Besides all of the activities at the Welk Resort, we visited San Diego for two days of adventure…wow what a jammed packed week!! One of the days we explored Cabrillo National Monument and then Old Town San Diego.

Cabrillo National Monument is located at the southern tip of Point Loma. To access the monument, the road takes you through Fort Rosecrans National Cemetery. It was established in 1882, and has military individuals and spouses who died as early as 1846, and were relocated to the new cemetery. The cemetery was also featured in the movie Maverick…Top Gun.

Since 1960, due to limited space, only cremated remains are accepted. The “fence” surrounding the cemetery is a memorial niche wall.

It was interesting to read the markers…the earliest we found was from the Spanish-American war

Cabrillo National Monument was established in honor of Juan Rodriguez Cabrillo who sailed into San Diego Bay on September 28, 1542. He was looking for a water passage to China on behalf of Portugal. He was the first European to set foot on the west coast of modern day California. We had a great view of San Diego and Naval Base Point Loma.

In 1913, President Woodrow Wilson, designated 1/2 of an acre to construct a statue to Cabrillo. Nothing happened until 1939, when Portugal sent a sculpture of Cabrillo however it was not erected until 1949. The statue was to honor Portugal’s native son, but it was later discovered that Cabrillo was actually Spanish. The current statue is a replica, with the original in storage to protect it from the weather. Over time, the park has expanded and now encompasses 160 acres.

The visitor center was constructed in 1965 and has interesting exhibits and several movies about Cabrillo’s expedition, which consisted of 3 ships. Cabrillo died on the expedition when he slipped on a beach, breaking his leg, that then became infected.

We obtained Jr. Ranger books, which are always fun to complete and even funnier to get the badge.

During World War I and II, Point Loma was used as a military observation post. The bunkers are not open but it was cool to walk down the stairs to the door.

The “Old” Point Loma Lighthouse was built in 1855, to guide ships into the Bay, as the area is frequently covered in fog. The lighthouse complex consists of a house with the light on top, an assistant’s house, and a barn.

You can climb the stairs to the tower window, which is the highest accessible point for the public.

The fenced area in front of the house is a water catch basin.

There is a small museum in the old assistant’s quarters. It has one of the lights that was used in the Old Lighthouse.

There is a display of the developer of the lens used in lighthouses and a map of the lighthouses along the California coast.

We walked to the end of the point and were lucky because the fog had just lifted. A new lighthouse was built in 1891 as it was discovered that with the 400 foot elevation of the old lighthouse, the light was often in fog and could not be seen. The new lighthouse was built at water level, well below the fog line.

The view of the lighthouse walking north from the point.

Next, we headed to the monument’s Tidal Pools for low tide. The coastal trail offered interesting views of the landscape as well as the sea lions laying in the sun.

The coast line made for awesome family pictures!!

The tide fluctuates around 7 feet every 6 hours, so the area is very popular at low tide.

We were there 1 hour before the official low tide, but we found some interesting sea animals and a variety of shell creatures waiting of the water to return.

Just off the coast is one of the largest continuous kelp forests in the world. The plants can grow up to 175 feet in length. They create small air pods on their stems to help with floatation.

For the afternoon we headed to Old Town San Diego…our first stop was at the Mormon Battalion Historic Site. It was built in honor of the members of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-Day Saints who served in the United States Army during the Mexican-American War.

The visitor center has interactive exhibits with tour guides, that tell the story of the 500 Mormon volunteers who marched 2000 miles in 1846 from Iowa to San Diego. Interestingly, the battalion never fought a battle. We learned that we have several relatives that served in the Battalion.

We had a demonstration of the backpacks and uniforms they wore. Wyatt volunteered to be our solider.

We got to pan for gold, as a few of the Mormon Battalion members were part of the group that discovered gold at Sutter’s Mill, starting the California Gold Rush.

The members of the battalion who stayed in San Diego taught the area residents how to make oven-fired bricks. One of the first buildings built with the bricks was the courthouse, with Judge Oliver Witherby presiding. It was built in 1847, and served as the courthouse until 1872, when it was destroyed by a fire. A replica building was constructed in 1992.

The Mormon Battalion Visitor Center had a tower that over-looked Old Town and at the end of our visit, they took our picture.

We did a quick walk around the Old Town Square and bought saltwater taffy at Cousins Candy Shop.

We finished the day by eating dinner at one of the original Mexican restaurants in Old Town, aptly named Old Town Mexican Cafe. The food was delicious especially the freshly made tortillas, which Kaylee loved watching the ladies make.