Torrey Pines State Reserve

We took a morning hike at Torrey Pines State Natural Reserve.

We had a nice view from the top looking down in the valley.

As we turned toward the coast, we could see people standing on a cliff overlooking the ocean.

As we began our hike towards the cliff, we stopped to admire a torrey pine tree branch. After all, we were at the Torrey Pines State Natural Reserve.

What looked far away and very high and cliffy...

...turned out to be an optical illusion. Here is Glen standing on the very same "cliff" and it wasn't really all that high and there was a lot more land to go before reaching the ocean.

Lots of pretty scenery as we kept making our way closer to the sea.

We followed the trail to this jut out cliff.

Then we followed the trail to another jut out cliff.

As we looked down from the cliff, we could see people on a trail leading down to the ocean. There were people climbing on the huge black rock in the ocean.

There were lots of cliffs.

We enjoyed our hike that day. It's always good to be out in the fresh air admiring nature.

Sarah's little Jonah turned 2 years old. Cute smiling boy for his birthday photo!!

He's all boy!!

Jonah and his brothers were soon to be coming our way for a visit.

When we went grocery shopping, Glen and I had our individual ideas of what to buy for the boys. Our purchases had a common theme--they were orange and round and edible.

We decided to do the big loop around the Flower Fields one morning for our walk to see if the flowers were still in a good bloom for Sarah's visit.

I found myself taking photos to document things along the way as this route has become so familiar to us and I want to keep the memories alive through photos.

 And the fields were still ablaze with color. Some sections more vibrantly alive than others, but they were still going strong. Hurrah!!

At the end of the Fields we can see the green street sign showing the turn for the Flower Fields.

The last part of the Fields is dedicated to the American Flag of Flowers. 

This is the sidewalk we walk along by this beautiful hotel.

 The hotel overlooks the Flower Fields. 

 A nursery is located by the Flower Fields.

You can pay to go into the Flower Fields, or you can do what we do and admire the flowers from a distance.

We always park by the Carlsbad Outlet Mall which is right next to the Flower Fields. This particular day we walked all around the deserted mall.

We got another distant view of the Flower Fields from that vantage point.

 We had another dinner and home evening with our senior missionary couples.

Second trainer follow-up meeting with these missionaries who have been here 8 weeks, along with their trainers.

It was getting so close to time for Sarah's family to arrive. Stay tuned for the adventures we had with the Excell family.