This is last story from my Torrey Pines series, featuring its ocean shore.

Although Torrey Pines was named for the pines trees that have prevailed for centuries, a major part of the park is the ocean and it’s view from the ground level.

I’ve shown it to you from afar, but not up close and personal.

The day I was Travelin’ Local to Torrey Pines, it was Spring Break, so the beach was busier than most normal non-summer weekdays.

Under the careful eagle eyes of the lifeguards, this family was boogie boarding on the waves. The Grandmother, who came prepared with her big beach umbrella and snacks, was also keeping a watchful eye, as the children played in the surf.

In full spring blossom, the cliffs surrounding the beach presented quite a contrast between the flowers blooming against the natural color of the cliff walls. It’s amazing how much color just a simple cliff can have.

If you look closely, you can see the “holes” in the cliff wall. I’m sure that over the centuries, the ebb and flow of the ocean waves caused these holes. I found myself wondering what they will look like in the next thousand years.

I took my shoes off, and made a foray into the shoreline water. Watching the play of waves, sand, and rocks has always been a fascination of mine.

What causes the rocks to be the colors they are? What events have taken place that placed pink, black, and white to appear on this rock?

The old adage that every picture tells a story, so as I wrap up this series chronicling my visit to Torrey Pines, I’ll leave you with a picture that moved me.

These young lovers are acknowledging and appreciating the majesty of the ocean, its power and all-encompassing strength.

Growing up in Ohio, I was very far removed from the ocean.

And then after high school, even though I lived for the next 20+ years on the East Coast, the ocean was somewhere I went for a few vacations, only able to enjoy and appreciate it for snippets of time, but never really understanding its grace and elegance.

Now I live only a heartbeat away from the magnificent Pacific Ocean, which I’m able to visit whenever I want. It’s become a part of me, the sound, the beat, and the rhythm. I can’t see it without being moved.

Do you have a place of seclusion, a place of relaxation, a place of enjoyment that makes you feel this way?

No matter whether it’s sojourning to Torrey Pines, walking high at Coldwater Canyon, going for a bicycle ride at Ballona Creek, or checking out the latest scene downtown, by Travelin’ Local the joy of visiting my “sweet spots” only make them sweeter, because I don’t have to go far, or spend a lot of money to appreciate what others around the world come here for every single day of the year.

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