Our day in La Jolla

Last October, during our trip to San Diego, we decided to spend a day in La Jolla. It was my husband's birthday, and we ended up having a great time. We really only spent about half the day there, but here's what we did with our time:

We started out the morning by driving up to the Mt. Soledad Veteran's Monument. To be honest, we didn't really look at the monument very much. What we did do was look at the amazing views that you see from that height. It was beautiful, and while it was a little foggy that morning, we got a great view of La Jolla.

We then made our way down to the heart of La Jolla and ate breakfast at Cody's. We got there around 9am on a Wednesday and it wasn't busy at all. My husband ordered french toast while I ordered the breakfast chicken sandwich with cheddar scallion biscuits covered in sausage gravy. Both were amazing. If you're in the area during breakfast, you should definitely stop here for some food. It did seem a little pretentious, but the food itself was really good. My son didn't really find anything on the menu that appealed to him (because he's picky. ugh.) so he just ordered some bacon.

We then walked to The Cave Store. Now, this is obviously a super touristy thing to do, but we weren't going to see the inside of a sea cave without going here, so we made the trip. It cost us $13 for 2 adults and 1 child to walk down the stairs. There was a super rude woman at the bottom, but luckily, they left shortly after we got there. There isn't a whole lot of space so I would say that area can really only hold less than 10 people at a time. It is very difficult to take pictures in here with the severe brightness outside compared to the darkness of the cave. We did see some snorkelers swimming by, which was cool. We enjoyed our time down there and no other people came down so I could have enjoyed the peaceful ocean waves for hours. The stairs back up didn't seem that bad. There were over 100, but as an obese person that isn't in shape, it wasn't that bad.

We went to get the car and drove it closer to where we wanted to go next. Be aware, we were there on a weekday in October and it was difficult to find a spot. If you're going during the summer, it will be next to impossible unless you show up super early. That being said, we did find a spot. We were planning to go to a cove, but on our way there, we got distracted by a ton of sea lions and seals playing in the water and sunbathing on some rocks. We knew not to get too close (even though apparently, some people did not!). I believe there is a law in California that you are to stay a specific distance away from these animals. We didn't get anywhere near that close. That didn't keep up from getting some great pictures though. We stayed here and watched these amazing creatures for about half an hour. We easily could have stayed longer though. In this same area, there was a cool rock that you could sit on and get some great pictures of the waves breaking on the rocks. I would have thought that lots of people would have wanted pictures here, but I guess they were all distracted by the sea lions.

We then walked over to Shell Beach because it was right next to where we were. We didn't have our swimsuits with us and it wasn't a very warm day, but we did take our shoes off and explore. The beach itself is very small. But it's so fun. When you first walk down the stairs, to your right is a little cove area that you can explore. The rest of the beach has the huge wall of rock going up to where everyone else walks past. It's actually a pretty easy beach to skip by and not notice. That being said, there weren't many people down there with us. My son loved standing on a rock, letting the waves crash against his legs. It was a great little break away from a lot of people. I wouldn't say there were very many shells there though.

We continue to walk down the coastline to the Children's Pool. This is where you can watch the seals. While we were there, there weren't very many seals, but we did get to see a couple. You can walk out on this wall that juts into the water to create an area of beach where the water isn't very rough. This is why the seals love it so much!

We then tried to drive around and take some cool pictures with some Instagram spots I had found online. Some of them turned out okay and others were a hot disaster. So, that was mostly a waste of our time and just be aware. If you're trying to look for a specific mural or photo spot, it might be difficult to find parking or even find how to get there.

After that little adventure though, we decided to get lunch. We went to the Taco Stand where my husband got a carne asada taco and a baja taco. I got carne asada fries and my son got a 1 lb bag of tortilla chips. What can I say? He eats much better at home, but we were on vacation. Everyone loved their food and I was pumped about my fries. They were delicious. We then shared some churros.

This was the last day of a somewhat exhausting vacation so we decided to go back to our hotel and just pack, watch movies, and order room service to relax and enjoy the rest of our time before returning back home. We had a great day exploring.

Coronado Island

In early October, we traveled to San Diego. Everything I read said that we just had to visit Coronado Island to go to the beach. Our hotel was within walking distance to the ferry (about ½ mile) to Coronado Island so while we could have taken an Uber for cheaper, we wanted to have a little boat ride in the bay so we opted for the ferry option. It cost us $30 for the three of us to get round trip tickets.
I feel like we made the right choice. Everyone loved the breeze as we crossed the bay. Plus, the great views and being able to get our sunscreen on during our trip was a great plus.

