Birds and Big Waves at La Jolla

Joan and I had heard that there was a 'high seas' alert for the day so we decided to head out to La Jolla where the few beaches and stunning cliffs might provide us with some entertainment.  We managed  a rare 3 hour parking spot next to the cliffs, and walked along the excellent paths provided.

We came across this fine raptor and I have no idea what type he is...  Any advice will be welcome...

Next along the path were these pelicans that have figured out that big waves are not suitable for dinner time...  Mind you, grooming  or sleeping is always an option. 

This Cormorant seems to be in breeding plumage, which I've never seen before. It's usually a black and white bird.  Blue eyes, and blue throat are completely new to me.

This next Cormorant was giggling his crop, keeping his eyes closed, and seemed completely mesmerized by one of those DNA led activities.

This is a scene with the La Jolla Cove in the background, where there is actually a small useful beach.

 The beach in the background of the picture above usually houses the sea lions. During these high seas, these seals just headed above the surf and did what they do best: lying around resting... 

This little seal was getting ready to head for the water.
  

This next seal in the foreground, just returned from being in the rough waters, grabbing a snuggle while passing by...

This little guy was looking at this 'non family' member just before a space struggle took place.

While the struggle took place, there was much gnashing of teeth and squealing. Here Mom and pup are screaming bloody murder, because the guy on the far left wants more space. The end result was that the pup climbed over the Mom, and all was well.

Sometimes, when the world is not unfolding as it should, remember that a properly shaped rock can be a source of great comfort...

While others were seeking comfort, this next guy was looking for a bite to eat. The easiest way is to grab a passing wave, even a large one, and join the ocean and its food basket.

 The La Jolla area is well supervised by Lifeguards.  This guy has a seadoo with an attached modified back-board to help people in dire straights. Note the cormorant in the background.

Big waves sometimes make for wonderful waterfalls. Here's what happens after a large wave crashed over this boulder, leaving behind many wonderful waterfalls.

Large wave action makes for all kinds of spectacular water action. These next few pictures are only a very small portion of the wonderful show that was available.

Here's Joan enjoying the La Jolla seascape.

And then here's me [pre-haircut]...

I just heard that there's a heavy seas warning until Sunday night; maybe there will be more to follow...

Quick trip to the Zoo

Our trips to the zoo often start at the polar bear exhibit. It was mid-day, and only one of the female bears was visible.  

She must have been in a playful mood since she rolled in a fresh pile of soil and played with an old potato sack.

Here's our Queen of the Arctic, shaking her head to get rid of some dirt, just like a dog shakes off water when leaving the water.

Again, our Queen with her rag-shawl, resting her head on the fresh dirt.

Shaking her potato sack did little to remove its dirt...

Again, the majestic polar bear.  Well maybe not the majestic one, but the one having fun.

Here's a gazelle with her hour old baby: Mom is still licking the baby clean. Talk about cute!

This is likely the baby's first drink since birth.

Cats of all sizes seem to lick their chops after a good chew on a bone. This large cat is no exception.

He / she posed for me for a moment.

then resumed the patrol...

This large male orangutang is still growing his hair longer, his jowls larger, and his look more introspective.  The green tinge is due to the thick glass between camera and subject.

He must be planning his next thought...

Don't laugh too hard, this guy might be the subject of your next birthday card.

La Jolla, Jumping off cliffs

Last Sunday, Joan and I went to La Jolla, a very rich suburb north of here, to check out the whales. The traffic near La Jolla was so heavy that we turned off and drove towards Torrey Pines State Park.

The cliffs along the way are very steep and rugged. Many beaches just show up at low tide. Sunday had some fog over the Pacific which limited the view somewhat, but it remained spectacular.

As often happens, we just drove along the coast, turning into dead end streets to snoop around.

One front 'lawn' was made up of these aeonium plants which were crowded together and made a dark, impenetrable 'lawn' about a foot deep.  These plants will flower later when they put up a large christmas tree like spike of bright yellow flowers.  Now that will be truly spectacular!  ...and you don't need to water or cut the grass.

The house itself was also striking with the 'lawn' setting it up very nicely.

Other houses on the street were also grand, and beautifully designed; the whole enclave having a very cohesive look about it.

This is the driveway up to another designer home; you can just see the outline of a glass wall in the middle of the next picture.

Again, two more more great pieces of architecture.

And lastly, a closer look at the house on the right of the last picture.

At the very end of this short street, there was parking space leading to a path to this hillside area along the road side below.

These trees are just leafing out and their bark is white and interesting.

Further along the coast, we drove into the Torrey Pines county park where parking was almost impossible to find.  If it was that popular, we had to find a parking spot, right?  As usual, Joan used her parking karma and we found a spot a thousand feet or so beyond the entrance.

We just happened to be in an area reserved for Para Gliding, and for model glider flying.

The Para Gliding area was filled with people learning the craft since it's also a school for this sport. The wind was considered light and we didn't see any tandem rides [$130 for 20 minutes] because the wind wasn't strong enough to support two people off one sail.

