San Clemente Outdoor

Great Outdoor Activities Every Guest Must Do While Visiting La Jolla

The most difficult decision to make when planning a vacation to La Jolla is determining what to do with all it has to offer. La Jolla offers an excellent array of fine and trendy restaurants covering a wide range of cuisines, from fine dining restaurants perched atop jagged cliffs to out-of-the-way French Bistros. World famous for its indulgent soft sand beaches and year-round vacation sunshine, guests are awed by La Jolla's watercolor sunsets over the Pacific Ocean.

Originally designed as a safe place for children to wade, Children's Pool is a man-made pool-into-the-ocean that one was a children's beach but is now a famous haven for wild Harbor Seals. Visitors enjoy venturing out along a cement walkway over the water to watch the seals and their youngsters lounging, playing and slipping away into the ocean. Nearby, you will find the beautiful La Jolla Cove bathing beach and tide pools.

La Jolla is home to one of the most spectacular waterfronts in Southern California, complete with remarkable caves, rugged sandstone cliffs, soft sandy beaches and picturesque sunsets. La Jolla Cove is a protected marine sanctuary with an idyllic crescent of sandy beach sheltered from the ocean waves. The Cove is a wonderful place for swimming, snorkeling or just people watching. Continuing south you'll pass through the grassy Scripps Park- a staging area for family picnics, Fourth of July fireworks and free summer concerts.

A visit to The Cave Store affords visitors the opportunity to descend a 100 year old stairway, into a manmade tunnel, down into the fascinating and mysterious Sunny Jim Cave - the largest of several ocean caves in La Jolla Cove. The cave's first owner, Sunny Jim, hired two Chinese laborers in the early 1900's to dig this underground tunnel down to the cave. Using only picks and shovels, they carried all the dirt out by hand. In the 1910's, the only way the public could get to the cave was by lowering themselves down a rope. Today, you can take 145 stairs from The Cave Store. Sunny Jim Cave is the only sea cave in California that you can enter from a stairway.

Be sure to take a drive up Nautilus Street to the pinnacle of the city, the top of Mount Soledad. Dr. Seuss and his wife Audrey lived for years in the Seuss house on this mountain. From the park at the peak you can see San Clemente Island 65 miles west in the blue Pacific, North County beaches to the north and the San Diego downtown skyline and the Mexican border beyond to the south. The view is simply spectacular at night. The site is well known for the controversy generated by the Easter Cross war memorial that towers above the peak. There is no admission charge, the park is always open.

Torrey Pines Glider Port Park lies within Torrey Pines City Park on 350-foot oceanfront cliffs between La Jolla and Torrey Pines State Reserve. The rugged sandstone bluffs overlook Scripps Pier and San Diego's scalloped coastline. If you have ever dreamed of soaring like an eagle without powered assistance, you can register for a 30-minute flight lesson, then head out tandem with an experienced instructor for the adventure of a lifetime flying off the cliffs, over the ocean. Those less dare-devilish can simply watch as pilots and their strange crafts leap off the cliffs into the wind and soar away.

The La Jolla area has many great accommodations. Here are three informative websites with useful lodging information: Bed and Breakfasts in Carlsbad, Hotels in Del Mar California and La Jolla Hotels.

About the Author

Terry Hunefeld and his family moved to San Diego from Grand Rapids, Michigan in 1998. Terry took early retirement as CEO of a national training company at age 55 to pursue his passion of sailing the Pacific Ocean to observe seabirds and marine mammals. Terry and his wife Ann Dunham own the romantic Inn At Moonlight Beach Bed and Breakfast in the San Diego area. For more information visit: Cardiff California Bed and Breakfasts or Encinitas Hotels or Solana Beach Hotels.

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