Coast walk in La Jolla
I really wasn’t expecting things to go as smooth as the did the day we took off for California. My sister was early to pick us up to take us to PHL. When we got there, I breezed through airport security within minutes. My boyfriend did not. He forgot that his cell phone was in his pocket and got a nice little pat down from a friendly TSA officer. But even that only lasted a few seconds.
When we boarded the plane, the flight attendent asked us to move to the seats next to the exit door. I didn’t know this, but whoever sits there has to speak English. The people who had bought those seats did not. So they were kicked out and we moved in.
I liked it there. As someone who is still a little scared of flying, I like to be near an exit and a flight attendent. Plus, we had ample leg room, no stranger siting next to us, and a tiny window to look out of. And there was a pilot sitting right across from us. I felt nice and safe in that seat.
Our flight wasn’t full so that meant we boarded super fast and we took off early. We landed in San Diego a half hour early. Nice. Once we got our bags, we picked up our rental car, were able to check into the Hotel La Jolla early, and were settled by 11:30 a.m. PST.
The caves underneath the La Jolla cliffs
Although we were both exhausted, we threw on some kicks and set out to explore La Jolla. Our first stop, Squires Cafe and Deli. I had the most amazing sandwich there, and I’m not just saying that because I hadn’t had a meal in six hours at that point. The sandwich was called, “The Shore.” It consisted of Brie, turkey, cucumber, and tomato on a homemade croissant. God, it was delicious.
Next we pulled out our trusty Frommer’s guide that led us to the coast walk. Here we got the most amazing views of La Jolla on top of their famous cliffs. We walked along it to where it took us to the seals sunbathing on the rocks below. They were adorable. All piled on top of each other, trying to slept. But like in every group, there was one seal pissing everyone off so they’d start to bark real loud, wake up, and roll into the ocean.
The seals of La Jolla
When we had enough seal watching, we moved on to get sucked into our first tourist trap. Frommer’s told us to go to the La Jolla Cave Store where you could pay $4 to walk down a bunch of stars to the inside of one of the caves that looks out into the ocean. Sounds cool, right? Wrong. It was a waste of money. Do not enter.
Here’s what you get for $4. You walk down a steep staircase that is dark and wet. It was like that scene in the 1971 version of Willy Wonka and the Chocolate Factory where they’re all walking down the hallway and it’s getting tinier and tinier. Well the staircase to the cave was getting smaller and smaller. If you’re claustrophobic like me, you’d freak out, as I began to do. Willy Wonka at least opens the door at the end of the tiny hallway to the garden that’s made out of candy. This staircase led you to a cave crowded with people.
Sunny Jim Cave
I did get one cool photo out of my claustrophobic nightmare. The cave is in the shape of a face, which was named Sunny Jim. I know there’s a reason for the name, but frankly I don’t care enough to look it up.
Once we were finished getting ripped off, we headed back to the hotel to chill. At this point we had woken up at 4:30 a.m., sat on a five-and-a-half hour plane ride, walked around for a good three hours, and it was still only 5 p.m. PST.
Our hotel was beautiful, but the fridge in the room was a fraction of the size of most college dorm room fridges. We spent a good chuck of change on this trip, so we needed to buy some food for the week so didn’t end up paying a ton more money on food. So what did we do? We went to Walmart!
We picked up some PB&J sandwich materials, a variety of fruit, and our tiny fridge was stocked in an instant. After a small dinner that night, I crashed hard and early. I think I made it to 9 p.m. 
I needed that energy for the next day when we went kayaking in the Pacific Ocean and for my first seafood meal EVER! Until my next post, I’ll leave you with a photo of our first California sunset.
La Jolla sunset
