San Diego Safari Park Balloon Safari

San Diego Safari Park Balloon Safari taken on June 20, 2015 with an older version of the Panasonic DMC-TS6A LUMIX Camera.

Lake Miramar, San Diego CA

Lake Miramar or Miramar Reservoir (top picture) (location) is in the north eastern portion of the city.  It is popular for jogging, walking and biking since it has a 5 mile trail around it with very few (if any) cars.  There is also a dirt path you can mountain bike around the lake on.  You can also kayak, boat (there is a boat launch), or fish, but it is less popular for those activities.  The lake generally gets windy in the afternoons, but is relatively cool (70s or 80s).  You may see typical canyon animals, squirrels, lizards, rattlesnake, rabbits, maybe a coyote.  A portion of the lake is blocked off from entry.  The view from the dam is good (bottom picture).  Entry and parking are free, fishing requires a license.  Gates close at 8, so don't get trapped inside the parking lot.  Definitely a local destination and not something to go out of your way for if you're out of town.

La Jolla, San Diego, CA

La Jolla is one of the most popular spots in San Diego and it is easy to see why.  This part of the ocean is calmer or cleaner than other beaches, close to downtown and you can park not too far from a beach.  Kayaking, diving, snorkeling, surfing, and paddle boarding are all popular, or you can just walk along the coast and watch the sea lions.  Get there really early on the weekends and make a day of it.  Avoid San Diego in May and June if you're vacationing, you risk showing up on a stretch of June gloom and not seeing the sun for a whole week.

Red Sea Urchin - Laguna Beach

This is a red sea urchin crammed into the rocks at Diver's Cove in Laguna Beach California.  Apparently they can live 50+ years.  Red sea urchins are common and if you are scuba diving or snorkeling you are likely to see one every time you go out.

Sea Hares - Laguna Beach

I saw these two sea hares while snorkeling off Laguna Beach, Diver's Cove this weekend.  They live about a year and eat algae.  If you are looking you can see a sea hare about every time you go snorkeling in the Laguna Beach area.

Amazon offers a Sea Hare Peel and Stick Wall Decal for those really love sea hares.  Oddly the item has no reviews yet.

Laguna Beach Stonefish

I think this is a stonefish, which I saw while snorkeling outside of Crescent Beach near Seal Rock.  They can quickly change colors depending on what they are sitting on.  Apparently they are the most venomous fish in the world, however they are not usually deadly, I think I'll stay far away from them from now on.  Fortunately they don't seem to be a problem unless you step on them.

Laguna Beach Shore Crab

These shore crabs are common to the southern California area and you can see them all over if you look closely while tide pooling.  I saw this one at Shaw's Cove.  The differences between the shore crab and kelp crab are interesting..

I use the Panasonic Lumix TS4 12.1 TOUGH Waterproof Digital Camera for all of the underwater and beach shots on this blog.  It is a decent camera, you can see the camera's main flaw in the picture above, when coming out of the water, it is hard to clear the lens of water, particularly if you and all of your stuff is soaking wet.  All of the underwater cameras including the Gopro seem to have this problem at this time, so not much you can do about it.  

Laguna Beach Octopus

After never seeing an octopus while snorkeling at Laguna Beach, I saw two in one day.  One at Fisherman's Cove and one at Shaw's Cove.  The picture is not very good, but taking pictures of these is challenging.  I can not tell what kind of octopus it is.

I think a lot of people are afraid of going out in the CA ocean because it is "cold".  A lot of this is in your head, people swim in the ocean here all year wearing only a bathing suit.  I have been snorkeling all winter and spring using the O'Neill Wetsuit Reactor 3/2mm Full Suit, it is among the cheapest ones you can buy and it is working just fine for me.  I get at least 40 minutes in the water before I get cold.  The water temperature has been between 55 and 62 this winter and spring.  You will probably need a thicker suit for scuba diving in the winter.

Lake Campground and Jackson Lake Review

A typical campsite at Lake Campground.

Just back from Lake Campground California, west of Wrightwood in the San Gabriel Mountains in the Angeles National Forest.  It looks like the campground is remote, but its really not, with other campgrounds right around it and a lodge touching the east side, it is also fairly close to the road (for this reason I would argue the south side campsites are better with the exception of the one next to the toilet).  There are 8 well spaced out campsites, which on summer weekends are 100% full, there are two pit toilets, one latch didn't work, but they were clean.  There are probably four water faucets.  The campsites are typical fire ring, bear box and some semi-flat land to pitch a couple tents.  Parking might be rough if you have two cars depending on the site, but the road isn't that far at all.  The campsite host was great and actually is based in the next campsite over, Mountain Oak.

The campground is about a quarter mile walk from Jackson Lake, shown below.  Jackson Lake is a small lake, not really suitable for anything but swimming and fishing.  Even kayaking would probably get old quick.  There is a rope swing and it would probably be fun to go in after a day of hiking and then just walk back to the campground.  It was pretty busy on the weekend.

Anyway, June is a nice time of year to visit the area, the weather was great, a little windy, but good temperature.  It is a surprisingly close 75 minutes from orange county with no traffic, twice that on a Friday night.

The small beach at Jackson Lake, CA. 

A view of pretty much the entire lake.

Loon Lake, CA

Loon Lake Reservoir is in the Eldorado National Forest about two hours east of Sacramento, California.  It has a campground and boat ramp.  Loon Lake is at a higher elevation than Ice House Reservoir (which you drive past to get to Loon Lake), so it opens later in the year and is usually less crowded.  A general store is nearby at Ice House for supplies and showers.  My wife claims the boating at Loon Lake is superior to that at Ice House, but you really can't go wrong either way.

Ice House Reservoir, California

Ice House Reservoir is in the Eldorado National Forest is about 80 minutes east of Sacramento, CA.  It is a bit cold in June, but its the lowest elevation of the Sierra lakes on Hwy 50.  We saw a bald eagle flying around while we were on the lake.  It has a paved boat ramp, a few camp grounds, and a $7 day use fee.  Just a couple miles away is a general store where you can fill up on the things you forgot.

Golden Gate Bridge

This shot of the Golden Gate bridge is from the first stop over on the Marin side, I must look like a camera geek because 3 people stopped me to take pictures of their groups while I was walking around over there.

Turkey

Northern California is infested with "wild" turkeys, they're everywhere, this one was at River Bend Park in Sacramento, one of about 30 I see regularly. There is a bunch of turkeys that hang around work too, and that is one large business park with not much uncontrolled space.

Sonoma Coast, California

Nice place, more here.

Santa Cruz, CA

A picture of the Santa Cruz, California shoreline, from a Stagnaro tour boat. Santa Cruz is a nice place to spend a day or two, but more than that is pushing it if you're touring.

A ground squirrel

This ground squirrel looks happy to me.

Single flower growing in the dirt

A single flower growing in the dirt. Looking for Detachment has some others.

A dirt path through the weeds

A dry dirt path through the weeds in the hills of northern California.

Cow 8016

Cow 8016 in all of her glory. Sited in the hills of El Sobrante.

Coyote

This coyote, also in the El Sobrante hills, did not have an ear tag, I wonder how the rancher tells them apart.