No. 10 Secret Swings/Kellogg Park
These swings were quite the adventure...
Let's just say, I wasn't thinking very clearly when I got dressed for the day as I found myself walking through a dirt and rock filled hill in my favorite platform sandals. I may or may not have stumbled so hard that one of them flew off...
The directions for finding the swings were super shoddy, and never once during the hour and forty-five minute drive there did I think that they wouldn't be there, but guess what? They weren't.
The three girls that parked and started walking to the spot that we were headed in, who were wandering around aimless and confused, was our first clue they had been cut down. The second clue was the huge tree that had rope marks on it's branch, and the third was the comparisons of multiple pictures to the empty spot we were standing in. Good ol' Google confirmed it.
Cory couldn't believe we had driven all this way for nothing. I was in denial. And all Weslie wanted were some swings.
We ended up five minutes down the hill at Kellogg Park in La Jolla, which was right on the beach. We lucked out on parking, since it was crazy for the 4th of July weekend. Cory and Weslie played, and I Googled.
I found out there was another swing not too far from where the original swings once stood, but the only problem was that the directions were Google Map coordinates.
After convincing my crew to leave (which is difficult when it comes to parks), we got in the car and plugged in my randomly found coordinates. We then drove in circles for 15 minutes getting stopped halfway through about 3 different routes by gated communities. Funny *or not so funny* for us, we ended right back where we had started in the first place. Parked and debating whether or not to go hiking 10 minutes to a destination that might not even be there. But who drives that far to not even try?! So we threw on our flip flops (at least I brought those, too!) and started walking.
Cory thought that we were for sure hiking into a death trap. I was cracking up at how ridiculous all this was turning out to be. And Weslie was just chilling on top of Cory's shoulders watching "My Little Pony" on the iphone.
As soon as we passed a grove of trees with four rudimentary teepees made out of branches, Cory's deathtrap theory was becoming more of a reality. The trail then turned into sand with cactii and brush on both sides, and the family of three in sandals was looking pretty crazy...
We finally turned a corner, AND...there it was! I was the happiest girl alive! And then, as I made my way closer to the swing, I realized that I was at eye level with it. Luckily there was no one around because a girl in a maxi dress, trying to climb and straddle her way onto a really freaking high swing, was not pretty. Like I told you, I wasn't the most appropriately dressed for this adventure...
Cor gave me a boost (or three or four) and we took a billion pictures and it was one of my very favorite adventures to date!
My other favorite part of this trip was when Weslie saw the San Diego Temple and screamed at the top of her lungs, "CAAAAASTLE!!!".
If you want to find the swing for yourself, email me at thep3weekly@gmail.com and I'll send you better directions and the coordinates!
