California

The plan was to go to church then take off for the beach. We had thrown around the idea of going to the tide pools in Monday as it had been recommended by a family in our Full Time Families FaceBook group recently and heck it was a National Monument so it would be free for us to get into. With the day being overcast and not at all warm enough for the kids to swim at the beach, the vote to visit the tide pools a day earlier was unanimous. We had had a big breakfast so for lunch a small muffin and orange was served more as a snack than a lunch and then we hit the road. Since we had six people we borrowed grandma and grandpa’s highlander. The two older kids although disappointed not to be sitting by Samantha did like the cool third row seats. We stopped in La Jolla on our way down to San Diego to see the “Seal Beach/caves”

On our way down to Cabrillo we passed Point Loma Nazarene University, we joked that I should see if they have a CNM program (I haven’t looked yet, but I’m sure they don’t) so I could go to school there. It made me think both of Leah (from the FBC) and Nathan (from Salem Naz) as they attended there for college. The Cabrillo Tide Pools National monument was fun, we had high hopes for the tide pools as most of the free non monument tide pools in Oregon are so awesome this had to be even better. Right? We knew low tide was at 5:35 pm and the park closed at 4:30pm. We got there at 2:30pm right between high and low tide.

This little guy looks related to the trilobite.

The tide pools were kind of a dud. They were fun but nothing compared to Lincoln City, it was unfair to judge since it wasn’t true low tide. The rocks were awesome to climb on, we could have done that alone all day.

There are two light houses on Point Loma, one on the coast guard land.

We closed down the park, and with our piddley lunch food was our first next stop.
Samantha suggested a place called Stater 50/50 it got its name because it’s signature burger (and most of its burgers) are 50% ground beef and 50% bacon… Yes you heard that right. Crazy business. And it was crazy good. We are going to have to get back to whole foods plant based diet sometime I can feel my veins clogging just thinking about that burger.

We were super sad and reluctant to see Sam go, and oh so thankful that we got this quality time today. We love you Sam and will miss you as we head out at the end of the week.