February 10, 2019

February 10, 2019

Aimee and I and my brother-in-law rise early and take a walk through nearby Balboa Park. Set aside in 1835, it is one of the oldest parks in the US. Walking around the many museum buildings built for the 1915 Panama California Exposition is a joy. The weather is delightful, the trees are flowering and the architecture is Neo-Colonial. It is another reminder how beautiful San Diego is. Too bad it is packed to the gills with Californians.

Back at our hotel I take a hike up the hill behind our hotel to get a view of the area. There seems to be few flat spots in the entire city. After lunch at the hotel, we return to La Jolla, this time to visit the Scripps Institute of Oceanography. There we have a chance to listen to a lecture on the Gray Whale and their amazing long distance migration. Every year these baleen whales travel from the Arctic past here to mate and give birth in protected coves along the coast of Baja California. Aimee and I have always thought that our animal encounters have been the highlights of our vacations. So we decide to follow the gray whales south tomorrow.

We spend the next hour or so on a guided tour of Scripps impressive aquarium. The tanks have some very good collections of unusual sea creatures. I really like the variety of jellyfish while Aimee likes the seahorses and the venomous but well-camouflaged Stonefish. Both of us are entertained by a an unusually active giant Octopus that stretches out over the glass for us.

On the way out of La Jolla we stop at Seal Beach Cove. The coast is swarming with California Brown Pelicans. So much so the rocks are stained white with droppings and the air reeks. Despite that turnoff, the Pelican males have very colorful red pouches.

We finish with dinner at an Italian chain restaurant in downtown San Diego. We need to start cutting back or we will all be gaining weight on this vacation.