Tuesday, March 25, 2008
I can hardly believe we are actually off on the trip we have planned for so long. Uneventful flight—first class is definitely the way to travel! We had the individual screens, so both watched two movies (free)—different ones, of course. We had both forgotten that the San Diego airport is smack in the middle of the city. The planes arriving and departing appear to almost skim the tops of the taller buildings along the bay. You almost expect to see marks on the building roofs like the smudges from cars scraping the concrete center barriers on busy highways.
We raced the sunset to La Jolla, but the sun won by about ten minutes. We did however still see some amazing color in the clouds and wonderful shadow and reflected light in the ocean. Twilight lingered in that beautiful blue time of evening which is my favorite time of the day. Crowds lined the walkway above the beach and filled a stone pier that juts out into the bay. Something is still right with the world when that many people will come just to watch the sun set over the water.
I can hardly believe we are actually off on the trip we have planned for so long. Uneventful flight—first class is definitely the way to travel! We had the individual screens, so both watched two movies (free)—different ones, of course. We had both forgotten that the San Diego airport is smack in the middle of the city. The planes arriving and departing appear to almost skim the tops of the taller buildings along the bay. You almost expect to see marks on the building roofs like the smudges from cars scraping the concrete center barriers on busy highways.
We raced the sunset to La Jolla, but the sun won by about ten minutes. We did however still see some amazing color in the clouds and wonderful shadow and reflected light in the ocean. Twilight lingered in that beautiful blue time of evening which is my favorite time of the day. Crowds lined the walkway above the beach and filled a stone pier that juts out into the bay. Something is still right with the world when that many people will come just to watch the sun set over the water.
One small bay sheltered by a breakwater had been appropriated by a sizable herd (pride?) of sea lions. The humans were roped off, unable to access the beach. It almost appeared to be a reversal of typical zoo procedure—the row of humans stared forlornly from behind their barrier.
Sea lions do not snuggle. Each furry body was stretched out in the sand in solitary repose. If an unlucky or not terribly bright fellow decided to find his ideal sleep spot too close to another a brief tussle ensued as the two shoved and rolled and struck each other with strong necks, disturbing the snoozing neighbors, who complained with raucous barks, but refused to be drawn into the altercation. Eventually one of the competing animals shoved the other back into the water, then slumped off to reclaim his sandy bed.
As we walked back to the car an enormous flock of pelicans flew over—Tom said he thought at least a hundred of them. I was glad Tom had his hat on. (On a California trip years ago, we were talking near the end of a pier, when Jim and I saw a pelican perched above Tom’s head, leaning closer and closer. The end of the pelican’s beak had a wicked looking hook that was dangerously close to the silver hair and getting closer by the second. We yelled and the pelican, looking annoyed, took flight.) These stayed high above us—they are much prettier from a distance.
Sea lions do not snuggle. Each furry body was stretched out in the sand in solitary repose. If an unlucky or not terribly bright fellow decided to find his ideal sleep spot too close to another a brief tussle ensued as the two shoved and rolled and struck each other with strong necks, disturbing the snoozing neighbors, who complained with raucous barks, but refused to be drawn into the altercation. Eventually one of the competing animals shoved the other back into the water, then slumped off to reclaim his sandy bed.
As we walked back to the car an enormous flock of pelicans flew over—Tom said he thought at least a hundred of them. I was glad Tom had his hat on. (On a California trip years ago, we were talking near the end of a pier, when Jim and I saw a pelican perched above Tom’s head, leaning closer and closer. The end of the pelican’s beak had a wicked looking hook that was dangerously close to the silver hair and getting closer by the second. We yelled and the pelican, looking annoyed, took flight.) These stayed high above us—they are much prettier from a distance.
1 comment:
Mom (and my father in hat; hope it is the one that I like) I am so excited and happy you made it on your trip. After years of travel to follow jobs you deserve weeks of travel to follow dreams.
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