along the coast to Del Mar.

The photos below are what we saw.

I decided that the correct thing to do for a visitor was to take them down to the marina district on San Diego bay and buy them lunch.  So, we loaded up the M5 and headed south.  We parked at Seaport Village and then walked the short distance to Roy's on the boardwalk.  Above, you can see the Marriott hotel with the mirrored windows.

The Hyatt hotel looks like some kind of chisel.

The girls posed for a photo.  Both were over dressed for the weather, which was off-the-chart nice: mid-seventies, sunny and no wind.

We passed a number of nice restaurants along the waterfront.


We had a great, if pricey, lunch at Roy's and then left to hike around Seaport Village.  Above, we spotted some ducks in the pond that was producing Van Gogh-esque patterns in the water.

Colorful wind spinners for sale at one of the shops.

These Asian gals were hamming it up for photos.  They, too, were grossly overdressed for the warm weather.

Seaport Village is an interesting place and the area around this fountain was popular with the tourists (like us).

We left Seaport Village and headed to Point Loma and the Cabrillo Monument.  Above is a view of San Diego Bay from the end of Point Loma.

The visitor's center at the Cabrillo National Monument provided another nice view of San Diego Bay.  Downtown is visible in the distance across Coronado Island.

The Cabrillo Monument commemorating the explorer's first visit to San Diego Bay.  Mexico is visible across the bay in the distance.

Next day we continued exploring the beach areas with a drive up to Del Mar.  Above, the cliffs provide a nice view of the Pacific Ocean north toward Camp Pendleton.  Visible at the base of the cliffs are the Amtrak railroad tracks.  The ocean was very calm with surf less than knee high.

Looking south we could see the cliffs of Torrey Pines and the hills of La Jolla.

From our view point on the cliffs we could see some of the high-dollar homes with ocean views.

We got back in the car and headed to the Torrey Pines Glider port and walked to the cliffs.  Below is the famous Black's Beach.  Note the placid condition of the surf.

The cliffs at Torrey Pines provided a great view to the north.

To the south, we could see the Scripps Institute pier and La Jolla cove.


Below us in the calm water, we noted a seal making its way south.  You can see the shadow of the seal on the ocean floor below.


We continued further south to La Jolla shores where we could see the other side of the Scripps pier.


We were hungry so we stopped for some excellent Mexican seafood at Su Casa in La Jolla.  When we were done, we continued south to the Tourmaline Surf Park in Pacific Beach.  The only folks surfing were the windsurfers as the waves were non-existent. The young girls with the paddle boards looked like they were scouting the waves, but judging from their new designer bikinis, the boards were more of a fashion accessory and they really had no intension of getting wet.


Many places along the cliffs have signs warning of unstable ground and landslides.


The windsurfers were ripping it up pretty good.


To the north of Tourmaline there were more high-dollar homes on the cliffs.


Some of the local color.

We continued south through Mission Beach to the jetty and then decided to walk to the water.  Above is the channel into Mission Bay from the open ocean.

The late afternoon sun caused the palm trees to cast long shadows on the beach.


Looking north from the Mission Bay jetty.  La Jolla and Mt. Soledad are visible on the horizon.  The beach area at south Mission was virtually deserted.


What could be better than running on the beach in your bare feet and shorts in January?  Not much, I expect.

The weather in San Diego is normally good, but these past two days it was excellent.  Highs were in the mid-seventies with no wind and no clouds.  These are the days that the visitor's bureau pray for.

We enjoyed hosting Violet and hope that she enjoys her trip back to cold, dreary Long Island.

Back to Bill Caid's Home Page

Copyright Bill Caid 2013.  All rights reserved.