Del Mar

Debbie & Tony rented a place in Del Mar right near the beach so they invited us down for the day at the beach.  We took the back roads to get there as recommended by our neighbor (who happens to be from Haverhill, MA).  It was a nice pleasant drive around the Lake Hodges Reservoir.

Lake Hodges Dam

 We also passed through the town of Rancho Sante Fe.   This is one of the most affluent towns in the United States. We stopped downtown in the very cute town center.  There must been at leat 7-8 Real Estate offices.  Most houses advertised in the windows were in the $1-4 Million range!  Here is a sample of the real estate listings in the area.

Rancho Sante Fe Center

We took another recommendation from our neighbor and ate lunch at Milton's Deli.  It was the first Jewish Deli I found out here in California and reminded me of Rein's Deli in Vernon,CT.  Another link about the Deli here.

Milton's Deli, Del Mar, CA

Right near the deli was the San Diego State Fair. (I think its like the Big E in Massachusetts) We will be going there Tuesday with Debbie & Tony.  I will post more info after we go there.

We got to Debbie & Tony's place which was only 4 houses from the ocean.  You could see and hear the ocean, but you couldn't get there unless you want to cross the railroad tracks and fall off a cliff!

Beach & cliff at the end of the street

So we went to Powerhouse Park a few blocks away that had a grassy area and a beach! More photos of the park can be seen on this website.

Google map view of Powerhouse Park

 
It was a real nice area with many families.  It wasn't too crowded despite it being a weekend and the weather was fantastic.  I even went swimming in the ocean, but the waves were really powerful.  Enough to knock you off your feet!

Beach looking South

Same spot looking north

 We also went for a walk along the shore where it becomes rocky and where the big cliffs were.

Heading south down the beach

If you like watching movies, here are two I took at the beach. 

HINT: Remember that you can watch these in full screen mode by clicking the full screen symbol in the lower right corner of the video when it is playing. it looks likes this

 

Here is the beach at Powerhouse Park.

Here is the walk south of Powerhouse Park.

After the beach, we had a a great dinner and playing a new game called "Things" with Debbie & Tony.  It was a great day in the sun.

PS:  It turns out that the lady that owns the house that Debbie was renting just returned from the Fairfield University Graduation!.  She grew up in Fairfield, lived down by the Fairfield Boat Marina, and graduated Roger Ludlow in 1968.  Small world!