Once we got to Coronado though, we did still need to take an Uber to the other side of the island. We had them drop us off at MooTime Creamery so that we could grab some ice cream before hitting the beach. It was a cute little shop. The only seating was outside so if you plan to go here, hope that the weather is nice (although, it is California, so…). I had the grasshopper sundae. It was delicious! My husband had the low tide mudslide and my son had the dirt+worms sundae. I don’t think there are any bad options here. Everyone thoroughly enjoyed what they had.

When we were done eating, we walked down to the beach. It was beautiful. There were rocks where the beach met the sidewalk, with stairs down to the sand. We walked along the sand path to the edge of the water. Then, we found a place for our stuff. It seemed like there were plenty of people at the beach, but it still didn’t feel busy. I mean, we were there on a Saturday afternoon, but it was October. We stayed at the beach for about 3 hours. At first, we weren’t having very much fun in the water because there was just SOO much seaweed. But we soon discovered that if you just went out further, there wasn’t any seaweed. We ended up having a great time.

Eventually, we did get tired though, so we ordered an Uber to take us back to the ferry stop. There are 2 ferries that stop here. One goes to the north stop and one goes to the south stop. We originally got on at the south stop, but we wanted to take the ferry to the north stop so that we could go to a restaurant that was right there.
We were only on Coronado for about 4 hours, but we did really enjoy it.

Virginia Beach

During the two week road trip I took with my son, we visited cities, mountains, the country and we went whale watching, did a factory tour, visited a theme park, went hiking, learned about history, etc. My point is that I tried to really put a little bit of everything in this trip. So we couldn’t get through this trip without visiting the beach. I looked around and decided on Virginia Beach.

After seeing how much a nice, beachfront hotel cost, I lowered my standards! So, I just needed a clean, close to the beach hotel. That’s when I found it. We stayed at the Days Inn by Wyndham Virginia Beach at the Beach at 1000 Atlantic Ave. They have free wifi, free breakfast, mini fridge, microwave, and coffee maker. Plus, it’s right across the street from the beach. While the room did look a little dated, it was pretty clean, so I can’t complain. Overall, it was a decent place to stay, especially since we only stayed for one night. And I would absolutely stay here again. But it’s definitely not a 5 star hotel. Or a 4 star hotel. Or a 3 star hotel. But you get what you pay for, right?

When we woke up in the morning, we got our swimsuits on, packed our bag of beach stuff, and headed out the door. We crossed the street, walked across the boardwalk, down the stairs, and across the beach to the ocean. It was a little chilly, but we got used to it. The water itself isn’t very clear here like it is in the caribbean, but it’s still fun for kids. There weren’t very many people there at 8:30 in the morning. However, when we left at 10am, it was starting to get pretty packed. I’m not big on spending hours upon hours at the beach so we left pretty early. Plus, I wanted to get back to the hotel and take a shower before we had to check out.

Owen’s Notes: “Shells! Beach! Sea! The waves were really strong there. Some of the waves, I dove under and sailed away with it. I really liked that.”

We then made our way back toward the beach to find Cherie’s Bike Rental. It was right between the beach and our hotel. The company actually has 15 locations along the boardwalk. We rented a surrey bike! It cost us about $25 for the hour. We rode up and down the bike trail that runs along the boardwalk. There were a lot of groups on surrey bikes on the trail so we were definitely not alone. It’s super easy to drive, especially when multiple people are pedalling.

Owen’s Notes: “It was actually pretty hard to pedal all that way. It was pretty tiring. I also liked it.”

After we returned our bike, we decided to eat lunch at the place right next door called Calypso Bar and Grill. Seriously, we never travelled any more than a block to do anything! It was great. We decided to sit outside so that we could be close to the beach and still see the ocean. That was definitely my favorite part. I ordered crab hush puppies as an appetizer. They were really good. I’m a huge fan of hush puppies though. They basically tasted like a regular hush puppy, but with a piece of crab in the middle. For my main meal, I ordered the lobster mac and cheese. It was a huge portion and there was no way I was going to eat the whole thing, but it was absolutely delicious. If you’re in the area, for sure check this place out.

Overall, we had a great time in Virginia Beach, even though it was a short visit. I would absolutely return and choose these same activities again!