Friday the 20th was our anniversary so we had a yummy lunch at Laguna Beach. The fish eaters (Sue, Brian) had some tasty seafood at the restaurant on the beach, while the beef eater (Scott) had, what else? A burger. It was a little cool and foggy at the beach, but so nice to be at the coast!
We visited this mission to see some more LDS history. While the Mormon Battalion was stationed in Southern California during the Mexican War, they helped build many structures throughout the area. One construction project was barracks at this mission. The foundations and some of the walls can still be seen below.
The church at the mission is a beautiful building.
The Battalion later camped along Aliso Creek, which happens to run behind the apartments Brian lived in while he was on his mission and there’s a marker there behind the apartments. So we visited it and got our picture taken by Scott.
After a fun day at Sea World, we had a quiet, relaxing morning at the beautiful San Diego Temple.
It is peaceful and quiet-looking, but just behind the building here is the freeway. As you come around a curve, the temple is RIGHT there on the freeway and it’s quite impressive.
The grounds were landscaped with tons of blooming geraniums and other tropical plants and it was quite lovely.
The two central towers are quite impressive, inside and out, and here’s a view up at Angel Moroni.
And the other spire, showing off the stained glass.
I grew up going to Sea World in San Diego and have always loved it. When Scott and I moved to Florida in 1992, one of the first things we did was take a trip to Orlando to introduce the boys to Sea World. We had annual passes several years that we lived there, we went there often, and Brian even got to be in the dolphin show one time. The trainer was very impressed with how well he did all the things he was asked, not realizing that Brian had the show memorized and knew exactly what the audience kid was supposed to do. So I requested a day at Sea World on this trip and we had a great time. It was a nice day, not too cold and not too warm, not crowded and we got to do everything in the park. We got there before the park opened and were able to go into the front section. We went to the underwater viewing of Shamu and one of the orcas was feeling frisky so we got some awesome shots of him mugging for the camera. Brian and I rode Journey to Atlantis twice and we all went on the Shipwreck River Rapids at the end of the day so that we got soaked at the end instead of the beginning of the day. Unfortunately, it had turned cool by then and when we got off the ride, we were freezing. We paid the $5 to cram into dryers they have beside the ride. It got a little start on drying our clothes, but mostly it just warmed us up. We saw the dolphin show, the sea lion and otter show, Shark Encounter, penguins, and lots of other fun stuff. So many memories and so much fun!
(click on a photo to see them all in a gallery)
We arrived in Southern California after a long day’s drive from Utah and went to Oceanside for dinner and a walk along the pier. It was so good to see the ocean again and smell the breezes!
Scott & Sue at the pier
Sue & Brian on the pier
Sue at the end of the pier with Oceanside behind her