La Jolla, San Diego

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La Jolla in spanish is `The Jewel'. It is located 15 minutes from downtown and has wonderful beaches and fine restaurants. You could see lots of seals resting at the children's pool too. La Jolla Cove is a pradise for swimmers, divers or snorkelers. You can also see lots of people do the kayaking too. It is the nice place to hang out for a day.

One of my friends got accepted into a medical position at the Scripps Clinic in La Jolla! How Lucky!

This seaside resort community is wonderful to walk around in. The charming houses are expensive – there are about 40,000 residents in this beach which is visited by tourists and college students all year round. It is the home of UCSD (University of California, San Diego), the Salk Insitute and it also has a significant number of biotechnology companies.

So, when you eat at some of the nice gourmet restaurants along Prospect Street in this small-town atmosphere, you will likely run into some preppie type people. The rugged coastline is also a nice place to walk around in, to feed the seagulls…and eventually to reach Mount Soledad, a 822-foot-(251-meter)-tall hill that lies between Interstate 5 to the east and the Pacific Ocean to the west and which also has a huge Latin cross.

Known for it’s beautiful weather averaging 70 degrees Fahrenheit (21.4 Celsius) throughout the year, La Jolla entices visitors from neaby San Diego which is just 12 miles south of it, and Orange County which is just 40 miles north of La Jolla.

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Everyday is a summer day for San Diego because of the wonderful beaches they have. This beach is popular for scuba diving; it is also the only beach boat launch in San Diego. This is an ideal place to learn how to surf; you'll find many surf camps there where the students bravely ride the waves. There is also an underwater canyon off of La Jolla Shores Beach, designated as an ecological preserve, making this beach the richest of all for marine life. Bonfires and sunset watching are popular at the beach as well.

(NATURAL)

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There are many caves along the La Jolla cliffs. There's one in particular that's set up as a tourist attraction. It's actually a souvenir shop built around the cave.
It's not a big attraction, but interesting. You enter the cave which has stairs leading 100 feet down.
There are lamps set up along the hand rail to guide your way. You have to watch your step as there's a lot of moisture and the steps are slippery. You come out at the bottom of the cliff right next to the ocean.
The cost is around $4 per person to enter the cave.

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La Jolla, like most of Southern California, is an area of great natural beauty with a mixture of sandy beaches and rocky shorelines good for a variety of outdoor activities. The area has a number of public beaches, parks, as well as shopping areas. The most compelling geographical highlights of La Jolla is its ocean front, where we enjoyed the alternating rugged and sandy coast line and view wild seal congregations.

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My friend and I took an afternoon during our stay in San Diego to drive up the coast and take a look at all the cliffs in La Jolla. I really enjoyed the scenery and the one of a kind look of the landscape in the area. Without a doubt the cliffs are the biggest attraction but there are also a number of very nice parks to relax in as you take a break from your scenery gazing. The town of La Jolla is what you would expect from a wealthy San Diego suburb; the landscape is perfectly manicured and a number of shops selling art and fine clothing are present in the central business district.

Overall La Jolla was probably my favorite thing that I got to see while I was in San Diego. The natural beauty of the coast was very tranquil and the town provided a great place to grab a coffee or a bite to eat and do some shopping after the long walk up the boardwalk.

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La Jolla is technically part of San Diego but to me it felt like it was more of it's own community and not part of the city. This is a wealthy section of San Diego along the coast and it's worth a visit if you are staying in San Diego for more than a day or two. By car it should take you about 15 minutes in non rush hour traffic, more if you take back roads like I did or hit rush hour traffic.

I really enjoyed my visit there, the area around La Jolla Cove is beautiful and I visited on a sunny warm Wednesday afternoon when it wasn't too crowded. The highlight was my visit to the Children's Pool which has been taken over by a herd of more than hundred harbor seals, if I had more time I would have liked to visit the La Jolla Caves and check out a bit more of the coastline.

I put a bit more information on my La Jolla page.

The Birch Aquarium at Scripps is a great way to spend a couple of hours. They have over 60 underwater displays showcasing everything from California marine life to the warm water tropics. They have a number of "hands on" exhibits as well including a touch pool.
They have a monthly schedule posted on their website of feeding times for various exhibits including the shark tank.

Admission: Adult, $11 and Children, $7.50