Ocean Beach

We didn't really have a plan for this afternoon.  After resting at the hotel, we decided to head to an area of town called Ocean Beach.  A friend of a friend described this part of town as the land of hippies, with the "scent of marijuana" in the air.  Things we read told us Ocean Beach didn't have a lot for tourists, but at just under 2000 feet, they had the longest concrete pier on the west coast.  People from this area are very proud.  They call themselves OBeachians (O-Bee-Shuns) and display OB bumper stickers on their cars.  We thought we'd give it a try, and if there wasn't much to do we would head downtown for a dinner cruise.

The drive to Ocean Beach took us through residential areas that opened up to a beautiful view.  We set the rules for a game- the first person to see dreadlocks was to yell "Hippie alert, no challenge!"   It didn't take long to spot our first hippie (Mark won).  The main street in OB was lined with antique stores, bars, and smoke shops.  We parked at one end and headed towards the pier.  We liked the charm of the neighborhood and could tell pretty quickly we wouldn't be going on that dinner cruise.  There were dozens of surfers dotting the water.  The sun was setting and it was truly beautiful:

 We took lots of shadow pictures:

And watched fishermen do their work.  There were lots of fishermen.  The pier had built in fish-washing stations.

After the pier we hit up a few of the shops and stopped at a couple bars for drinks.  Well, Mark drank.

For dinner we went to a little joint called Hodad's.  A "hodad" is someone who is a wannabe surfer- like me!  This place is small, junky, and has been around for decades.  They've been featured on national shows of the Travel-Channel type as having the best burgers in the world.  There was a line out the door for most of the night, but it was thankfully gone by the time we got there.

We each ordered burgers, aka heart attacks.  Health food this is not.  The burgers were great, similar in style to Five Guys. And they serve beer in mason jars!

After dinner it was still early- just 7:30.  Mark said "You can do a lot when you wake up early!".  We spent a few minutes looking for things to do, but we had seen everything we wanted to see.  We went back to the hotel and called it an early night.  Day two was a success!

Tomorrow, we go to the zoo.