Here are people setting up their sails for take-off.  There was more practice than real flight, but some people did jump off the cliff and sail away.

This next picture includes a gull and a model glider above the para gliders.

More practicing take offs.

These two gliders were out for the better part of a half hour, managing to go up the coast and return a dozen times or so. One landed on the beach below, the other landed where he had taken off.

So there you have it, the serendipity of a Sunday drive. And yes, Joan did manage to see a whale!  How neat is that?

Borrego Springs

This is the outside room of the Arches Restaurant at the Borrego Springs Resort: what a great way to start your day. Joan and I were the only ones there when we arrived and ordered coffee while waiting for our breakfasts to be made.

The coffee arrived in a silver jug, the cream in a smaller matching jug.  Unfortunately, the coffee was cold, so we asked for hot coffee.  There was no more coffee, would we like tea or something else? No coffee? Well it turns out the coffee maker wasn't working properly and they'd have to wait for repairs.

To shorten a long story, they warmed up the coffee we had, and served it back to us. Warm, hot even, but tasted like old instant coffee more than a good breakfast coffee. The breakfasts eventually arrived: we ate, we paid, and we left.  Just before we left, a couple of ladies came in for breakfast and sat at the next table. They ordered coffee...  Fortunately, they were given the same excuse we had been given, so we went on our way.

As you can see for the picture above, our resort has an 18 hole golf course: it was beautifully green and  in great shape.  There were no bald spots, nothing at all to indicate that it was in the middle of a desert.

Apparently, the resort has it own good wells, and keeps the grass green throughout the year, even in the 100+ºF weather!

As we drove around, snooping, we came across this tee area: the round circle at the back contains the expert tee-off area, the forward one is where the ladies and less expert [?] golfers tee-off. 

Note that the grass area stops abruptly with the raw desert sands starting at the edge, while later on, the fairway is green again.

If you look at the side of the tee, you might see that the green grass stops suddenly, and the desert resumes instantly.  The watering system has to be really excellent to keep the grass green to the edge of the course, and have no spill-over vegetation six inches later.

About three car lengths later, we came up to the end of the road, the end of the golf course, and the end of a large development with water and electricity, but no houses and few buyers.

More about failed developments later.

In that part of the development with houses and people living in them, we ran across many ways that people landscape their properties, respecting the fact that they live in a desert. I just had to show you these stunning and large red blooms on this two foot high cactus in someone's front yard.

As we kept snooping around the roads less travelled, we came across this very large tree nursery that also had many cactus. This next shot has a base of golden barrel cactus, [a very popular sight around Southern California] and these tall barrel cacti with inverted pots over their growing points. The background mountains are also part of this desert landscape.

Why the inverted pots? My guess is that they protect the cactus growing points from the sun and birds until it's time to remove these 'hats'.

Next is a different take on the same area: now with purple flowers at the base of a messy palm tree, with the golden cactus in the background.

The nursery above was part a huge citrus grove and we saw this 'death machine' at work. The four green disks [per side] are spinning saws, they are mounted in pairs on the upper and lower spinning shafts that in turn are mounted  on the parallel pieces that are lifted off the ground in this picture.

The purpose of this machine is to cut a channel between two rows of fruit trees. You can see that the driver's cab is littered with cuttings, and is built to protect the operator.

I estimate that it can cut a ten foot high swath on each side of the machine as it works its way down the rows of trees. 

This next picture shows the machine just entering a row and it gives you some idea of how high a swath it can cut as it goes down the row.  Most of these rows are in the quarter mile and more in length, and they are straight as a die.  Amazing.

We won't mention the noise being made...

Borrego Springs is a village in the middle of the park. It is sprinkled with these amazing statues of different animals, all made by the same artist who works in welded steel that is allowed to rust.

Each one is different, and every one brings a smile. This one and a few more were part of a major housing development that never took off.

In this next picture, the straight road is the left lane of a split road with a small boulevard.  It's likely more than a mile long. Every few hundred feet or so are the stubs for water and electricity for an 'estate' property of a couple of acres. If you look very carefully, you might make out about ten houses! The development was started just before the financial crisis of 2008, and has been stalled ever since.  There are a few for sale signs, on lots as well as houses, and because it's very remote, right now, it would not be a nice place to live.

But on a happier note, they do have many of the sculptures that seem to fit into the landscape very well.

Here's Joan beside this old chap panning for gold.  It's interesting to note that his pan has many coins tossed in by visitors from many different countries.   ... and the coins are still there!

This Jeep may be one of the more involved sculptures: totally made of rusting steel, and very detailed with the couple inside wearing sunglasses and all. Not a single Jeep part was damaged or altered in the making of this piece...

One of my main reasons for going to the desert was to look for the plants that bloom profusely in the desert when they've had the right amount of rain and heat. The blooming deserts of the world have been photographed many times and the results are quite stunning.

Unfortunately, Anza Borrego was nowhere near being in bloom.

On the way back to San Diego, we stopped and snooped around Alpine CA where we saw this private property where its desert was in full bloom.  Simply stunning! Enjoy.

Don't forget to click on any image to see them all larger.