La Jolla and Back to Carlsbad

Yesterday morning, Jordan and I got up really early, checked out of the hostel and drove up to La Jolla to do a sea cave kayak tour. We have no pictures of this experience because I left my waterproof camera case in Carlsbad. Oh well. I popped some Dramamine and we were off!

We were in a tandem kayak and had two guides who took our group out into the ocean and taught us about the unique ecosystem that exists in La Jolla Cove, which is located within an ecological preserve. We saw lots of dolphins that came very close to our kayak, garibaldi fish, seals and sea lions. We also ate kelp straight out of the water. We were supposed to kayak into one of the caves, but that did not work out because the water suddenly became extremely rough and it would have been dangerous. So, we were given free passes to visit a different kind of sea cave.

Sunny Jim's Cave is the largest of seven ocean-carved caves in La Jolla Cove. It is accessible from land via a hand-dug tunnel once used to smuggle Chinese immigrants and (not Chinese) whiskey into the United States during Prohibition. Boats would come into the cave carrying the contraband, which would then be brought up through the tunnel into a house situated above the cave.

The cave was named "Sunny Jim" by The Wizard of Oz author Frank Baum because the shape of the cave's opening resembles the profile of a 1920s cereal mascot.

This photo captures my good side.

We left Sunny Jim and headed over to Cody's for lunch. Jordan got a really delicious burger and I got a roasted beet salad. I always think about how I'm going to take pictures of my food before I eat it and then I eat it and realize I didn't take a picture. Case in point:

Dr. Seuss's house is somewhere over there overlooking the water, but I don't think it made it into this photo.

Birds

A girl. And a seal.

We drove back to Carlsbad after this and I was so exhausted. I passed out around 7:30pm and could not wake up. I can't remember a time that I was so tired, aside from when I had mono about eight years ago. So, I kept sleeping and Jordan went out into the Carlsbad night to fend for himself. And he did okay, finding his way to some pepperoni pizza and beer.

Now, this morning, I couldn't get out of bed either! When I finally dragged myself out of bed around 11:00am, I was so worried, trying to figure out what might be wrong with me. I started thinking about the day before and it hit me: Dramamine. I had specifically bought the non-drowsy formula, but apparently, that doesn't matter. I was knocked out cold for nearly sixteen hours and STILL felt tired. But now, more than being tired, I was hungry. So we went and got lunch at Board & Brew, a sandwich place that also sells beer.

Brews. Waiting for our…boards? Is board a word that means sandwich? We were waiting for our sandwiches.

We headed to the beach after this and laid out in the sun. Jordan went in the ocean, but I was way too tired and pretty much fell asleep again.

Jordan then went to the public pool to go swimming and I went for a run. After this, we went to one of my favorite spots, O'Sullivan's, for some beers and a corned beef quesadilla and it was SO GOOD. 

I don't have a picture of the quesadilla (naturally), but I do have a picture of the mustard that makes the quesadilla taste so amazing. Have you tried Colman's Mustard? It's absolutely the best! I have to get some of this for my fridge…when I have a fridge.

We then headed over to Coyote Bar & Grill because it was Taco Tuesday and I had had some good tacos here in the past. But they weren't that good tonight. We continued bar hopping until the bars closed.

The end of the night.