I finally got to spend an afternoon walking along the beach, collecting seashells and burning the crap out of my back. Not that frying my skin cherry tomato has ever been a fantasy, but that's what happens when you walk along the beach without a care in the world. I thought to apply it everywhere else. A nice stiff SPF 45 in fact, but I forgot about my back.

At least the colour is uniform. I sprayed sunscreen on Alex's back and I guess the puffs of wind coming off the ocean blew some of the spray away before it hit his skin. So he is currently sporting red zebra stripes all over his back, which are absolutely hilarious painful.

After several hours at the beach in La Jolla we toured the shops (or lack thereof) along the main drag. It seems fashion is not a priority in this city, even in the seemingly hippest parts of it. I was disappointed to find that unless you are at the mall, a string of shops consists of: old lady store, old lady store, souvenir shop, surfer store, Victoria's Secret, old lady shop, scary tacky fashion nightmare shop, ice cream, old lady shop. So we spent some time visiting their beautiful parks instead. Here is the view from Mt. Soledad:

We were anxious to try some local seafood, being on the ocean and all, so on recommendation, we headed over to Blue Point Coastal Cuisine in the gaslamp district. We weren't overly hungry as food portions at every restaurant we visited have been massive, so we decided to share a couple of things. We ordered the oysters, only to discover they were from Washington, British Columbia and another non-local city. Determined to persevere in our quest for fresh local fare, we ordered the tuna to share. It was local and delicious, but at 16 ounces, I couldn't finish my half. The server informed us that was one of their lighter dishes. Never in my life have I seen so much food go to waste. I really don't get the excessiveness.