1/13/22
Today was a beautiful day. Weatherwise, it was mostly cloudy; I wouldn’t have minded a bit more sun. But highs were in the high 60s, and the scenery was wonderful.
After a leisurely morning here with my host in Point Loma, I took off into “town” (Ocean Beach) to get a delicious vegan “chicken” burger at Plant Power Fast Food, one of my favorite vegan fast-food chains.
After that meal, I stopped in at the co-op again to pick up a few more treats. I love the old-time feel of that place.
Then I headed out to my main destination for the day: Cabrillo National Monument, at the southern tip of the Point Loma peninsula.
Nearly every time I have visited San Diego in these past ten years, I have made a point to visit the Ocean Beach area. However, it’s a pretty big area, and not close to downtown. In the past, I’ve never had a bike with me, either. So I’ve always had to dedicate a whole day to get out and back by bus, and then I’ve been on foot once I arrived. (Hence why I had never made it out to Sunset Cliffs until last night.)
I always kind of wondered what was south of Peace Pies on the peninsula, but I never knew. Today I found out: it’s actually a national park! (I was happy to have my parks pass, which granted me free entry, and which brought my tally of national parks visited—both on this trip and in lifetime total—to four.)
On the way in, I passed many acres of a military cemetery, which was sobering and visually striking.
Once I got to the park, the views were gorgeous: ocean all around. The geographic area of the park was small, but the views were wonderful.
While I was up at the lookout area, I ran into two bicyclists who looked like they might be touring, so I introduced myself. Nate and Jace (hi guys, if you’re reading) were out for a day excursion on their bikes. Jace was visiting San Diego, and in fact is flying to Portland tomorrow! He does a lot of seasonal work in various places. Nate was local, and surprised me by asking if I had been staying in North Park, in a green house. Turns out he had seen me with my Brompton rig out on the sidewalk in front of my Warmshowers hosts’ house the other day! What are the odds? I love the small world that happens on a bike tour, especially with a Brompton. (In fact, an hour or two later I passed a couple on Bromptons, back in Ocean Beach. We were all in motion on the street, so there was no time to stop and chat, but we waved.)
Back in Ocean Beach, I did stop at the not only all-vegan, but all-raw, dessert standby Peace Pies. I got chocolate-mint and chocolate-almond treats, and then headed back to the homestead, lingering along the way to catch the sunset at the beach once more.
I’ll miss this place.
But, I’m excited for the next segment of my trip: east to Tucson! I’ll be taking a train tomorrow to LA, then transferring to the overnight train to Tucson. I probably won’t have internet access on the train, so the next blog post might come the following day. But I’m looking forward to my last few hours in San Diego tomorrow morning, and then the rail journey forward (including a dinner meetup in LA with yet another Brompton friend of Mimi’s!)
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