Pelicans

Now, you may not share my feelings about pelicans and I have to admit, I had a long talk with myself before posting about them for fear of scaring some of you off but, well, I really like pelicans. Before moving to San Diego I can't say for sure that I ever saw one, much less twenty of them in a row gliding up there in the sky so effortlessly, one not more than a few feet behind the next, all going someplace. I use to joke with people and say, that "they are headed to a party in Pacific Beach" and as much a I'm quite sure that isn't true, I challenge you to disprove it.

The best pelican watching area, in my opinion, is between La Jolla Cove and Bird Rock. A huge flock of pelicans make their homes in La Jolla on the cliffs above the cove just East of Point La Jolla. I have seen quite literally hundreds of them there from time-to-time. Cormorants seem to get along nicely with pelicans so you will see quite a few cormorants there as well. But if you want to see them in flight, go south, anywhere from Nicholson Point to Windansea beach.

The beach is easily accessed from just about anywhere. Find a place to park on Scripps Lane or Ravina Street and head west. When get to the Pacific Ocean, go left. It is only about a mile from Nicholson Point to Windansea. There seem to always be a few pelicans skimming across the edge of a wave. The pics above are all of pelicans gliding just above the palm trees, but I have seen as many riding the airflow off the crest of a wave. If you decide to walk the surface streets back, you won't be disappointed. The neighborhood is beautiful and you will get glimpses of the ocean every now and then. There are also many paths that will take you back to beach if you should decide to end your career as a street walker. (I know, that was bad. I couldn't help myself.)

Brown pelicans like this one are the smallest of the eight species of pelicans weighing in at 6 to 12 pounds. If you enjoy watching these wonderful birds as much as I do, you will want to make sure to spend a day or two on the beach in La Jolla when you RetireInSanDiego.

In parting, I do believe a limerick by Dixon Lanier Merritt is in order.

A wonderful bird is the pelican,
His bill will hold more than his belican,
He can take in his beak
Enough food for a week
But I'm damned if I see how the helican!

Happy Saturday from San Diego

Another San Diego Sunset

Maybe you are one of "those" people. You know the ones I'm talking about: at ten years old they knew they were born to be a quantum physicist and would stumble across the cure for cancer while discovering the tesseract.  Well, I'm not one of those good folks but I hope both are discovered. When I suggest that you RetireInSanDiego I'm talking about retiring on more of a Clairemont budget than a La Jolla budget. 

I hope you read the dialogue and enjoyed the pics I took at La Jolla Cove. It is such a beautiful place. I lived in Wind-n-Sea, just South of the Cove, for many years and thoroughly enjoyed this park-like area. My reality, however, is and was not La Jolla. I eventually bought a great condo in Clairemont. Fabulous location and I do mean FABULOUS. Ten minutes to the airport; four miles to the ocean through Pacific Beach; a grocery and drug store one mile South, a shopping center two miles North and a Target, Home Depot, Von's and Kohl's a mile and a half East. AND, best of all, Clairemont is a neighborhood I can afford. To top it all off I get to enjoy beautiful sunsets every night. If you get tired of me posting them, please send me a comment like, "Okay, enough with the sunsets already." I will understand. But, you have to see this one. Enjoy! and Happy Wednesday.

La Jolla Cove

 La Jolla Cove is in the heart of La Jolla, the Jewell of this exclusive community. The cove is bordered by La Jolla Point to the West and Goldfish Point to the East. Directly below these two artists are La Jolla Caves. If you do an image search for La Caves you will find hundreds of images. The Caves are accessed through a tunnel that was dug in 1902 - 1903. I have not personally been in the caves but I hear that they are interesting.

I, personally, enjoy the walk North of the caves. I find it peaceful, relaxing and serene.

              

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Hundreds of pelicans make their homes on the sandstone cliffs above The Cove, side-by-side with cormorants. The beaches and caves at the waters edge are frequently filled with seals and sea lions. I'm told that the waters to the north of The Cove at certain times of the year are filled with Leopard Shark. They use this area to raise their young. The person that told me about this happened to be swimming between La Jolla Cove and La Jolla Shores one day and at just the right, or wrong, moment depending on how you look at it, he looked down to see the ocean floor covered with these beautiful Leopard Shark. Here is a link to a Huffington Post, HuffPost Travel, article that provides a more in-depth look at these shark. 
http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2013/07/08/swimming-with-sharks-la-jolla_n_3562523.html


As you may have noticed, I love the abundance of flowers in 
San Diego. The first year that I lived here I noticed that there is something blooming here all year round. In fact, Strelitzia, commonly called Bird of Paradise, are at their best from late Fall to Spring in San Diego. The narrow leaf species can be found quite literally everywhere around San Diego. My neighbor has a pot of these on her deck. The Giant species, and I do mean GIANT, grow up to 30 feet tall. The first time I saw one of these it was hard to imagine that this gigantic plant was a bird-of-paradise. I've never actually measured one but he blooms are upward of 12 inches in length.


Even the Statice flower, Limonium, grows here like beautiful weeds. Walking near the ocean used to be my focus; the thing I had to do every time I went for a walk. But now I almost prefer the park or those neighborhoods like La Jolla in which to go walking for all of the beautiful landscape and flowers that grow in San Diego year round. 

Have I convinced you yet to RetireInSanDiego?      No? 

Well, stay tuned. 

San Diego Sunsets

Good evening from San Diego. 

This beautiful sunset Wednesday evening was breathtaking, as are all the sunsets in San Diego. If you go searching the internet for "days of sun in San Diego" you will find many different answers because, well, there are many different answers. For example, if you live in Pacific Beach (PB) or La Jolla you may have significantly fewer days of sun than if you live East of San Diego a few mile, say in Santee or La Mesa. That's because of the phenomenon lovingly referred to as May Grey and June Gloom, which sometimes starts in March and lasts well into July. I'm not a meteorologist but the layman's explanation is that, early in the spring the deserts East of San Diego start to heat up. As they do, the rising heat from the desert pulls the cool marine layer into San Diego. If you happen to be close to the ocean, as I mentioned, sometimes from early March to August you could be in a fog while just a few miles inland it's sun all around. 

Moving to San Diego was the best thing I ever did for myself. RetireInSanDiego? You betcha. The number of beautiful sunsets, whether 146 or 263 days a year, or more, will be debated for some time to come. I tend to be a glass half full kind of guy. Even on those overcast days the sun will peak through the clouds at sunset turning the sky into a crimson fiery glow from the horizon as far East as you can see. When you finally decide to join us, you will see and enjoy this first hand for yourself. See you then.

By the way, that thing that looks like a pole around the middle left of the pic is Sea World.