Our California Adventure – Day 5

After the Disney portion of our trip, we really haven’t had any set plans. We did have a tentative idea to drive down to Carlsbad to spend some time near the ocean, so since nothing else came up, we decided to go with it. I am glad we did. I have only seen the ocean a few times in my life, and each time it just amazes and mesmerizes me. This would also be Adrianna’s first real experience in seeing it. And the icing on the cake was the very nice weather (high sixties, low seventies).

I made sure to have the camera in hand as she stepped out into the water for the first time.

And a video too:

We got to talking with a local couple while Adrianna played with their two year old daughter. Or rather, their two year old followed Adrianna around and Adrianna enjoyed playing with the little girl’s beach tools. 🙂

Our hotel here, the Carlsbad Inn, is awesome. My mom had recommended it from their stay here some years ago, although upon later conversation she wasn’t sure on the name so we may or may not be staying at the same place they did. LOL. But either way, I love this place. The staff has been very friendly and accommodating and the hotel itself is really nice. We have a partial view of the ocean from our room and the beach is as close as a walk across a small side street.

We had intended on staying only one night due to the price, but they gave us a discounted rate when we checked in since there were no rooms with two beds available, so we decided to see if we could stay a 2nd night and sure enough, we could and they offered up the same room discount. That was a nice bonus.

The hotel is also within the Village by the Sea neighborhood, with many boutiques and restaurants within walking distance. We walked to a farmers’ market and purchased some fresh fruit and later, we walked to a local pizza place, Pizza Port, that was recommended to us for dinner. It was definitely a very popular place and the food was good. Many other people were out and about, also walking, and it kinda made me wish we lived here…

On our second trek to the beach on this day, the sun had already gone down past the horizon, but it was still bright enough for us to see some dolphins. Awww, dolphins. One of these days, I really need to get myself to Sea World or a place where I can see them up close! They fascinate me.

It’s an important and popular fact that things are not always what they seem. For instance, on the planet Earth, Man had always assumed that he was the most intelligent species occupying the planet, instead of the *third* most intelligent. The second most intelligent creatures were of course dolphins who, curiously enough, had long known of the impending destruction of the planet earth. They had made many attempts to alert mankind to the danger, but most of their communications were misinterpreted as amusing attempts to punch footballs or whistle for titbits. So they eventually decided they would leave earth by their own means. The last ever dolphin message was misinterpreted as a surprisingly sophisticated attempt to do a double backward somersault through a hoop while whistling the star-spangled banner, but in fact the message was this: So long and thanks for all the fish. –The Hitchhiker’s Guide to the Galaxy