Even Paradise Needs a Vacation

Torrey Pines State Reserve from Torrey Pines-Del Mar Trail

Here I am again, lost for words to say, my thoughts already in vacation mode, thus, titling this post very similar to what I had written before, "Even Paradise Needs An Adventure Vacation." The only difference between the two titles is the word "adventure", which I purposely omitted in the title of this post. It's not a surprise to me, that I am using pictures taken from the same place, but just at different times for this two similarly titled posts. I may have said it before, and I am saying again, that though San Diego has many beautiful natural places for us to explore and wander, but my favorite place to simply while time away, relax, rejuvenate, recharge, get inspired, get healed, and so much more, is Torrey Pines.

Morro Bay, CA

 Morro Bay from Morro Bay State Park

Morro Bay is a quiet little oceanfront town in San Luis Obispo County, in the central part of California. It is strategically located in between two of California's bigger cities, Los Angeles in the South and San Francisco in the North, about 3.5 hours drive from these two cities. It is about one hour drive to the southern part of Big Sur coast. Its proximity to Big Sur was the reason why we chose Morro Bay as one of our destinations during our last Big Sur vacation. Staying in Morro Bay for 2 nights allowed us to see more of the south part of Central California such as Pismo Beach Butterfly Migration and Oceano Sand Dunes without draining our energy when we finally got to Big Sur for several days of  nature exploring.

Birds, Sea Lions and The Parade of Lights

 White Pelicans, San Diego River Estuary (their beaks angled for entry to the water )

Last Sunday, we went to see the San Diego Parade of Lights, which is an annual holiday tradition held at the San Diego Bay. San Diego is more known as the city that loves water activities, thus, aside from surfing, snorkeling, diving, paddle boarding, kayaking, and other more common activities by the sea that I often share in some of my posts, other popular water activities in San Diego are wind sailing, yachting, fishing and boating. Tha Parade of Lights if the Christmas gift to the city of the boating community of San Diego. We oftentimes miss this event, but last Sunday, we took note of the time of the parade and did not forget about it. :)  According to my research, the parade will start at Shelter Island,and will go around the San Diego Bay passing by Harbor Island, Embarcadero and ending at Coronado Ferry Landing.

Anywhere along the San Diego Bay would be a good viewing site, but we decided to witness the event at Shelter Island. On our way to Shelter Island, passing by the San Diego River Estuary, I saw a group of huge white birds that I seldom see that close to the sea, the WHITE PELICANS!

Pismo State Beach Butterfly Grove

Where are the buttrerflies? Let me start you with images around the Butterfly Grove.

Oceano Sand Dunes

The scenery above may look a barren desert, where the vast sand may deceive you that this place is as hot as it can be. But is this place in the desert? Is this place hot? The picture below may probably answer the two questions.

Is He Running Away From My Lens? haha!

Though I have shared several posts here about some desert even coated with snow and ice, but oftentimes, the appearance of sand and red rocks give an impression that it is hot. Behind the barrenness above, are pieces of nature's puzzle that if you put together, you will realize that there is only ONE who created all these artistry that no man can equal. HE put all these together for everything serves a GREAT purpose.

Elephant Seals

"Ouch! Why Did You Have to Pat My Head that Hard?"

Laughing Out Loud At Sickness

This is a Sponsored post written by me on behalf of © Blue Shield of California for SocialSpark. All opinions are 100% mine.

Most of the time we tend to feel sad whenever we feel sick or someone else in the family. Who wouldn’t right? But portraying the sad aura could further worsen the pain or whatever ailment you’re feeling thus lengthening your weak days.
Laughter is the best medicine as they say and this has been the underlying principle of how Dr. Jim and his friend Bob have been dealing with sickness in the funniest way possible. These two hilarious individuals from Blue Shield California have been surfing the internet for quite some time and was able to hear a lot of medical sentiments. In order for their clients/patients/viewers to keep up with the medical jargons, they made medical management in the form of some video presentations in the funniest way possible.

I am a lactose intolerant person and one time I suddenly decided to surf the internet for some remedies. Fortunately I was able to bump into Dr. Jim and Bob's Fun & Helpful Health Advice in video entitled “Tolerating Your Lactose Intolerance” and even if the video is not that lengthy, I was able to learn how to manage it in the simplest way ever.

Blue Shield California is a non-profit group that aims to give an effective alternative medicine. By visiting their official Facebook page, you would be able to have access to their fun yet informative videos and at the same time get to connect with numerous doctors that could somehow help you out in solving your health problems. Not only that, you get to know a lot of affordable health plans as well.
Whenever you feel sick, it’s okay to feel sad but don’t let it consume your entire sick days. Hop into the happy feeling immediately and be cured the soonest time possible.

Oceano Sand Dunes

Images of Oceano Dunes State Vehicular Recreation Area

The Oceano Sand Dunes is the second largest dune system in California, next to Glamis Sand Dunes. The Oceano Sand Dunes extend from South Luis Obispo County to North Santa Barbara County. We have not really explored very well this sand dune system in Oceano because of the weather on our first visit ( first day of our Big Sur thanksgiving vacation), and because of limited time on our second visit (last day of our vacation ). 

First day of our thanksgiving vacation, we drove North from San Diego to Morro Bay ( stop-over destination to avoid the longer drive to Big Sur and to explore places South of Big Sur that we often passed by but did not explore ). Before hitting Morro Bay, we stopped by the Oceano Sand Dunes which is South of Morro Bay. It was heavily raining during our drive, but we were lucky and blessed enough that rain stopped when we got to Oceano Sand Dunes. 

Boardwalk that Crosses Oso Flaco Lake to the Sand Dunes ( this photo by hubby )

Sea Lions and Wave

Pounding Waves, La Jolla, San Diego, CA

As giant waves came pounding on the rocks and shore, the weary California sea lions look for a place to escape the pounding waves. In my previous post, I shared my imagined story about elephant seals expressions, in this post, let me share with you another of my imagined story about sea lions and the waves. Yes, being out of the doors sometimes bring me crazy stories, such as "The Sea Lion, Herring and Egret". Anyway, I am taking a break from sharing our experiences in our last thanksgiving Big Sur Vacation in favor of most recent experience here in home sweet San Diego.

Who? @ Garrapata State Park, CA

Who is she? :) Hiking in the rain?

 and then, taking photos quickly when rain stops?