Imperial Beach

San Diego in the winter time was still nice. This is The Tin Fish Restaurant at the end of the Imperial Beach Pier where we were told is a good place to eat. We had the opportunity to stay at our friend's family condo on seacoast drive for free! It is located south of downtown San Diego near the Mexican border. We have never been south of the city except for going in to Mexico and it was a pretty good hideaway. It had the small beach town feel and yet only about 15 minutes from downtown.

The Tin Fish had a fun menu with all kinds of seafood. We went there to get fish and chips. Since the weather was a little cold and rainy we decided to stay inside while we ate.

Fish and chips, coleslaw and sprite. MMMMMM.

This was the third day of our trip right after the Tsunami warning because of the Haiti earthquake the night before. We decided to look for Shells on the beach and die together as a family. Since we were the only brilliant family on the beach we raked in the shells. There were a few other people out there but none braver than Tia and Jonathan!

Tia and Jonathan just before the Tsunami hit.

This was our balcony view of the pier. Awesome, amazing, beautiful and relaxing. Our dream is to own a cabin and a beach house. I think we will start with this one.

There was a nice table and high chairs to sit in and soak up the sun. The water came up to the rocks sometimes at high tide and was perfect when the tide went out. The kiddos had fun running through the water, finding shells and throwing rocks. Mom had a good view point to watch when boo boo got tired.

The three Amigos.

The view to the south was also nice. We could see some islands off the coast of Mexico and we could see the city of Tijuana too on the mountain side.

Inside the condo we enjoyed the fireplace and only turned on the TV to watch the original star wars movie. The blue shag carpet was definitely groovy.

It was fully furnished and equipped with WiFi and a printer. It worked out nice so I could still do some work while we enjoyed So Cal.

This was the view from the kitchen table during breakfast. It was very nice to watch the waves while having a fire and eating Captain Crunch. We had hot chocolate and popcorn at night.

Tia and Jonathan picking up Sand Dollars by the pier at low tide. The storms washed up a bunch of shells and we counted our sand dollars when we got home and had 162 of them! We bleached them and saved the good ones to make some art pieces.

The treasure seekers.



Dude, I see another one!

Joshua was not interested in the shells but loved to chase every bird that landed near us.

He almost got this slow one.

The Arizona tourists.

Tia kept stealing the camera from us to take some pictures of the locals. Here is a couple shots of her new friends.

She thought this guy might of been the pelican from the movie Nemo.

Jedi Knights practicing by the estuary known as the Tijuana Sloughs. The Tijuana River dumps into the ocean a few miles to the south and also fills this area for many species of birds to live in.

Tia making her move. The young padowan is unfazed by her advances.

Before the storm looking to the east from the elevator area. There was also a military base that is used for landing helicopters. We stopped and watched some for a while for JT to get his fill.

Morning after the rains. The Estuary filled up and almost spilled over into the road.


The waves picked up as well but the water was contaminated by the storm run off from Mexico.


The waves came over the top and washed down the street leaving rocks, seaweed and sand all over the road.

This is where it broke thought the break water. I guess back in the day it probably was a free flowing area of salt and fresh water mixing in the estuary.

The waves were pumping with some offshore winds to make it very appealing. It was Sunday. Good thing the water was dirty or I might of been out in those! I brought all the goods and didn't get in the water once. Maybe next time. Who's coming with us?!!