Off to the Sun: A Light on the Bay

It was a glorious day by any standard. The drive out to Cabrillo National Monument and the Old Point Loma Lighthouse wends through  some of San Diego's heavily landscaped neighborhoods, ending in beautiful, flower-bedecked Point Loma. This is, in fact, where Juan Cabrillo stepped ashore in 1542, the first European to visit what would become America's west coast.
This is a stunner of a park. The hills and surrounding trails are painted brilliant yellow with thousands of wild daisy-like groundsels and fragrant goldenrods.

Though we arrived at the wrong time to see the tidepools (low tide would occur after the park closed), the views from the water's edge were delightful, made more so by frequent flybys from dozens of brown pelicans singly, in pairs or groups.

Image courtesy of Carol Squire

The lighthouse is the "Old" Point Loma Lighthouse because, when it came into service in 1855, the builders figured its location was ideal - slightly more than 400 feet above the water. Unfortunately, fog and low-hanging clouds  often obscured the light, making it useless to mariners. In 1891, the light was moved down the point closer to the water, and the old light was decommissioned. Today, the interior seeks to recreate the living quarters of the families who resided there. A trip into town in the nineteenth century would have been an all-day affair; light-keepers and their families often created their own amusements, schooling and sundries.

Image courtesy of Carol Squire

The park offers the one-mile Coastal trail and two-mile Bayside trail (both distances are round-trip), and is an excellent viewing spot for whale migration in the winter months. The visitor's center provides additional information on the park's features.

It's a class 3 Frenel lens, since you asked

Image courtesy of Carol Squire