Oceanside, CA

 

Our primary purpose in California was to visit my Grandmother's Brother's wife, my aunt Lorene. She is 98. We are planning a trip back to celebrate her 100th birthday. We got to spend every morning with her outside of her assisted living facility. The lady who helps her is a really super caring person. I am glad she is able to use her caring heart to make life good for the ladies who live there. They have a nice patio and garden with a giant fig tree. From the garden, my aunt can look up to the top of the hill and see her son's house, pretty cool. We enjoyed the mornings with my aunt and the afternoons exploring a bit of southern California. I do see why people live there. It is beautiful and the weather is lovely. For many people it is worth the challenges. I like living where I live and visiting neat places like this though.

We drove to the beach, Oceanside. We spent one evening exploring the marina and walking on the beach and jettys and seeing the sea lions. We ate pizza at the marina watching boats come in. We drove up the coast on part of Highway 1 through a bunch of small, busy beach towns (I drove back on the interstate). We ate sandwiches and milkshakes overlooking the ocean. We met my nephew's fiancé, a really great person who also drinks her water without ice. And we ate dinner at the end of Oceanside's long fishing pier. Going up the highway 1 along the coast there is beach access where ever there are not cliffs. There is a public beach miles long. The parking in the lots is paid parking, but you can park overnight and camp at the beach for up to 2 weeks. They even have water and dump stations and restrooms with showers. in some locations. It is very easy to find nature trails, parks, and lots of people using them. Southern, coastal California is definitely an outdoor lovers paradise. I am glad we will be going back. 

I picked 26 pictures out of 149. I guess that was pretty good. 

The sea lions have a lot of personality. One of the big boys had his own float. A girl popped up, bonked him with her nose, and ducked back under the water. He woke up and looked around. She then popped back up and jumped up on the float with him.