Last Weekend of Summer Break

Celebrated the last weekend of summer break wandering in Balboa Park, La Jolla Shores and Torrey Pines State Reserve, combining city and nature here in home sweet San Diego.

Now that summer break ended, I am not very sure how often I would be able to update this blog, I hope I could manage a post once a while.

Weekend Wanderings (7): Hiking and Birding, Rain or Shine

Saturday, April 26, 2014 Wanderings

Not rain nor strong winds could stop us from hiking and enjoying our wonderful world. Here are some pictures from today's hiking, morning @ Lake Hodges, and afternoon @ Ocean Beach.

Here are some photos of our Saturday wanderings.

Wildflowers @ the trail

 Happy Egret with Fish

 Osprey with Half A Fish ( the other half was with his family )

 Osprey Enjoying His Fish Meal

MEET THE OSPREY FAMILY

Weekend Wanderings (6): Butterflies

picture collage done through fotor.com
( to learn more how I create my photo collage through fotor.com, you can visit the post I wrote for The Salitype Society here )

Saturday: April 12, 2014 @ The Buttefly Jungle, San Diego Zoo Safari Park

I know, I am not even done sharing our recent spring adventure at Big Sur, Yosemite National Park and Eastern Sierra, yet, here I am, sharing our Weekend Wanderings not even a week after we got back from our 9 days adventure trip. :) We got back home Sunday night from Eastern Sierra, Monday- Friday, back to work, Saturday, well, time for weekend wanderings again! Our rest and relaxation is not couching at home, but enjoying the gifts outdoors. For those familiar with the rest and rejuvenation brought about by physical activities I am sure could relate so well that exercising is healing, allowing our body to breathe in therapeutic inspiration and breathe out stresses.

Anyway, last Saturday, we did not do any strenuous hike, because we wanted to enjoy the gifts of "butterfly joys" @ The Butterfly Jungle in San Diego Zoo Safari Park. Though after the butterflies, we took a long walk as usual at the Safari Park, but I will share the other non-butterfly photos later. Meanwhile, let me share here some butterflies photos I took last weekend.

Camera Settings: Manual, f/2.8, 1/160 seconds , ISO 100

Camera Settings: Manual, f/2.8, 1/100 seconds, ISO 100 ( and same settings for all pictures below )

Weekend Wanderings (5): La Jolla and Torrey Pines- Del Mar Trail

Time flies so fast, I can't believe it has been about a month since I last shared our weekend wanderings here, which was at the San Diego Zoo on the weekend of February 8th. Thankfully, I saved all our weekend wanderings in one folder, with each weekend in sub-folders, so that it is easy for me to reminisce the simple joys we had from our weekend wanderings.

La Jolla, Torrey Pines-Del Mar Trail

For this weekend wanderings, let me go back to March 15, Saturday. It's time to check for spring wildflowers around San Diego.

We wandered at La Jolla first, before proceeding to Torrey Pines for Torrey Pines-Del Mar hike.

We started our Satur-date from La Jolla Coast Walk. There were minimal spring wildflowers at the Coast Walk on that day, but there were signs they will bloom in maybe a few weeks. But the bloom won't be as great as the previous years, because of the extreme drought we had last year, the worst drought in over 100 years.

LOOKING AT TORREY PINES FROM LA JOLLA COAST WALK

From La Jolla Coast Walk trail, we continued South to La Jolla Cove.

ON TOP OF LA JOLLA CAVES ( can you find me? )

At La Jolla Cove, we spent some time enjoying watching the breeding cormorants plumage and sea lions from above the bluffs.

DOUBLE CRESTED CORMORANT IN BREEDING PLUMAGE

SEA LIONS AND MEN

 From above the bluffs, the squirrel were getting some attention too. :) Just too many wildlife to enjoy at La Jolla Cove, from pelicans, to cormorants, to harbor seals, to sea lions to squirrels. It is also very enjoyable to watch people, especially little kids, having so much fun.

SQUIRREL

 From La Jolla Cove, we turned around and went back to La Jolla Coast Walk. From Coast walk, we drove to Torrey Pines State Beach North Parking lot. it was time to check out the spring wildflowers at Torrey Pines-Del Mar trail by the rail tracks.

