In my mind there were high expectations of mission beach, but that hip hype was downgraded to dated and overweighted. We pulled up to park near the theme park and one look at the dilapidated side street of shops brought me back about 30 years when it may have been considered rad.

But today it’s colours were fading, the facades were flopping and I wasn’t sure whether to laugh or cry at the sight of the whole thing.

There was also a carnival on site, which we walked through.

What should be a great bustling, energetic little hangout area right on the beach with stellar property values was lack luster at best.

The beach is beautiful, ocean fantastic, but beyond the sidewalk the age was quite obvious. A patched and crumbling brick stub wall with a concrete path in need of TLC parted the sand and sea with the dated rental properties that ran the shore for miles. It didn’t help that it was Tuesday post long weekend and crowds were scarce, but more so, the lawn furniture was horrendous and showed decades of wear.

Overall I had trouble looking past the cosmetics, and I’m afraid the vibe just wasn’t there. We walked both directions for about 30 min each way and could not even appreciate the ocean view as there was way too much clutter in the way. What could be a beautiful long stretch of beach walk just didn’t hit the mark. Sorry Mission Beach, maybe next time. It seemed like there were some renovations going on, perhaps that will bring things up a notch on the time travel continuum.

This afternoon we found ourselves back in Encinitas as the baby nap ended. We chose the lotus cafe once again, with nice vibe and pretty good food we were not disappointed. Off to whole foods for a last stock of rations as we turned in the car today. I can’t believe people buy brand name crackers full of crap when they can get natural ones for the same price. It’s ridiculous!