This National Monument was quite a fun surprise! Comprised of various activities, the National Park can definitely take all day to explore.

When We Visited: February 25, 2014

Where We Stayed: Mission Bay RV Resort

Ages of Kids: 8, 7, 3

Earn a Jr. Range Badge

We definitely pick up our books first thing at the Visitor Center. How difficult the book is totally depends on the park, but we found this one to be enjoyable and fun! We also met up with our new Airstream friends, @repairstream! We had talked on Instagram and were both in the area, and it was great to meet them in person (more on that tomorrow!). Earning badges with friends is twice as fun!

Tidepooling

We timed our visit with low tide (you can always check the schedule online), so we headed down to the tide pools first to do a bit of exploring. This was our first experience and it was a lot of fun! Rachel started out a bit hesitant, but quickly warmed up to exploring more on her own. Touching the sea anemones and watching them curl up while sticking to our fingers was definitely a highlight!

Explore the Visitor Center

The visitor center has some great exhibits so we spent some time learning about Juan Rodriguez Cabrillo. He led the first European expedition to explore the west coast of the United States. The kids loved trying on the old Spanish armor!

Old Point Loma Lighthouse

Lit for the first time in 1855, this lighthouse was one of the first 8 constructed on the west coast. Located 422 feet above sea level, it was thought to be in a perfect location. They soon realized that fog and clouds often obscured the lighthouse from view, and in 1891 the light was extinguished and the keeper moved to a new, lower location farther down on the point.

Along with the historically significant attributes, Point Loma is just a beautiful place. Whale Watch

We also walked along the Whale Watching path, where, during migration visitors can see Gray Whales. Unfortunately, none were in sight but we definitely enjoyed the view. Looking across the bay, the kids thought it was pretty awesome that we could see mountains in Mexico!

Visiting this park was definitely a highlight of our stay in San Diego, CA and we definitely recommend visiting!

For other family friendly activities in San Diego, check out this post: Beyond Sea World: 13 Other Things to Do in San Diego