Lighthouses in the LA area - now that's our cup of tea! If you are going to the Los Angeles area, I have got to tell you about our favorite lighthouses.
Point Fermin - she is beautiful and the setting is magnificient. You might want to take a picnic lunch and eat on the grounds. But then there is always the biker hang out across the street that is always brimming with some of the rather hardy local color and great food. Go at your own risk! We did once and I was glad Michael is a big guy!
Just a little ways up the hill from Point Fermin is the beautiful Korean Friendship Bell (do go take a walk around it, it is worth the trip) and up the ridge from there are the old bunkers from WWII. You can tour the bunkers and it is an experience unlike any other we have had. It is fascinating and can be quite an education.
And then there is Point Vicente. Try to see her at night from a distance. As you come around the cliffs and see her light rotating against the night sky, it is a sight to behold. She is wonderful. She always makes me want to wax poetic. Of course, look very carefully so that you won't miss the ghost of the lady of the light as she scans the horizon for her lover that was lost at sea. Anyway Point Vicente is where Michael started his proposal to me six years ago and he finished it at Point Fermin.
Some of the best scuba diving can found be found just below the Point Vicente. The path down to the water is known as cardiac hill (it's not too hard going down, but the walk back up ladened with all that seafood and dive gear is a killer). Don't be surprised if you see folks in black rubbery looking outfits coming out of the water with fish, or abalones or lobster (in season of course). It is, as we scuber divers call it, a really decent bug site. That is bug as in lobster. Don't ask why, I can't explain it! Michael says they look like the cockroaches of the ocean! He calls them LaCocaracha de la Playa! (for your Spanish students, I apologize for the probable mispelling.)
Michael has been known to catch our evening dinner here. Have you ever cooked a lobster right on the beach just after you have caught it? There is nothing like it.
There is always Angels Gate at the Los Angeles Harbor. Not much to see and in order to see her up closed you really need to be on a boat. Or you can walk the jetty which is about a mile and a half walk to get to her. She sits way out on the point of the jetty. She's fun and we have had our boat next to her on many ocassions as we were heading out to sea.
If you go to Angels gate, the Marine Museum at Cabrillo is one of our very favorite places and well worth the stop. Check out the jellyfish exhibit, if it is still there. It's way cool! And the 25 or 26 pound lobster is a sight to behold. And don't let the little kids push you around at the tide touch pool. Adults have the right to touch too. (Can you tell there is a story behind that one!)
Of course, if you get the chance, New Point Loma and especially Old Point Loma in San Diego are fascinating. And, here is where you want to go out in the boat, if you can. There is a large kelp bed just off the point at New Point Loma. The waters may be rough all around you, but there is a certain point above the kelp bed where the waters are almost always calm. One of our favorite "picnic on the boat" sites. Keep an eye out for those big military carrier ships coming into port. We had one come extremely close to us when we were picnicing there the last time. Can't say the wake in the kelp bed was real smooth that day! We were kicking it up ourselves making sure we were the heck out of the way!
One of our favorite days in San Diego was to start off with a picnic just below New Point Loma at the kelp bed and then cruise on into the harbor, stop at Alexanders for a snack and/or libation, a walk over to the tall master, the Star of India, and then back on the boat to the Hotel del Coronado for dinner. And if you get to the Hotel Del, you must go upstairs and find the haunted rooms. And the great big chairs on the second floor are a must sit in.
Of these lighthouses, I believe only Old Pt. Loma has tours. But it has been 2 and a half years for us, so can anybody tell us if that has changed?
Ok, that does it. I am homesick. We have got to move back home to California just as soon as we can. Pennsylvania is beautiful and full of history, but it ain't no California!
We have been trying to decide if we wanted to bite the bullet and go through a major move back home. I think writing this and remembering, made up my mind for me.
