Families fire up the grills, dig in the sand, and soak up the sunshine along Mission Beach and Pacific Beach.<\/p>\n
SAN DIEGO \u2014 San Diego\u2019s beaches were buzzing with life this Labor Day, as locals and visitors headed to the coast to enjoy the unofficial end of summer. From sandcastles and surfing to burgers on the grill and boardwalk bike rides, it was a picture-perfect holiday along Mission Beach and Pacific Beach.<\/p>\n
\nLocals Seek Cleaner Waters and Cooler Vibes <\/p>\n
Dr. Valita Jones drove from Chula Vista to walk the Mission Beach boardwalk with her daughter, avoiding the pollution that\u2019s affected nearby Imperial Beach.<\/p>\n
\u201cUnfortunately, the beach closest to my home is Imperial Beach, and there\u2019s pollution coming from Tijuana, so that\u2019s why I have to drive all the way down here,\u201d she said. \u201cI love the boardwalk. I love the sunshine, I love the people.\u201d<\/p>\n
Jeff Young made the trip from Lakeside, beating the traffic to enjoy some peaceful time by the ocean. \u201cIt\u2019s absolutely perfect,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n
Nearby, musician Fritz Jensen summed it up simply: \u201cIt\u2019s San Diego, absolutely perfect.\u201d<\/p>\n
\nFamily Fun and Unexpected Characters <\/p>\n
On the sand, families played beach volleyball, kids dug holes, and some got a little buried, like Charlotte Brunson, whose siblings buried her in the sand up to her neck. When asked how she\u2019d escape, Charlotte laughed, \u201cI don\u2019t know!\u201d<\/p>\n
Not far away, Tim Trask scanned the beach with his metal detector in search of \u201cpirate treasure.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cYou get in shape and find cool treasure,\u201d he said with a smile.<\/p>\n
Over in the grass near Belmont Park, Claudette Tanabe-Smith was firing up burgers and bacon. \u201cWe\u2019re just making sure we\u2019re enjoying our Labor Day, having a safe, fun time with friends and family,\u201d she said.<\/p>\n
And in one of the more unique sights of the day, Kevin Warner brought along Mr. Tom, his goat.<\/p>\n
\u201cWe just bring him to make everybody smile,\u201d Warner said. \u201cThe whole beach lights up happy, and it\u2019s just awesome.\u201d<\/p>\n
\nPacific Beach Full of Life\u2014and Lemonade <\/p>\n
In nearby Pacific Beach, the energy was just as high. Rollerblader Monica Ramon enjoyed the social vibe of the holiday. \u201cI love meeting people, listening to music, just jamming out, you know,\u201d she said.<\/p>\n
High school student Saidey Navarro set up a lemonade and dirty soda stand to raise money for her dance team at Granite Hills High.<\/p>\n
\u201cIt\u2019s always super busy at the beaches on Labor Day, so I thought this was the perfect time to try and help raise some money,\u201d she said.<\/p>\n
\nGrateful Hearts and Full Beaches <\/p>\n
For many, the day wasn\u2019t just about food and fun. It was about appreciating San Diego\u2019s natural beauty.<\/p>\n
\u201cIt\u2019s such a blessing and I\u2019m so grateful,\u201d said Shanna Powell-Mayhue, who brought her grandson to the beach. \u201cMy heart is full. I\u2019m filled with joy to be here and just being in an awesome place in San Diego.\u201d<\/p>\n
As the sun set on another Labor Day, thousands of beachgoers were left with sandy feet, sun-kissed smiles, and memories of a summer well spent.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Families fire up the grills, dig in the sand, and soak up the sunshine along Mission Beach and…\n","protected":false},"author":3,"featured_media":192826,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[5134],"tags":[5229,1582,276,3549,7264,67,586,132,5230,68,2969],"class_list":{"0":"post-192825","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-san-diego","8":"tag-america","9":"tag-ca","10":"tag-california","11":"tag-san-diego","12":"tag-sandiego","13":"tag-united-states","14":"tag-united-states-of-america","15":"tag-unitedstates","16":"tag-unitedstatesofamerica","17":"tag-us","18":"tag-usa"},"share_on_mastodon":{"url":"https:\/\/pubeurope.com\/@us\/115131985681741796","error":""},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/192825","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/3"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=192825"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/192825\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/192826"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=192825"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=192825"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=192825"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}