San Diego

Yixin, Mian and I left early on Wednesday morning for San Diego. The city is about two hours South from my residence and only minutes away from the border of Mexico. For those who have never been there before, I would highly recommend San Diego as your next travel destination. There are many places to go and many activities to do in and around San Diego. I assure you that you could not finish everything you wanted to do within the time you had. I speak from personal experience.

Take our trip to San Diego, for instance. Day One was spent at the San Diego Zoo. It is impossible to go to San Diego and not see the zoo. The zoo is one of the city's most famous (and popular) attractions. A panda was recently born there, but we missed it when the zoo keepers let it out. We did manage to catch a glimpse of this panda eating dinner, however.
Day Two we spent in La Jolla at Torrey Pines State Beach and State Reserve. There are a number of trails in the reserve, and we walked every single one.

Some of the pines native to the area.
We like living on the edge.
This is what San Diego looked like before development.

Mian examines a Yucca plant. Did you know that Yucca plants are edible?

The last trail took us down to the beach, so after avoiding waves for a few minutes we gave up, took off our shoes and socks, and walked back along the beach to our starting point.

We walked directly beneath some of the trails we traveled earlier in the day.
A hang glider flying over the reserve.

We ate dinner in the Gas Lamp District. We avoided this particular restaurant, however. Chinese Food and Louisiana Fried Chicken?

We spent Day Three at La Jolla Cove before heading back up the coast.

This pigeon was particularly people-friendly.

Seals sunbathing during pupping season.
There was a pier of sorts from which to view the ocean and the seals.
We watched a girl fall into and climb out of the ocean at this cliff. Maybe we shouldn't live on the edge...
The water is cold, but some people brave it for the surf.
We encountered some Contemporary Art on the way back to our starting point.

On the way up north, we stopped by Mission San Luis Rey.

The mission church.
A small courtyard.
Through this archway you can make out the first pepper tree grown in California.
A statue on the grounds of the mission.
The Indian women who lived on the mission would wash clothes here.
Mian asked me why I was taking a picture of a wall. The answer is, the wall is made of adobe bricks.