At the North Torrey Pines parking lot, we were greeted by the blooming pink manzanitas.

Manzanitas and Los Penasquitos Marsh Lagoon @ Torrey Pines State Beach- North Parking lot

From there, we walked to Del Mar Beach but along the beach first ( we saved the wildflower above the bluffs for last, since we wanted to check out the cute tiny birds, or sanderlings too ). 

Marbled Murelets and Sanderlings @ North Torrey Pines State Beach

SANDERLINGS

SANDERLINGS IN FLIGHT

PELICANS AND WAVE

Weekend Wanderings 4: San Diego Zoo

Saturday, February 8, 2014

San Diego is almost synonymous to San Diego Zoo,  oftentimes the highlight of most visitors to this outdoorsy city. San Diego Zoo is part of San Diego Zoo Global that is dedicated to the science of saving endangered species worldwide. The other facilities are the San Diego Zoo Safari Park and the San Diego Zoo Institute for Conservation Research. We are not as often at the Zoo than we are at the Safari Park, because we love more the wider exhibit at the Safari Park where animals run wild and free almost like seeing them in Africa. 

Mom and Baby Orangutan

However, once a while, we visit San Diego Zoo whenever we heard of a baby. :) We do love babies, may it be baby animals, or baby humans. Babies are always cute, adorable, and oh, so joyful to watch.

The baby orangutan was the reason we went to San Diego Zoo that Saturday. :)

We learned that the baby orangutan could best be observed in the morning, so we went there when the zoo opened, at 9:00 am. :) We sure are early birds. We went straight ahead to the orangutan exhibit. True enough, we were joyed observing mom and baby orangutan, and their other members of family. 

Orangutan Family @ the San Diego Zoo

After we had enough of the orangutan exhibit, instead of leaving the Zoo, we decided to just stay and visit other exhibits. The San Diego Zoo houses more than 3,700 animals and more than 650 species and subspecies, however, seeing them all in one day may not be possible if you take time like us in observing them and enjoying them. Unless, you are like "stop and go". So, the pictures here were only from the exhibits we visited that Saturday.

Though nearby are the Monkey Trails and Gorilla Tales exhibit, but we kind of skipped them, since maybe, we were so filled with orangutan joy already. :) Or maybe, we prefer more the Gorilla exhibit at Safari Park, with little boy Monroe ( 3 years old now). 

So, from the orangutan exhibit, we wanted to go to the Birds Aviary. However, on our way to Aviary, I got sidetracked with the many fishes and the kids enjoying so much the Crocodile and the Pygmy Hippos exhibit.

Kids enjoying the crocodile exhibit, they were there already when I spotted the fishes, and they were still there when I left, they kept on following the crocodile, while I was simply enjoying watching them and the fishes :)

Did you see the crocodile's nails above? Don't you think it is so naturally well manicured? Haha! I love the color. While I was enjoying watching the kids and the fishes, hubby was patiently waiting to get a more up close picture of crocodile. 

crocodile- shot by hubby

Weekend Wanderings (3): La Jolla Cove and Torrey Pines Gliderport Canyon

Saturday, February 15, 2014

Though I have not shared my February 8 weekend wanderings yet, but I am now here jumping to the most recent weekend that had passed. :) I guess the Feb 15th weekend was more exciting because my cousin from LA joined us here in San Diego. I will share our February 8 wanderings later when I get a chance already to convert our pictures to JPEG. I take pictures in RAW which needs to be converted first to JPEG before it could be read in most computers or in any online photo sharing.

Here are images from our wanderings on Saturday. :)

After breakfast, we started our wanderings at La Jolla Coast Walk.

La Jolla Coast Walk Trail
( cousin in orange, me in purple )

From La Jolla Coast walk, we continued walking South towards La Jolla Cove.

La Jolla Cove

What is a walk at La Jolla Cove without stopping to enjoy the Cove's wildlife, such as sea lions, pelicans and cormorants. I know, our morning wandering was very much similar to 2 weekends ago, but then, I probably will not get tired seeing the balance of nature and man at La Jolla Cove.

