Cabrillo National Monument, San Diego, CA…

Not far from our park here in Mission Bay is the Cabrillo National Monument. The monument is on the western end of the land where Point Loma is located The road to the monument passes through Fort Rosecrans National Cemetery where the precisely placed white grave markers sadly enough seem to go on forever. Veterans from as far back as 1846 have been buried there. After we arrived at the entrance to the National Monument the  $5.00 entry fee was waived because of .our Annual National Parks Pass.

 

Our first stop was at the Visitor Center for information about the tidal pools and to get directions to the area best visited at low tide. We were also told to look for people in blue shirts who volunteer to answer questions and point out interesting sights at the pools.

The hike down to the Tidal Pools Trail was a short one from the parking area.  These are the largest and most prolific tide pools in all of San Diego County. Since it is best to come here at low tide to see all that it has to offer we planned accordingly.  We had fun hopping around the rocks looking into each puddle of salt water hoping to see something interesting and new. We saw a few fish and some interesting things such as crabs,chitin, shells as well as lots of varied anemones.

After hiking amongst the tidal pools and all the weathered sandstone features near the surf we close to meander back up to the statue of Cabrillo. This monument marks the landing of Juan Rodriguez Cabrillo who led the first European expedition in 1542 to explore what is now the west coast of California,  We found the monument to be interesting and the panoramic views surrounding it were absolutely awesome!!!  On the crisp and clear day we were there we could see all of downtown San Diego and much of Mexico and her islands offshore. With the blue Pacific Ocean in the foreground of San Diego and the sailboats floating like toys in a tub the views across the bay were simply stunning…

Nearby is also the Old Point Loma Lighthouse which sits high up on the peninsula but as fate would have it it was actually too high and when the fog rolled in none of the ships could see it through the dense fog, Hence it was abandoned and a newer one was built lower down near the sea where it was much more visible and useful. We heard this is a great spot for whale watching during the winter months but despite our search we were unable to see any spouts out in the blue sea…

After spending a few hours at the park we stopped by the Nazarene College but since there was so much construction on campus we only stayed a short while. After our stroll through the campus we elected to drive through the neighborhoods to look at all the interesting homes. Before heading home we stopped at the Noodle House in Ocean Beach ( a Guy Fieri spot) and enjoyed happy hour craft beers before heading home. It was fun sharing another fine day on the road of retirement with our daughter Katie who is enjoying a nice winter break visiting us here in sunny San Diego…