LOL, I haven't heard that comparison before! I guess Mission Beach has gotten classier, eh?
Sounds like you had fun, I was curious about how the trip turned out.
Haha, that's what I was thinking.
We had a great time. When I saw the rollercoaster at Mission Beach the first thing I thought of was Wildwood NJ. We only walked a few blocks one afternoon so I can't say the comparison holds up but saw lots of bars and tattooed 20 (30?, 40?) somethings.
. We saved our beach time for La Jolla, which was great; the sun came out every afternoon after the "marine layer" burned off but the temps never got higher than 70.
One of the hotel clerks explained the large number of homeless this way:
- great weather (understandable, as good a place as any to be roofless)
- good scrounging at the many Navy and Marine installation dumpsters
- soft touch tourists are a good source of pocket change
Almost forgot about my afternoon at Point Loma while my wife was stuck in the convention center. 360 degrees of breathtaking beauty.
Looking east from Point Loma: North Island NAS and Coronado Beach, San Diego and the Laguna Mts. beyond
Looking south towards Tijuana
Western view: tidal pools and the blue Pacific
Didn't get a good picture north; the orderly rows of white crosses at Fort Rosecrans National Cemetery. LEST WE FORGET!