Walking the Boardwalk at Mission Beach, CA…

One of the reasons we love staying at Mission Bay RV Resort is its location. Nearby, with a short 10 minute drive or 15 minute bike ride, is Mission Beach. Mission Beach is about 2 miles long perfect for watching  the waves tumble in. Just south is Pacific Beach (another interesting community) where one can find just about anything they need. There is even a Trader Joe’s within easy walking distance from the beach.

Pacific Beach or "PB" is famous with the college aged crowd for its wide sandy beach as well as  its wide walking/biking/rollerblading trail along the shoreline. The area has a pretty lively nightlife with its many well-known bars where they all have typical beach mode dress codes. We usually leave the night time activity to the others as we tend to go there more for for evening walks. We love walking along the waterfront as the beach is beautiful and it is always bustling. We usually park at some of the free roadside parking a few blocks from the beach and take in a 3 mile or so walk all along the boardwalk that parallels the coastline. The boardwalk runs along the waterfront on both the ocean and the bay sides of the community so we have our choice of scenery.

It is always interesting to see the varied architecture in Mission Beach. The oldest homes only go back into the 1920’s to 1940’s but there are many interesting more modern places leaving only a few of the older “less pleasing to look at” structures behind.  “Mission Beach is the most densely developed residential community in San Diego with a land use designation across the majority of its land area of 36 dwelling units per acre.” In fact Mission Beach has the smallest lots in the city with many as small as only 1,250 square feet.

We like to take our walks along the boardwalk an hour or so before sunset taking in the views of the sun, sand and surf culminating in yet another ocean view of a splendid sunset. Along the boardwalk are many bars, eating establishments and stores offering the latest in beach gear. On the boardwalk we are passed by cyclists, joggers, skateboarders, rollerbladers and even the occasional Segway. Yep… if you like to people watch along a beautiful beach this is the place to walk…

Some other interesting places near Mission Beach are Belmont Park with a historic 73-foot-tall roller coaster called the Giant Dipper and a bit further inland  is SeaWorld San Diego. Seaworld once held a great fireworks show every night which we could see across the bay from our RV park. They no longer do this due to budget cuts and I have heard they are in a bit of financial distress since the release of recent movies and documentaries about captive aquatic animals and their treatment.

After oooohing and awwwing at the sunset over the ocean we usually walk on over to one of the local taverns such as the Guava Beach Bar to enjoy a happy hour beverage before heading back to the park…