Torrey Pines State Park

We had quite a busy weekend this week. We started with a "Dine-in Movie" which Teresa suggested. It sounded interesting, so we thought we'd give it a go. I drove straight from work and met Mitchell and his lab friends there. They'd been for ice-cream on the way and had picked me chocolate lavender flavour which was very nice. The theatre turned out to be just a regular cinema, but they would bring you food when you ordered on the app. I guess it's good for saving time, but you end up missing parts of the movie while you order and then you can't see what you're eating because it's dark. It was fun to experience, but I think we'll be keeping to normal cinemas. 

On Saturday, we had a day of driving around to do errands. First up, Mitchell had to drop a form off at the University. Then the next, and most important, stop was breakfast. We went to a place that Susan had recommended to me before called Mundial. It was very cute, with lots and lots of plants all around and even a tiny fish tank with small shrimp. I got a lavender oat milk latte and Mitchell got something called 'Mud Water' which was a brew meant to taste like coffee, but made from a collection of spices including cardamon and cinnamon. I also got something called a strawberry hand pie, which was two layers of shortcrust pastry with a layer of strawberries in between. It was also decorated with pink icing and a real edible flower. It was a lovely spot, with a lot of interesting choices!

Our next stop was to the Bank to set up a savings account now that we have more money coming in. Unfortunately, they were very busy, but we were able to set up an appointment during the week. It was then on to the next stop; getting Mitchell a library card! I took him to the one I work next to and he got set up. We then both chose some comic books (I got Sabrina the Teenage Witch) as that's something we can't get on our kindles. 

Our final stop was to the big mall (the one I went to on my birthday and that Mitchell hasn't been to yet). We got Mitchell some nice sandals for the beach and a new jacket. It was then back home to read our new books and get ready for our adventure the next day.

Sunday was a hike I'd been looking forward to. We went to Torrey Pines, which is a State Park and reserve close to San Diego. It's right on the beach and has miles of trails along the cliff tops and right down to the sea. 

It was cloudy when we arrived and you could smell the damp salty air from the car. We started at the South Beach parking lot and walked all the way to the top of the hill and down to the beach at the far end. We bypassed all of the trailheads, knowing we'd come back to them on the way down. Once on this beach, we could reach 'flat rock', a flat rock which juts into the sea all by itself. We arrived minutes after low tide, but the water was still swirling all around it and we had to jump from the rocks on the beach onto it. The top was filled with many many holes which all had anemones and tiny sea snails in.  

We had an early lunch as you're not allowed to eat on the reserve, only at the beach, so we ate as much as we could before carrying on. The first trail we followed was back inland and we crossed a lot of wooden bridges over the sandy ground. Once we were back to the main path, we took another route which took us around red butte and then to razor point. We don't know which specific part was called razor point, but it was all very scenic. 

Which bit is the razor?

Just little bench we found along the way

On top of red butte

We took a few different trails, all which gave us excellent views of the sea and fresh sea spray in our faces. We saw some wildflowers and lizards too on our way and it got sunnier and sunnier as the day went on. By the time we made it back to the first beach it was five hours later and we'd walked nearly 9 miles according to my fitbit. 

It was a great day, and a place we'll definitely be back to. 

Lots of love

Emily and Mitchell

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