Our first sightseeing stop with Jeff and La today was the Cabrillo National Monument. I’ve never heard of Cabrillo, but I’ve learned that Juan Rodriquez Cabrillo led the first European expedition to explore what is now the west coast of the United States. His contemporaries considered his expedition a failure, but Cabrillo’s writings provided a glimpse of the west coast of North America from a newcomer’s perspective.

Later Spanish explorers used Cabrillo’s records to navigate the Pacific. They learned from Cabrillo’s expedition that a wide, slow current flows from north to south along the Pacific coast of North America. Although this current provides a quick way to reach North America from Asia, it is nearly impossible to travel north, as Cabrillo and his crew found out.

There was heavy ocean fog when we arrived at the monument site. We were on a bluff at the edge of a peninsula, but we couldn’t see the water.

Here we are at Cabrillo National Monument, . . .

. . . and here’s the larger-than-life statue of Cabrillo, including fog in the background. That’s La, Jeff, and Ted to the left of the statue.

The historic Old Point Loma Lighthouse is near the statue of Cabrillo. It was one of the first eight west coast lighthouses to be constructed by the U.S. government. At 422 feet above sea level, its light could be seen from both the ocean and the bay sides of the peninsula.

We drove down the bluff to the beach to see tide pools. It was still a little bit foggy when we arrived.

I love watching the ocean waves. Watch the white cap of the back wave move from left to right as it approaches the shoreline.

This isn’t a good beach for swimming, but I think it’s picturesque.

I took a geology course in college and learned about sandstone, so I knew the rocks at this beach were sandstone. These circular formations, however, fascinated me. Professor Google told me that they are masses of mineral matter, usually cemented by iron oxide. They form in the sandstone layer and appear as rounded shapes when the surrounding rock erodes.

I thought these blocks of strata were interesting too.

The layered appearance of this sandstone is what I’m more familiar with. Jeff stands triumphant on the top of this bluff.

Jeff, La, and I are looking for sea life in the tide pools on this rock.

We found all kinds of sea fossils embedded in the rocks.

The arrow in this photo indicates a living amoeba in a tide pool. I think the black objects to the right of the amoeba are barnacles.

These black circles look like shiny rocks, but look closer. They are pools of water. When you realize that, you’ll notice the upper edges of the holes the water is in; the reflections of those edges on the surface of the water; and–especially in the pool in the lower left–the smaller stones and sea life in the bottom of the hole beneath the water.

Here we are, having a good time at Cabrillo National Monument Beach.

After Cabrillo, it was time for lunch. We went to Phillipo’s for pizza and salads. Does this make you think a slice of pizza would be good right now?

We all enjoyed it.

Outside of Phillipo’s, there was a chair on the sidewalk large enough to hold three of us. It begged us to climb aboard for a photo op, so we did. We did not need to hold anyone liable (see the warning on the front of the step to the chair).