LOVE THIS PLACE!!!!

One of the live-in grounds keepers, Coree, works at a cute sushi restaurant called Sushi on the Rock in La Jolla and was kind enough to let me drive in with her one day when she had a night shift. I was able to get there about 2pm and stay till around 11pm when her husband, Ian, picked me up on his way home from surfing. I went to art galleries, the beach, my first hookah bar and did lots of people watching.

I couldn’t wait to get down to the beach. I had promised Marley that I would take a picture of my feet in the water so that is the first thing I did. I had my feet in the cold water and was adjusting the camera when I went to click the frame I felt a weird rubbery heavy thing slosh over my feet as the wave came in. Startled I looked over after the wave began to recede to see the sweetest jet black baby sealion had come up over my feet and was just a foot away from me. He was adorable!!! I was so excited. He and I stayed side by side for about a half an hour. He taking looks at me and me at him. AMAZING!

After I finally left my new friend I went for a walk along the beach walk way. This section of beach is called Children’s Pool Beach ( http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Children%27s_Pool_Beach) and has only recently reopened after being closed for years. On the bottom right hand side of the collage at the top of this page is the Lifeguard Station. I thought it was so cute. Many pelicans and seals and sea lions were enjoying the view as much as I was. Played in the tide pools and talked to the crabs.

I just cannot explain how giddy I feel when I am by the ocean. I am and always will be in such awe and wonder there.

After I spent some time at a deli shop, The Living Room, overlooking the water and doing some computer work I went for a walk to see all of the art galleries. La Jolla is known for their art galleries. One of my new all time favorites is The Dr. Seuss Gallery: http://www.drseussart.com/. I got such a quick out of this place. Who knew there was such humor in the man? Okay I guess the world did and does, but there is more humor than the children books we are all so familiar with.

I did visit a few other galleries and all were wonderful. I visited one that had many paintings that depict Dante’s works by a Spanish artist that I thoroughly enjoyed.

After my visit around town I was getting cold. I missed being cold in the summer evening so much while I lived in the never cooling summer evenings of Tennessee.

I went back to The Living Room. Upstairs is a hookah bar. I had never been to one, but had heard a lot about them.Very cool and a bit different. I am adamantly against smoking as anyone who knows me even slightly knows about me. So this den of hookah smoking had never appealed to me. Well what an experience. I enjoyed it. There were groups of people sitting around tables with these hookah.

hookah

There was no awful smell. Actually the opposite. All the air smelled clean and sweet. I was a bit memorized. Ian, the grounds keeper and Coree’s husband, came and picked me up at the hookah bar about mid-night to take me back to the ranch.

About two weeks after this I left the farm to go couch surfing for a couple of weeks. Here is a collage of the hookah bar and one of my last days and going away party at Hidden Valley Ranch (oh yeah and my one and only time of trying a hookah:

Hookah Bar, The Living Room, La Jolla, CA

Last days in Escondido and my sad attempt at Hookahing 😉

Next up, my beach hosting experiences…