point loma, california 2016

Hey, remember when I said I’d share some pictures from our last Ocean Beach trip of Point Loma? Yeah, I can see if you’ve forgotten already, it’s been a little bit. Good news! I remembered 🙂

We have never really explored the Point Loma peninsula (and BTW, try explaining what a peninsula is to an eight-year-old without a map). I looked into finding some new places to check out during our annual Ocean Beach trip that didn’t stray too far away and yet, still looked interesting. Boom – Point Loma! For the first “quick” trip, we stopped for fresh seafood at the fish market. Point Loma Seafoods is an experience! And one that I, and Yelp, would highly recommend.

So, funny story about this visit… A friend and I brought said eight-year-old niece to the fish market and proceeded to miss a turn and get tossed about on the freeway around the area. Niece has to go to the bathroom BAD. She is squirming in the backseat, and we are trying like hell to get to where we are going so she doesn’t poop herself. She is being a sport about it, until finally exclaims, “Oooh MY gaaaawd, I feel like I’m gonna have a baaaaby!!” Peels of giggles ensue, and before I know it, I’m laughing so hard I can’t see through the tears. I chuckled just now thinking about it… we had quite the conversation after that, let me tell you. HA!

We decided to explore more at a different time, without the kiddo. Point Loma has a lot to offer, and we could have spent a whole day there. Fort Rosecrans National Cemetery is located at the far end of the peninsula, with it’s rows upon rows of symmetrical white memorials jutting up from the ground against the ocean backdrop. I really wanted to stop for pictures, but didn’t know the etiquette and preferred to honor those who’d served and respect their loved ones. The cemetery goes on and on. It’s sad and beautiful and certainly gave us pause…

Beyond the cemetery is the  Cabrillo National Monument. The lighthouse and statue are cool, but what really got us were the cliffs and tide pools.

The tide was still too high to fully explore all the sea life in the tide pools, which was disappointing. We were so enamored that we even tossed around the idea of coming back during winter when the water is lower, just to investigate further. The landscape was stunning. I was relieved that we didn’t bring our young niece, because the cliffs were quite daunting. Even the grown adults made me nervous along the fragile edges! In fact, on our way back to OB, we saw a horrible scene along Sunset Cliffs, where an adult had fallen to his death when he got to close to the edge. It was a scary reminder to respect the area and be aware of our surroundings.

And so, this year’s Ocean Beach memories come to a close here on the blog. One day I’ll put together a travel guide to our favorite vacation destination. In the meantime, I hope you enjoyed the pictures. They don’t do the area any justice!