Today after getting breakfast at our hotel (so convenient by the way if I haven’t said so already!), we drove up to Old Point Loma Lighthouse. I had read about this some online as a cool thing to do while in San Diego, and my friend, Kacey, said it had the best views of the city so we couldn’t pass that up!
 |
| Waiting for the elevator – this kid loves taking selfies, but who doesn’t? ;0) |
 |
| Just lounging a bit while he eats his waffles… I love how inhibited toddlers are… who cares if anyone is watching me?! |
It was $5 to get into the Cabrillo Monument area, but there was plenty of parking and it was easy to navigate. The monument and lighthouse were a lot closer than I thought they would be. We stopped by the visitor’s center and double checked my information about low tide and then walked out to enjoy the views. I always thought it was funny that they made us teach 8th graders about high and low tides, and honestly I think this was the first time in my life that I actually needed to use it or know about it.
 |
| It’s so bright, Mom! |
 |
| Cabrillo National Monument |
We were lucky today! We got to see an aircraft carrier being guided into the bay! I had read online that sometimes you can time it right to see this but I wasn’t sure how to know their schedule. It was so cool to see the little boats guiding it, and the service men and women standing on the deck and it came through the harbor.
After watching the carrier come in, we headed up the hill to the lighthouse. (Mom – seriously this whole day was like the Halifax Harbor book you gave Jackson! Trucks, Cranes, Ships, Sea Anemones and Tidal Pools!) It wasn’t a long walk, but a little steep for these mommy legs! So glad Jacob was here to push the stroller haha! At the lighthouse, there was a small museum off to the side, and there were rooms set up inside to model the living quarters of the families that maintained the lighthouse. It was really interesting. Jackson would have been ok playing inside of there all day. He kept saying, “Light-House” hehe.
 |
| Model of the light at the top of the lighthouse |
 |
| Going inside! |
 |
| Sorry for the glare/reflection… this was the kitchen area |
 |
| One of the bedrooms |
 |
| View from the top |
 |
| View into the light portion, it was blocked off obviously |
 |
| Staircase going up to the top! (This is actually looking down) |
 |
| Loves playing hide and seek :0) |
 |
| Views from the top |
After going through the lighthouse, we walked back to the car and drove over to the tidal pools area. Again, I had read about these some online and that they were kind of a “hidden” or not well known thing to do and not to be missed. They were easy to get to, you could just drive down and park but the parking lot was very small, probably 20ish parking spaces. So if you plan on going, you may want to arrive earlier! We lucked out and a guy was walking to his car right as we pulled in, otherwise we probably wouldn’t have been able to go see this!
 |
| Such a cool dude walking down to the beach area :0) |
 |
| Looking at some shells and sand! |
 |
| Touching some sea anemones |
 |
| Inspecting some shells |
 |
| Some sea anemones and mollusks |
On our way out, we stopped and took a few pictures of Fort Rosecrans National Cemetery. There are over 97,000 graves here of men and women who have devoted their lives to serving our country. It gave me chills to drive by it and just see how far it went and how the grave markers went on and on…
We were going to get some fish tacos at this place on the way back at the harbor but we couldn’t even get into the parking lot! So we just grabbed some In-N-Out burger instead because little man was needing a nap!
We went back to the hotel room for Jackson to nap, and then later drove over to Coronado Island. I would have loved to have a full day here to spend and really look through the shops and see the historic hotel here, but we had to settle for dinner, ice cream and park time! It is a cute little area though off of Orange Street with a lot of places to eat and shop. We ate at Cafe 1134 per my friend’s Amy’s suggestion and then got some ice cream at the Mootime Creamery!
 |
| Yummy salad! |
 |
| “Drink!” |
 |
| It’s hard to remember when we used to only take pictures of ourselves haha… |
 |
| We ate outside and watched the people and dogs pass by. |
Mootime Creamery was so cute… Jackson loved that there was a cow out front and the ice cream was so creamy and yummy! Then off to the park to work it off haha!
 |
| “mmm mmm so good!” |
 |
| Jacob got this awesome “Moo burger” ice cream sandwich… yes, I was jealous. |
 |
| Jackson with his cow |
 |
| Every dog we have seen on this trip has been named Jacey by the way haha… You think he misses her?? |
Last but not least, on the way out we stopped at Speckel’s Park for Jackson to run around a little bit. He loved the playground and it was really pretty here.
And that’s the end of our day!!! Tomorrow we are planning on going to Old Town San Diego!!
