The Best things to See in La Jolla, California

Last week, I took a break from writing blog posts so that I could explore while I was on a work trip. But man, let me tell you I really missed writing all my thoughts and communicating on this platform.

Since I knew I was going to have some downtime after trade show hours in La Jolla, I decided to look up a few things to see in the area. I didn’t want to travel all the way down to the center of San Diego because I knew I didn’t have that much time to see things. So instead, I ended up finding things in near La Jolla. Check out what I saw while I was in San Diego for a few days.

Sunny Jim Cave

Since I was traveling for work, I knew my time to explore was going to be very limited. I made it my goal to see Sunny Jim Cave if I didn’t see anything else. Lucky for me, we had some extra time on Tuesday to explore.

Sunny Jim Cave was built in 1903 as a tourist destination. It originally was just a steep descent down into a cave with just a simple rope. A few years later, 145 steps were built into the cave. The way the folktale is told, bootleggers used the cave as a way to distribute whiskey to San Diego. To visit the cave, you pay $5 and work your way down the 145 steps. Save your breath because you’re going to have to crawl your way back up.

Tip: you can also walk on top of the cave through an entrance left of the gift shop. You’ll see some amazing views just watch your step because it’s a long way down!

La Jolla Cove

Right next to the Sunny Jim Cave is an adorable path where you can walk along the beach where… tons of seals are! Oh my goodness, I loved watching them waddle their little bodies across the beach. The entire walk takes about half an hour to an hour depending on how fast you want to take a stroll. We ended up turning around at Children’s Beach where most of the seals are.

We actually watched a lady go on the beach with a selfie stick to try to take a picture with one of the biggest seals. The seal almost bit her and made loud sounds, yet she continued to fumble with her phone to get the “perfect picture.” Don’t be like this lady, these seals are wild creatures and they will bite your fingers off. Sometimes it is better to watch from afar then be up and close with some wild animals.

Note: When the breeze does not blow the correct way it can smell like an entire zoo just punched you in the face. If you have a sensitive nose be aware of this.

Scripps Pier

I tried to limit my pictures for Scripps Pier in this post but it was just too hard! After my last day at the trade show, I ended up walking 2 miles to Scripps Pier from La Jolla Sheraton. I put my headphones on and walked past University of California San Diego and Scripps Institution of Oceanography. I actually took the first three photos from a lookout point from the Institution of Oceanography.

There were a ton of professional photographers waiting for the sun to set so I had to awkwardly crawl below them to be able to take a few pictures. Check out my tweet to see what that looked like. If you want to get an “instagramable” photo of the pier make sure you go a few hours before the sunset to avoid all these photographers or just crawl your way into the crowd like I did.

Tip: Wait until sunset! Seeing the sun dip behind the west coast water was such a beautiful sight. Plus, you have to dip your feet in the water as well!

Have you ever been to San Diego or California? Let me know in the comments down below.

P.S. My next trade show is in Pasadena, California so let me know if you’ve ever been or have any tips on what to see. I’m definitely going to try and see the Hollywood sign my last day!

As always,