Because we had not  done enough driving on this trip (not), we left Scottsdale on April 1st and took a major detour to San Diego, California instead of going the normal route back to Toronto.   We  went because I happen to love the ocean.  California  also happens to  my favourite state- it has the ocean, mountains and desert.   People seem to be outside  doing things all the time and there was definitely a sense of energy everywhere we went.  The end result was that  Ralph was nice enough to take us on a detour of an additional 1,200 km or 800  miles.    The scenery both ways was beautiful and well worth the trip.  

20130401_arizona_roadtrip_0004-Edit This is a photo of a Dragon Tree found on the grounds of the Hotel del Coronado near San Diego.  We asked one of the staff if it would be ok for us to walk around the property with the girls which was permitted.   The doorman turned out to be not only friendly but a wealth of information.   This tree is native to the Canary Island and was planted at the Del, prior to the turn of the century where it has thrived ever since.   The hotel was the location for the movie "Some like it Hot" staring Jack Lemmon, Tony Curtis and Marilyn Monroe and this tree was a backdrop for some of the filming.     During filming in 1958, one of the camera men cut part of the branch from this tree that happened to be in the way.  What he hadn't realized is that when the  bark or branch are cut, they secrete a reddish resin which is actually used to stain wood.  Well in this case the resin stained some of the film which became unusable.  Not only that, but the hotel management were furious and threw the film crew off the site.  So production was delayed while there was "renegotiation " and some scenes had to be reshot when the crew was finally allowed back on site.  

20130401_arizona_roadtrip_0003-Edit The Victorian style Hotel del Coronado was built in 1888.  This resort had to be one of the most beautiful beach resorts I have ever seen.  In 1977 the hotel was designated as a National Historic landmark.  The property is huge- not only are their regular rooms but the hotel also has beach cottages and villas that we were able to see from the beach side of the hotel.  

20130401_arizona_roadtrip_0016-Edit-Edit We were told that there was a dog friendly beach down the road from the hotel so we walked behind the hotel on the boardwalk and street  for a couple of miles admiring the views.  The doggy beach on the Island was to the right of where this photo was taken.  

20130401_arizona_roadtrip_0028-Edit-Edit-Edit-Edit There were lots of pretty flowers everywhere.  I decided that I could easily live on this Island which is just across the bridge from San Diego.  

We drove along the coast visiting various towns and ended up at La Jolla, one of my favourite spots.  We went to La Jolla Cove which is unique for seals, a walkway along the beach and beach that lets you get pretty close to the seals.  

We were there at a time of day when they are not particularly active-most of them just laid around and had their afternoon snoozes.  

Here is a photo taken of the children's pool in La Jolla.  It was supposed to be a children's pool, but the harbour seals took over and now it's a main tourist and local attraction.  It was a great place to stand and watch the seals laying on the beach and sunning themselves.  The beach has been the centre of a long legal fight over human access versus seal protection.  I hope the seals win.  

  Another shot taken in the same area.  You could walk all along the beaches and admire the gorgeous scenery.  After being in Arizona for a few weeks, I have to admit I loved the "fresher" cleaner  sea air.  

Another scene from the area.  

 One morning we drove to a different  doggie beach where the dogs can run around off leash.  It was a huge area and the girls had fun running around and meeting some  new California friends.     The beach area was large and went on a long ways so there was plenty of  isolated areas.  

The same doggie beach.   

Here is a view from the beach at  one of the towns on the coast- I'm thinking it was San Clemente (forgot to attach my GPS unit to the camera).  We were just driving along the coast and stopped in a few towns including Oceanside and San Clemente.  San Clemente.  Following  his resignation, Richard Nixon retired to this community to write his memoirs.

In the morning as we left the San Diego outskirts we were looking for the ocean highway leading towards Oceanside.  We ended up driving into Camp Pendleton, a marine corp base.  This base spans over 125,000 acres which is why it is so ideal for year-round training for Marines in addition to all other branches of the U.S. military.  The base has 17 miles of coastline.  The marine at the gate kindly gave us directions to the highway along the ocean but not before scanning Ralph's drivers license.  We were all surprised when the license was actually scannable.   

At the end of our second full day in California we went back to La Jolla to check out the seals again.  

I liked the expression on this guys' face.  It was difficult to get any of them to look at you during their nap time.  

Today we saw artists painting- what a great view to paint.