This unique and quirky California State Park is located at the southern coastal edge of San Diego, where the beach meets the border fence with Mexico. In this video, I hike from the entry gate at Monument Road, to the beach, and then along the beach to the border fence and border monument.
The Border Field State Park is a part of San Diego that very people see. It’s a most bizarre area that is characterized by farms, horse ranches, and the border patrol. On the United States side of the border, there’s really not much. However, Mexico is built right up to the border fence. The beach on the United States side is empty, and there are often signs that warn of contaminated water. On the Mexico side, the beach is always filled with people, having fun, laughing, swimming, etc. In addition to hiking to the monument, this park is also popular with bird watchers and horse riders because it is a part of the Tijuana River Estuarine Research Reserve.
Visiting the park can be a somewhat unwelcoming, but rewarding experience. Don’t let the lack of a grand entry/welcome deter you. I think most people get to the locked entry gate and just turn away. Armed with the information here, and in this video you’ll be able to make it to the monument and see a side of San Diego that most people never get to see.
The entry gate is located at the end of Monument Rd. In theory, the gate is supposed to be open from 9am-6pm on weekends. However, the road in the park is often flooded, and the gate is rarely open. While the state is seeking $4 million to fix the road, access is only via foot, bike, or horseback. You’ll end up parking at the entrance gate, next to the one sign that says “Border Field State Park.” When you arrive at the locked gate at the end of the road, you’ll be tempted to go on a path to the left, because it looks like a hiking path, and has a little wooden sign box that most hiking trails begin with. Resist your urge to go on that path on the left, because that’s actual a border patrol trail. Instead, continue on foot on the road you were driving on before hitting the locked gate. Continue on foot down the road for about 1/2 mile. You’ll be heading west towards the ocean, and will reach a point where the paved road makes a 90 degree turn to the south. Instead of following the road, continue west on the dirt path for another 3/4 of mile until you reach the beach. From the beach, look to your left, and you’ll see the border fence about 1 mile down.
Once you reach the border fence, head on up to the hill side on your left. There is *ALWAYS* a Border Patrol truck stationed on this hill for obvious reasons. This hill is known as Monument Mesa, because it’s where the 258th border monument is located. People used to be able to walk up directly to the monument, which straddles the border. Unfortunately a few years ago, the border patrol erected another fence about 20 feet back from the original border fence. Access to the monument itself is now only between the hours of 10am and 2pm on Saturday and Sunday. Bummer. To find the monument, Look for the gate, and sign that says “Maximum Occupancy 25.” The monument will be directly behind that gate.
Getting to Border Field State Park:
The easiest way to get there from Interstate-5 is to Exit Dairy Mart Road (exit #2)
Head Southwest on Dairy Mart Road. Dairy Mart Road will curve right onto Monument Road. Turn right (West) on Monument Road until you reach the park entrance.
Oct 2, 2011 – The Red Tide at Moonlight Beach in Encinitas causes the waves to glow a cool blue color. The glowing is caused by Bioluminescence from the algae in the water. It is called the “Red Tide” because the algae looks red during the day.
This video shows 7 waves. Each in “real time” and then in 50% slow motion for a more dramatic effect. No color correction was done to this video, this is truly how they look. To get these shows I went in the water about waist deep with my video camera. Pretty sure all the people on the beach thought I was crazy with a video camera just a few inches from liquid death!
For those in the Southern California area, you can see the Red Tide Bioluminescence Waves as far south as Mission Beach, and as far north as Huntington Beach. The best two places I’ve been to are La Jolla Shores and Moonlight Beach in Encinitas. I also stopped at Ponto in Carlsbad which was glowing, but the waves were breaking too far out to get on camera.
Posted 7 months, 3 weeks ago at 11:19 pm. 1 comment
Amazing blue glowing waves at La Jolla Shores beach caused by the red tide that hit San Diego on September 29, 2011.
The bright blue color is caused by bioluminescence from an algae bloom. The algae is red in the day, hence the name Red Tide, but glows a bright blue at night when agitated, such as when a wave breaks. It’s a really awesome sight to see…. when people swim in the water, the entire water around them glows blue. Truly amazing!
