Last week, I had a few days to get away to sunny San Diego. I've been there many times in the past (to shoot weddings and I even lived there when I was a kid), but this time I decided to carve out some time for photography. Technically, I was there for work, but you know what they say about all work and no play. ;)
One of the places I had never been before was La Jolla. One of my friends was familiar and was down to go, so that's what we did. First stop, an italian restaurant. We had a delicious lunch at Stella in La Jolla.
Then a quick walk around La Jolla Cove to work off the calories. I had the day all planned out, and most of it involved photography. :)
This is Spot. He's the dog of the owner of a home decor store called Gracie James. He was such a cutie, and his fur was sooooo soft.
Next up, we headed to Coronado Island. I wanted to catch a glimpse and maybe get a picture of the super moon that was supposed to be out.
Even though I was carrying a lot of things the whole day, the everyday backpack really made it as comfortable as it could've been. I had the chance to use my new field pouch also. I love the way it all matches (or, my OCD likes it). Even though the backpack has many compartments and pockets, it's nice to have a separate pouch that can hold camera accessories that's also not attached to the backpack. I also like that you can attach a Peak Design slide strap to it and wear it cross body. It's a little pricey for a pouch, but the design is great, and very functional.
While setting up, this guy even walked by (there were LOTS of photographers out trying to get moon shots) wearing the ash colorway of the everyday backpack. I really liked how it looked. I must keep telling myself I don't need another backpack!
Here's what I'm keeping inside of it.
Yeah, as I mentioned earlier, it is a lot harder to capture the moon than it looks. Even with my 70-200 mm, I felt like I needed something to get a lot closer. Some of my friends posted great photos of the moon, but even they had to do some cropping to see the details.
Afterwards, we got cleaned up and went back out for some dinner. Our original plan was to hit up a place called Monsoon in the Gaslamp District, but we discovered that it had closed down. There was another location in San Diego, but the reviews on Yelp for that location were waaaay less than stellar. We decided to eat at another Indian restaurant called Gourmet India. The reviews looked good, and after a very long wait, I can vouch for the reviews. I was able to get some mangolassi (I don't know if I'm spelling that right) that I discovered in Berlin of all places LOL.
This chicken curry, with a side of garlic naan was all I needed to be happy.
The next day, I got the crazy idea to go for a hike at Torrey Pines Nature Reserve. I had never been there before, but it looked like a nice hike. Also, after my last hiking fiasco, I decided I needed more practice. We decided to do the beach trail hike. I had no idea what we were in for. It was all downhill getting there, but getting back was obviously all uphill on the steps we took to get downhill. It reminded me of a hike on Oahu on Kokohead (of course, no where near as torturous!)
The trail was very easy to follow. They have these wires that keep you on the trail, and all you have to do is follow it. Of course, seeing this sign also helped. :)
The original plan was to go down to the beach, but then my fear of heights kicked in, and I decided that I wasn't going to go down the slippery looking steps without rails down to the beach area. I really wish I had, but I didn't want to slip and fall in my flip flops.
My fear of heights also forces me to rely on strangers to pose for me near the edge of cliffs. I would love a photo of myself like this, but there's no way in hell I'd walk up to the edge. I crawled up to the edge of a cliff at Horseshoe Bend at the Grand Canyon once, and even that made me feel ill.
The light was absolutely beautiful at sunset. I wanted to stay longer, but we didn't want to walk back up the steps in the dark after the sunset. To be honest, we also didn't know how long it would take our out of shape bodies to hike back up either.
My photography friends think I'm obsessed with this backpack. I am.
Here we go!
We made it back just before it got really dark. By the way, I thought that there was no freeway worse than the 91 freeway. Well, the San Diego freeways can sure give it a run for its money! Anyway, I highly recommend hiking here if you have the time. It's a great workout, and the light is amazing at sunset for photos! :)
