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We took full advantage of our beachfront apartment on Tuesday morning: All the locals were already off being busy with their day jobs as we awoke nice and early (we still haven't fully adjusted to the -8 hour time difference and tend to wake naturally at 6:30). On the full stretch of beach between Oceanside pier and harbour there were one or two families, a couple of lone book readers and a gaggle of early bird surfers about fifty meters out. We set up camp watching the surfers - the waves were being kinder to them than over the weekend when the ocean was calmer - and then decided to join them. When I say join them I mean we ventured out into the cold water (Californian cold mind, not Saltcoats cold). The waves were fair crashing so even although we were being cautious it didn't take long before the Pacific decided to drench us anyway.
Around midday were made some turkey sandwiches and packed for a wee jaunt down the coast. Until now we'd been taking the main interstate highway back and forward to San Diego which moves inland from the coast and skips out lots of little towns. We had spotted a sign for 'Historic Route 101' earlier in the week and followed this route through Carlsbad, Del Mar, Torrey Pines and finished up in La Jolla. The road passed through the earlier towns alongside lovely sandy beaches. However, La Jolla sits atop a cliff face and is packed with really fancy shops (Ailsa tells me they were expensive but I didn't recognise any names apart from Cartier). Almost by complete accident (or fate?!) we parked beside a cup cake diner. They specialised in organic cup cakes with a huge range of flavours and the walls were covered with newspaper and magazine reviews all exclaiming it to be 'the best place to go for desserts in the San Diego area'. Quite a fortuitous accident then! Afterwards we popped into a souvenir shop and, after telling the shop assistant where our accents were from, she got really excited and insisted we must visit the town's roundabout! Handily the roundabout was also in the area of more affordable restaurants, which we were more interested in and so listened to her directions diligently.
We found a great place offering both things we were looking for - cocktails and local cuisine. Ailsa tucked into a rocket fuelled Mai-Tai Martini whilst I ordered a mix of duck and fish tacos for sharing. The tacos were absolutely delicious and filled us with a happy glow for the drive back up the coast to our apartment. Could really get used to this Californian lifestyle ....
- comments
Yvonne Don't leave us in suspense...why was the roundabout a recomendation? Also duck and fish tacos! Just 'cos ducks eat fish does not make that a good combination, gross.