Nature and Men @ La Jolla Cove

From La Jolla Cove, we continued walking South towards Windansea Beach, where we did a little bit tidepooling.

After Windansea, we turned around and headed back North towards La Jolla Coast Walk. Before reaching La Jolla Coast Walk, we stopped by at Little Korea near La Jolla Cove for our lunch.

Korean Food @ Little Korea Restaurant, La Jolla Cove

After lunch, we continued our walk back to our car which was parked near La Jolla Coast walk. From La Jolla Coast walk, we drove to Torrey Pines Gliderport for a hike down to Dike Rock tidepool via a slot canyon South of Gliderport. 

Hike Down to the Beach via a trail South of Gliderport passing through a slot canyon

This is our third time taking this trail, the last two times with my more adventurous cousin. :) The trail here goes down a very interesting slot canyon. Though it is small compared to the slot canyons in the desert, but nevertheless, it was still fun navigating through it.

Going Down the Slot ( fun, fun, fun! )

Emerging out from the slot, the trail became more challenging as it was very steep, narrow and slippery on some parts. Notice I looked like almost crawling in the picture below. :) Actually, this is the trail where I would do a lot of butt walk, walking in five! Only I butt walked though, hubby and cousin had very clean hiking pants, haha! :)

Emerging from The Slot

Thanks to my cousin and hubby for boosting my confidence by lending me 4 hands. :) As I said before, I am always the weakest link in family. Though I may be the weakest or cautious, but I always try hard very carefully, haha! All for the love of exploring nature, and experiencing the Great Outdoors, as close as we could get. I am not saying most of my family are not careful, they just have more balancing and maneuvering skills, and more flexibility than I do, making them more physically equipped. I guess their strengths benefit me a lot. Though I grew up sickly ( migraine + asthmatic ++++) and weak but I took inspiration from stronger members of family so I won't be left out in all kinds of family fun.

After the canyon, it was time for us to hike back up to Gliderport. When we passed by the trail with the vertical cliffs South of Gliderport, the low afternoon light was giving the cliffs some golden glow (though not very golden because of thick clouds as well), so, we grabbed the chance to have some more photo opportunities. :) I simply love bringing home the wonders that I see, even if they may be very local. :)

Vertical Cliffs South of Gliderport

The vertical cliffs in the above picture were probably some of my favorite scenic spots in San Diego for scenic photography. Also, the picture has that deceiving look of being at the very edge of the world, but we were safe enough on the trail several feet away from the edge. :) There was a family there who were waiting for sunset at the spot above. After we had our time taking photos, we headed back to Gliderport for sunset. 

@ Gliderport

 Gliderport is usually the place where I would bring visiting friends or family who would want to have some taste of Torrey Pines scenery without the hike. Gliderport is our trailhead for the hike down through the slot canyon in the above pictures. Notice that the trailhead is scenic enough, that most people who would go here don't really take a hike but just breathe in the inspiring scenery of badlands and ocean. This area usually starts to bloom this time of the year, but sadly, we are in worst drought this season that wildflowers were not able to grow at all. Hoping for some rain so we could have some spring wildflowers still. Otherwise, I would re-live the spring wildflowers of last year and the previous years. :) Haha!

It was another wonderful weekend wanderings in San Diego. Until next weekend wanderings. :)

Weekend Wanderings (2): La Jolla Cove and Lake Hodges

Torrey Pine Cliffs from La Jolla Cove

Saturday, February 1, 2014

Initial Plan: Relaxing walk at La Jolla Caves towards Windansea Beach for surfing photography in the morning, then, tidepooling at La Jolla Shores Dike Rock Tidepool in the afternoon.

How The Day Went: 

We started at La Jolla Caves as planned. However, the waves weren't that very flattering for photography, unlike the previous weekend  ( weekend wanderings 1 ). Our walk to Windansea Beach went fast because we did not take any surfing and wave photos as planned. We were back to La Jolla Cove area fast and focused more our fun on La Jolla Cove's scenery and wildlife.

Green Mossy Rocks @ La Jolla Cove

With The Sea Lions