Cabin by the Sea

Last weekend, I surprised my mom with a trip to La Jolla, CA. It's not often that we're all together, and it's extremely rare that we can take a vacation together. So, I started planning about two months ago. I knew I wanted to rent a house, near the beach. I scoured VRBO and AirBnB, my first choices fell through. A few weren't available. One was in Oceanside, but it wasn't my desired location. I decided to spend a little more and get something that really suited our needs. La Jolla is my favorite place in California when I found a property that looked like a cabin by the sea, I knew it was meant to be. "Cabin by the Sea" is one of my all time favorites by the Dirty Heads.

Frank was unable to get away from work, so it was just me, Mike, mom, Amy and the kids. I had to rent a van to transport all of us. It was my first time using the rental car facility. It is pretty convenient despite my experience being a bit flawed. There was a long wait to be greeted at the counter, and it took an hour to get the van on the lower level because none were available. I never guessed it would've taken 1.5 hours to pick up a rental. Thankfully, drop off was breeze. Even with paying the added airport fees, it was cheaper than renting from an alternate location. One thing to note is that all rental companies at the rental facility charge a daily fee for an added driver. It was not worth the $11/day to me.

Our drive down took forever. I mistakenly followed directions and followed the 215. I should know better, Frank has learned to take the 15. But it was my first time driving to San Diego and I couldn't recall for certain... so I listened to google. We stopped for dinner at Habit Burger, and finally made it to La Jolla after 9 o'clock. Two hours later than I intended. Oh, well.

The cottage I rented was the lower unit of large house. The upper unit is a rental. The tenant had moved out the day before. The owner is 83 and lives in the back part of the house with access to the rooftop lanai. He built the house. The surfing on Windansea beach brought him down from LA. He still has lots of spunk, we saw him chasing waves on the beach. It was a pleasure chatting with him and I'm so grateful he opens his home to visitors seeking a taste of life in La Jolla.

The cottage looks like a cabin, it is rustic, dark and a bit damp, but that's part of its charm. The space was larger than I expected and the accomodations were comfortable. The patio is shaded which offers privacy and protection from the sun. The location cannot be beat. We were a stone's throw from the ocean. You can hear the waves crash as you lay in bed. It's awesome.















The bench pictured above was my favorite place to watch the world go by. We'd sit out at night, the morning and afternoon. The ocean is a bit rough, and there is little sand at high tide, but Mike and Nick made the most of it. Saturday afternoon there was a pop up wedding in the cove directly across from the house. It was distracting and a bit of an annoyance. Mike and Nick were asked to move to the next cove over. The comings and goings caused a lot of noise and congestion, but we didn't let it impede on our fun. The weather was perfect and the water was warm (well, for the Pacific).







Addison was a real trooper. Not even two months old, and she had already flown, took a road trip and seen the Pacific Ocean. She wasn't too fond of the bright sun, but she seemed to enjoy the ocean breeze.







The next few photos were taken by Amy (and the one above of me).









La Jolla has several great restaurants, but they are crowded and parking can be a chore. It wasn't really conducive to our needs. We ended up at Sammy's Woodfired Pizza. We have them in Vegas, but we've never been. The restaurant was fairly easy to access and there was only a five minute wait. Our dinner satisfied our hunger, but none of our pizzas were particularly tasty.

I will add driving a large vehicle in Southern California is no easy feat. Driving the mini-van was a nightmare at times, particularly in Von's parking lot, when it was at max capacity due to shoppers, diners and visitors of the farmer's market. I had an Austin Powers moment like when he was stuck in the tunnel.

The next morning the ocean was fierce. Only surfers were in the water. It was great entertainment watching them ride the waves and simply watching the waves crash on shore. The marine layer was thick so the sun didn't come out until noon, but that's the California coast for you.









Our time was up much too soon, even Addy didn't want to go.







As soon as we were all packed up and ready to hit the road for a quick tour of San Diego, the sun decided to shine. It was so hard to pull ourselves away.



The last leg of our trip took us to Con Pane Bakery, Coronado Island, a cruise along PCH, and then to El Indio for a snack before hitting the road home to Vegas.

I'm happy that I could give my mom a beach getaway with all of her kids and grandkids. She didn't feel particularly well, but I had anticipated that. Which is why the Cabin by the Sea was so perfect for us. Even from bed, she could enjoy the ocean. Nick and Mike could come and go to the beach as they pleased. I'm thankful for the memories.