Will Hess

Our rental apartment is located on the most southern point of Mission Beach, and is great in almost every aspect. Since there are frequent plane fly-overs and boats going through the channel, it is equipped with two white noise makers, which helped us sleep in until 5:30am (PT). The one flaw of the unit is the severe lack of decent coffee options. We drank a barely passable cup of instant coffee, salvaged by the view of the dog beach across the channel right out our window.

Heeding the body's call for real coffee, we grabbed the two bicycles from a nearby garage, and set out biking down the boardwalk at a leisurely pace. We found a small cafe and enjoyed a real cup and some oatmeal, and then stopped at a market to grab some essentials for the apartment (like coffee and soap). The beach cruisers, while a bit worn and with seats too low, were perfectly serviceable, especially in comparison to some of the bikes we rented in French Polynesia or on other vacations.

We decided to squeeze in a run before the clouds were scheduled to disappear, running along the boardwalk to the crystal pier and back. Even after the run, we were feeling pretty good, so we made the bold choice to bike down to La Jolla instead of calling a rideshare. We raised the seats on our bikes, slathered up with sunscreen, packed a backpack, and hit the boardwalk again. We weaved through joggers, rollerbladers, and beachgoers for about three miles before jumping over to La Jolla Blvd for the remaining ~4m, cruising at our bike's top speeds of 9 mph when traffic allowed for it.

We arrived about 50 minutes later, and set about the surprisingly difficult task of finding a bike rack to chain up our bikes against. We consulted the internet, which suggested an option up a steep hill. We walked our bikes up, and were rewarded with a viable option. Starved, we did a quick search of close by lunch options, and chose a small, cute restaurant called the Cove House. Laura had Stone Crab Eggs Benedict served over an amazing biscuit, and I had a Stone Crab BLT w/ avocado. Both were fantastic in their own right, made even better with a margarita.

Satisfied, we walked back down the hill to check out the cove and tide pools. We hadn't really done our research about La Jolla, so we were surprised and delighted when we walked down the stairs to La Jolla Cove to find tons of Sea Lions and Seals! We had a blast watching them rolling around, playing in the tide, and snoozing in the sun / barking at each other.

As the tide picked up, we scrambled back up the stairs and hiked our way back up the stairs to retrieve our bikes. Since the brakes on Laura's bike were somewhat questionable, we decided not to chance it and walked them back down, before hopping back on and riding back to Mission Beach.

The ride back was enjoyable, and even the hills didn't seem too bad, but we were definitely ready for a nap by the end. We made another cup of coffee, suited up, and walked down to the beach with some chairs and a pair of boogie boards. After getting tossed around by the waves, swallowing a healthy amount of sea water, and losing my sunglasses, I decided the world had seen enough of my masterful body boarding. We soaked up the warm temps and sea breeze doing some people watching for a while longer before heading back to get ready for dinner.

Dinner for the day was back in La Jolla at a ritzy restaurant called Nine-Ten, where we had reserved the "Mercy of the Chef" 6-course tasting menu:
* Summer Tomato Salad w/ shaved pecorino cheese
* Seared Scallops
* Mushroom Cacio e pepe
* Duck breast
* Cow's milk cheese with fruit compote + nuts
* White chocolate cheesecake and guava sorbet

Everything was amazing, of course. We finished off with a glass of port (Laura) and Armagnac (Will).Read more