Previously on Ana Adventure…
I left you last with an explanation of how my Everest trip fell apart. And in its place, I decided to continue crossing things off my 25 Things List. So, I booked a flight to California, and headed toward San Diego with my Dad.
Number 25 on my list was to go skateboarding in California with my Dad. For most of my life, I’d heard fun stories about him growing up in California, which almost always included him skateboarding in some way, shape, or form – from skateboarding down the legendary Black Hill in San Diego to grabbing onto strangers’ car bumpers and hitching a ride to school. While gathering ideas for my 25 Things List, my Dad told me I should put skateboarding in San Diego with him on my list, and so onto the list it went!
When we arrived in California, we drove to Pacific Beach and walked around, looking for a few skateboard shops that came at the recommendation of some of our family members in California.
We ventured into Soul Grind, where I found a sweet Arbor board that I really liked.
1995 – what a good year!
My dad wanted to create his own board, so we walked around the store for awhile and talked with the owner. We found out that the owners of the shop were a father-daughter duo, so it seemed like the universe demanded that we purchase our boards from them! I bought my beautiful board, and my dad picked out the components of his board and assembled it later that evening.
What an overachiever.
Since we were at PB, we obviously had to take a jaunt to the beach.
Those are the faces of two people who’s stress has metaphorically been washed away by the comfort of the ocean’s proximity.
That evening, we met up with some family members for a fun dinner at THE BEST seafood place – Blue Water Seafood in Ocean Beach. They have a few locations, but at Ocean Beach, you’re right on the ocean.
We were treated to delicious food and a beautiful sunset.
I chose the thresher shark tacos, because it felt adventurous.
They were so. damn. good.
LOOK AT THEM.
Great food, great company, great views! Nothing more you could ask for.
The next day, we woke up bright and early and drove to what’s often referred to as the location of skateboarding’s golden age. Back in the 1970s, there was a housing development in La Costa that never, well, developed. However, they paved a sick road that went up and down crazy hills, all of which had a stunning view of the ocean. Smooth pavement that hadn’t yet been worn down by vehicles + lack of traffic = a skateboarder’s haven, and it became a place for skateboarders to kick around and skate down some insane hills with beautiful views. Black Hill became a place that skateboarders traveled to from all over Southern California and beyond.
My Dad and I drove in the general direction of where he remembered going as a kid, and he was amazed by how much the area had changed. We were driving down a winding road through a neighborhood when he said “Oh my God, Ana, I think we’re here.”
What had been an abandoned development with no housing was now a street packed with houses.
The street was incredibly windy and had inclines that were utterly terrifying to me, a very bad and novice skateboarder, so we drove to the top of the hill, which had a flatter range of space, and didn’t have any houses built on the right side, so there was a little less traffic driving by.
Santa Cruz t-shirt clashing with my Arbor board, I settled at the top of the hill and stared down.
Though it was the flattest part of the hill, it still felt very steep to me.
My Dad assured me I would be fine, and that I wouldn’t be going fast enough to break anything if I fell. Which was very calming and relaxing to hear.
“If you feel yourself losing control, just roll into the grass,” he said, pointing at the even steeper grass-covered side of the hill that rolled gradually toward a lagoon. To be fair, there was a pretty large expanse of hill that I would have had to roll across before actually tumbling down the hill, but I was feeling the nerves.
I cautiously pushed myself forward, and he was right – I was totally fine. I was slow and uncoordinated, but I was totally fine. I slowly rolled down the hill and yelled “I am very nervous.” I jumped off the board before I caught too much speed.
“Why don’t you try skating up the hill first,” he suggested.
This was a much better idea that I wished had been suggested earlier, so I began skating up the hill until I built my confidence up a bit more to roll slowly down the hill.
We skateboarded around for awhile, enjoying a quiet California breeze and the sound of our wheels moving across the smooth pavement.
We had a ton of fun.
And I got to cross it off my 25 Things List!
We drove into Carlsbad, where my Dad had lived, and went to their skatepark, where we didn’t actually end up skateboarding, because it was mostly a bowl that I definitely did not have the expertise to skate into. However, it did have a sign that, I kid you not, said, “Caution: Watch for rattlesnakes,” which made me very curious about the episode that had prompted such a sign to be placed there.
After our skateboarding excursion, we headed to Mission San Luis Rey de Francia in Oceanside, where some of our family members are buried.
It was incredibly beautiful and peaceful.
It’s called the “King of Missions,” and was one of the largest missions in California.
Built in 1815, the interior was crazy – you could see the old wood and painted designs on the ceiling.
While we were in the church, you could hear the soft sound of Franciscan Friars singing.
It was a beautiful space.
Outside was a lovely garden, which boasted the oldest living Pepper Tree in California.
We were getting pretty hungry after a day of adventures and reminiscing, so we headed to a place I’d been dreaming about since the last time I’d visited California: Ruby’s Diner.
You can bet your guacamole that I eagerly ordered their out-of-this-world breakfast burrito.
Please see commentary from an August 2018 blogpost: “…the breakfast burrito – I will dream of it for the rest of my life.”
Yes you will, past self, yes you will.
It wouldn’t be a trip anywhere if I didn’t get in a good hike, so the next day we drove to Joshua Tree National Park!
I very happily got another set of stamps for my passport.
I’d never seen a Joshua tree in my entire life before, and they are very bizarre looking.
I feel like they belong in a Dr. Seuss book. Or like pineapples should be growing from them.
They were really cool to look at, though – there’s nothing like them in the Midwest.
There were some really cool flowers, there, too!
We were told that we’d just missed the desert bloom, but I still thought there were a lot of beautiful colors peppered around the park.
Not only were there flowers, but a lot of cute lizards that I wanted to scoop up, put in my backpack, and name them Pascal, because I am a Disney princess at heart.
(Please see the animated Disney film Rapunzel and let the record show that I did not, in fact, kidnap a lizard.)
The park was interesting in that while there were plenty of hiking opportunities, it was set up in a bit of a circuit so you could drive through the whole thing, and stop at any of the vantage points or trails along the way. The drive began through fields of Joshua trees, and slowly grew into a rockier landscape.
At one of the viewpoints, we noticed there were people climbing on the rock formations.
There is a tiny human at the top of that large rock.
Child at heart, I had to join, so I began hiking and climbing alongside a German family that was very adorable as they tried to figure out how to maneuver around a few rocky obstacles.
I love parks where you can safely run and roam around, so Joshua Tree was right up my alley.
I’d also like to share a series of photos that I think accurately sum me up as a person. Here I am, trying to be cool on a rock and then making fun of myself for trying to be cool on a rock.
Hope you enjoyed!
Our final destination (pun morbidly intended) was to Skull Rock.
By the power of Greyskull!
This stop was the busiest location at the park while we were there – we had to wait to grab photos in front of the rock, but on the bright side there were plenty of people to take a photo of us!
And that was California. A brief, but fun trip before we headed to Arizona to visit my grandparents. Stay tuned for more adventure!
Want to read more about my 25 Things list? Click here for more adventures.
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