The View at Sunset Cliffs
Tip of the Week: June 28, 2008
We're all in the same boat. We're trying to drive less to save gas and have fun, but spend less. We say park it instead.
La Jolla Cove gets all the attention. The Cove is the prom queen, but locals are smitten with her little sister, Sunset Cliffs. The Cliffs are 13 miles south of La Jolla Cove and about one mile south of Ocean Beach and in some ways, worlds apart. The Cliffs are mostly unfrequented by tourists (and San Diegans). It is a quiet, beautiful place to go with bountiful parking to and fro.
What many people don't realize is that there is another special part of Sunset Cliffs known as Hillside Park. Hillside Park is 50 acres of open space, at the end of the Sunset Cliffs Linear Park, with a meandering trail along the Pt. Loma coastline. There's no grass, to speak of, but you'll find undulating hills, jagged cliffs, and walkable coastal trails.
This coastal hideaway is a place to take the pooch, take a walk along the cliffs or just sit down and ask the burning question: how in the world the western United States can be running out of water with that great big Pacific Ocean lapping at our coastline?
Hillside Park is probably the prettiest in the Spring when the natural vegation is alive and wildly blooming, but with the ocean as the backdrop who cares whether it is Winter, Spring, Summer or Fall.?
Take I-8 west from any freeway (I-5, I-805, or SR 163) and follow it to Sunset Cliffs Boulevard. Continue south straight down Sunset Cliffs Blvd. The road will turn to the east and become Ladera. Continue up Ladera two blocks to just before Cornish Drive and turn right. Follow the the dirt road, funky as it may be, until you approach the parking lot. Look to your right and there is the Pacific Ocean. Exhale
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