Point Loma

The Family dresses up to pick up an award.
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Today was a slower paced day in San Diego. Stephanie and the kids hit the pool in the morning while I attended more of the conference. After lunch, they joined me at the conference while I picked up an award on behalf of my company. It was great to see them all dressed up!

After the conference was over, our destination was the Cabrillo National Monument, located on Point Loma. Stephanie scoped out our route and we rode a combination of trolleys and buses to get there. We arrived about 4:15, after spending an hour in transit. Everything at the park closed down at 5:00, so we had to hustle through our sightseeing.

Everybody tries Shark Tacos!

Steve, Miles and Mallory in front of the Cabrillo National Monument.
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First of all, the kids got their Junior Ranger badge from the Park Ranger. Luckily, the Ranger allowed us to use the honor system as we did not have time to complete the workbook due to our limited schedule (but we promise to make our kids do it!).

Point Loma provides a grand view of the San Diego Bay. The sky was pretty hazy, likely due to a combination of smoke and smog, but as long as the sun is shining – we’re happy.

The Cabrillo National Monument is named after Juan Cabrillo. He was the first European to explore what is now the west coast of the United States. The Cabrillo National Monument was created in 1913 by President Woodrow Wilson.

Miles and Mallory at Point Loma, with the San Diego skyline in the background.
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One interesting tidbit of information that we learned while there was that during a period of about 75 years, from 1525 to 1600, the population of Mexico dwindled from 25 million to 3 million, due to the diseases brought over by the Europeans. I had always known that smallpox, and other like diseases, were hard on the Mexican people, but I never realized it was that severe.

But also at Point Loma are several other interesting things, the Point Loma Lighthouse and the Fort Rosecrans National Cemetery.

The Point Loma Lighthouse.
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The lighthouse was first put in use in 1855, and was utilized until 1891. The lighthouse sits 422 feet above sea level, which sounds great since it is so high, but… problems arose because it was so high that fog and low clouds often obscured the light from the lighthouse.

We were able to take a quick self-guided tour of the lighthouse and climb to the top.

We did not get a chance to see the National Cemetery for very long, just briefly as we drove by it. But there is no denying that seeing row after row of those familiar white headstones will make you stop and thank a veteran.

The "Red Bottlebrush" is a native plant to the area.
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We rode our public transportation back downtown and made our way to Seaport Village. This would be best described as an outdoor shopping mall, right on the harbor. We walked nearly all the way around the village in search of dinner. We finally located a restaurant and ordered by 7:30. We all shared an order of fish tacos, filled with shark meat, as our appetizer. Everybody enjoyed eating shark!

After dinner, we walked back to our hotel, which was about a mile away. We have worn the kids out this week. Seems like every night when we get back to the hotel, they get right to bed, and two minutes later they are sound asleep.

Waiting for the bus at the Cabrillo National Monument.
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Tomorrow will be one of the highlights of our trip, as we are going to visit the San Diego Zoo. Mallory has already requested that I remove all of the pictures from her camera from today, because she is going to go crazy taking pictures at the zoo.