We have been to La Jolla in the past years when we visited our son Mike. On Friday, a day after we had arrived here, we had a desire to see the Pacific coast and sea lions. Driving south down the coastal highway sounded like fun. But we had not anticipated the traffic and the crowds all trying to also get over to the sea shore. It did take us longer than in previous years when we had been here in January or February!
We arrived by late afternoon. Parking was a problem and we had to walk a fair distance to get over to the sea lion cove. It was all worth it, however.
I think the sea lion above was telling his friend "come on in the water is fine" The crowds here were also over whelming. I felt for the sea lions when people got into their faces with cameras. One man also got quite close to a nursing mom with his camera.
The mama pictured above found a safe place to nurse her baby for sure!
On our way home we stopped in Carlsbad. Driving down the coast earlier we had seen this statue and were intrigued as to who it might be. Maybe it was Carl for whom the town was named? No, the statue was John Frazier. He had a ranch in this area and, while drilling for some wells, found some artesian springs. He discovered the water to be therapeutic for his chronic rheumatism. Soon Farzier would greet people at the railroad station with the water and say: "alight, drink and be happy". A hotel with a spa was built on the site where his statue now is- it later burned down. The springs were not maintained during the Great Depression and were unused for 119 years. Now it is being sold by the gallons, as you may see by the water tanks behind Frazier. A large truck pulled up while we were there and the advertisement on it noted that the artesian water is "Eden in a Glass", "Most Healthful", "anti-acid water, anti-oxident, soft, delicious, hydrating and therapeutic". We had no gallon jug to fill up, just poured some into our cup from another man's jug. Tasted like regular water, maybe a little bit off- tasting.
We also learned from further research that Karlsbad, Bohemia (now Czech Republic) tested the water and found it to be the same as the artesian water in their town. Maybe that is how Carlsbad got its name- and it is a sister city to Karlsbad. The statue was created in Europe by a renown sculptor and former mayor of Karlsbad.
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