No color correction was made to this video…. This is really the color of the waves. The final shot at the end is in slow motion.
And just as a side note — it is really difficult to get video of these waves. They seem pretty bright in person, but video cameras just have a hard time picking it up and focusing. Only took me about 90 minutes at the beach to get this 16 seconds of good footage .
Also received a message from ABC news to use my video on the Diane Sawyer show. Very cool!
Update 2: I went up to Huntington Beach on Friday, September 30 and the waves were glowing just south of the Huntington Beach Pier as well. So the Red Tide can be seen at least that far north. Although it didn’t glow as brightly in Huntington as it did in La Jolla.
Posted 7 months, 3 weeks ago at 11:41 pm. Add a comment
Sab-E-Lee Thai Food is located in a little strip mall on the corner of Linda Vista Rd and Ulric St. The actual English sign on the outside says “Linda Vista Food”, but don’t be fooled by the English sign… this is the place to get authentic Thai.
The entire restaurant probably only has about 5 tables, and a maximum occupancy of 20 or so. The food was all very good — except for the Durian Candy — which when you watch the video, you’ll see that I clearly had a hard time keeping it in my mouth.
Sab-E-Lee is located at:
2405 Ulric St
San Diego, CA 92111
For another review of Sab-E-Lee check out the mmm-yoso blog.
Posted 3 years, 4 months ago at 1:19 am. 2 comments
Balboa Park is home to a Unique and Historic Outdoor Pipe Organ.
The Spreckels Organ was first heard on New Years Eve 1914 for the opening ceremonies of the Panama California Exposition held in Balboa Park.The organ was built by the Austin Organ Company of Hartford Connecticut.The construction of the organ cost $100,000 and was donated to the city of San Diego by John D. Spreckels and was America’s first out-of-door organ.
The pipe organ contains over 4,500 pipes.The largest pipes are 32 feet in length, the smallest about the size of a pencil.The organ also contains other instruments including a harp, snare drums, bass drums, timpani drums, and a cymbal.There is no amplification or electronic tone generation with the organ and all sounds are produced by actual instruments or pipes.
Tea Station is a Taiwanese owned chain restaurant that specializes in drinks such as Milk Tea and Boba Tea, and Taiwanese snacks. Check out the video review below, or read ahead for all of the details.
I visited recently for dinner and ordered the Tea Flavored Pork Chop, an order of springs rolls, and takoyaki which is a new addition to their menu. My eating buddy ordered the Tea Flavored Teriyaki Chicken. To drink we ordered hot Royal Milk Tea in an “Urn.” The tea served in an “urn” is essentially in a large bowl, and you are given a spoon to pour it in to your drinking cup with. I have to say that this is a very odd method of serving tea…. with a spoon. The iced Royal Milk Tea is one of my favorite beverages at Tea Station, and this was my first time having it hot… but it was just as good. The goodness of the Royal Milk Tea is it actually tastes like it was made from tea leaves, as opposed to a powder, and there is a hint of a floral taste in there as well.
All of the entree items seem to say that they are “Tea Flavored” — I think that is really more of a gimmick phrase than anything, as I really didn’t taste any tea flavor in my pork chop. Regardless of the lack of tea flavor, the pork chop was most tasty… I’m sure the fact that it was fried had something to do with it. The steamed rice was served with minced pork on top… and there were a couple side “salad” items to go with it… oh, and a fried egg was hiding under my pork chop. The spring rolls were tasty and served with a sweet and sour sauce. The takoyaki was also quite good… although it didn’t have quite enough mayonaisse or that orange colored flakey stuff that goes on top.
Tea Station is located at:
7315 Clairemont Mesa Blvd
San Diego, CA 92111
Posted 3 years, 4 months ago at 12:16 am. Add a comment
Kirk K pointed out over on his mmm-yoso blog that the Vien Dong Vietnamese supermarket on Linda Vista Rd has been replaced by a Thuan Fat (Shun Fat) Supermarket. Looks about the same as the previous… except brighter and cleaner. I’m most excited about the “Yum Cha” Dim Sum coming soon. Check out the video.
Thuan Phat is located at:
6935 Linda Vista Road, San Diego, CA
Posted 3 years, 4 months ago at 1:11 am. 1 comment
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