If you haven't watched Ken Burns' The National Parks: America's Best Idea, I highly recommend it to you. It inspired one of my New Year's Resolutions to visit more national parks and monuments. To ring in the new year, we went to the Cabrillo National Monument.
But first, a Slurpee.
Climbing out of his boat and onto shore in 1542, Juan Rodriguez Cabrillo stepped into history as the first European to set foot on what is now the West Coast of the United States.
A simply glorious day to visit. Those are not low-hanging clouds in the distance. They are the snow-capped San Bernadino Mountains 139 miles away with the Naval Base Point Loma and San Diego Harbor in the foreground.
Here the land you see on the horizon is Mexico.
The Monument to Cabrillo: a crossbowman, wealthy landowner, shipbuilder, explorer. Not a bad résumé. And yes, sleepy kiddos hiding their faces for the family photo.
The monument with the Old Point Loma Lighthouse up on the hill. We'll get to that...
The Old Point Loma Lighthouse has been safely guiding mariners into the harbor of San Diego since 1855.
Up the staircase.
The living quarters inside the lighthouse. And no, that's not Isaac's ghost standing in there. Just a little glass reflection camera trickery!
My alma mater, Point Loma Nazarene Univeristy is 3.4 miles from this monument. During my tenure there I always thought, "Hmm. I know there is a monument around here somewhere. I should check it out." But I never did. It remains to be seen if my New Year's Resolutions will help carry me into a more observant, contemplative, meaningful, and respectful time in my life.
