Ghis and I stopped by the beach in the morning. There were already lots of surfers. We are enjoying soaking up the sun these days.

The flowers seemed to have sprung up when we visited the beach in La Jolla near San Diego. We spent a nice afternoon in this great area.

First we visited photographer Peter Lik’s gallery. Ghis loves his pictures and I can see why – great scenery shots, almost luminous.

Then we ate lunch at George’s on the Cove, a super popular lunch spot – the tables are on a patio very high up overlooking the ocean and the beaches. My fish tacos were good, but the drinks were even better.

Then we walked down to the beach to see if more seal babies had been born. We saw three babies with their mothers. They were three or four days old and very cute.

Carmanah stayed very still watching the squirrels running around on the hillside.

We found another beach free of seals where Morgane built a sand castle and enjoyed peeking in tidepools.

We finished the afternoon with ice cream at the Haagen Daz ice cream spot. There’s more great weather in the forecast for us in the coming week.

The three of us spent the day at the Wild Animal Park in Escondido. It’s really part of the San Diego Zoo – just at another location. The zoo seems to have many locations – in some places they breed animals as part of an effort to prevent some breeds from becoming extinct.

The park is huge and you can take a bus tour to see the area with the giraffes, rhinos, cheetahs, gazelles, etc.

Morgane loved feeding the lorikeets. You can buy nectar and then you have to hold it tightly and the birds will come and drink it out of the cup. She was patient with the bird that wanted to sit on her head.

We saw young elephants, giraffes and even a rhino. There was a petting zoo with different African deer-like creatures.

We also saw one of the animal ambassadors – a cheetah whose best friend is a dog. The dog was raised with the cheetah and the dog always comes along and makes the cheetah feel safe. He figures that if the dog is okay, he must be okay, too.

We went to LA for a quick tour and to meet and stay with Ghis’s mom’s cousin, Pierrette. It was a treat – they took good care of us and Carmanah got to hang out with their 14-year old dog. She immediately adopted his igloo in the backyard! Morgane also loved their toys and craft supplies – she was always busy with something.

We drove through Hollywood, down Sunset Blvd, since it was something I wanted to see. We didn’t know what else to see, so we kept driving through Beverly Hills, Bel Air and all the way to the ocean. We backtracked to Santa Monica and then began the drive back to Glendora, a suburb of L.A. It was pretty rainy, but I did get a quick glimpse of the white hollywood letters on the mountainside.

L.A. was pretty much what I expected – the worst traffic ever! No matter what time of day we went out, the highways were jammed. It took an absurd amount of time to get anywhere and we were in the HOV (high-occupancy vehicle) lane! I am a saddened by how car-dependent Southern California seems to be.

Our second night, we got to meet Pierrette and Jerry’s kids and their kids and we had a good time. The next day we said goodbye and headed back towards San Diego to go to the Wild Animal Park.

I dragged Morgane along with me on a whale watching cruise leaving from San Diego. The boat seemed big and the water seemed calm as we motored through the bay towards open water. Morgane moaned about how boring it was going to be.

Then we passed the lighthouse at Point Loma and got the real ocean waves and the boat started to rock like crazy. “This is like Splash Mountain,” said Morgane happily. I focused on the horizon to keep from feeling sick.

For awhile we kept heading further out to sea. Morgane laughed and I tried not to be sick. Then she started to feel bad. I told her what to do, but she just closed her eyes instead.

Eventually we made it upstairs to get some fresh air. Morgane lay down on a bench while I tried to see the gray whale we were following. Mostly I saw the spray from its blowhole. Some dolphins came along and seemed to be playing with the whale.

The dolphins started coming closer so I went and picked Morgane up and held her so she could see. The dolphins jumped through the gigantic waves right beside the boat and we both saw it together.

Then I kept watching while Morgane napped on her sheltered bench. Some other boats were following the whale as well, it seemed: a large sailboat and a small zodiac.

The whale finally showed us its tail and then we turned around and headed back. When we got into the sheltered bay, Morgane was her cheery self again. She told the concession stand guy all about our trip.

It was hard to take pictures with the giant waves, but I think my zoom lens is broken. It must be from when I dropped it. Now I am getting a lot of fuzzy photos.

We’ve been relaxing at the Hilton Bayside in San Diego for a few days since we were feeling burned out. It’s given me time to catch up on my blog and do a little paid editing work as well.

We haven’t gone much farther than the parking lot to take Carmanah for walks and the pool. We can see the pool from our room and the water is lit up purple at night. It’s been just a bit too windy to be really warm lately, but Morgane’s been enjoying it while we watch from the hot tub.

We are also amused by watching Dole banana shipping containers being unloaded just behind the hotel. They came on a boat from Costa Rica and they get put onto trucks and driven off to deliver bananas to California and who knows where else.

Morgane and I did get over to the children’s museum and I’m glad – it was really cool! Visually, it’s very artistic. Each exhibit seems to have been put together by a different artist and there are lots of opportunities for kids to make art as well.

Morgane loved riding the push cars even though there were lots of traffic jams! She also loved the rain house (it’s always raining on the roof) and the climbing ropes (she was proud to be the only one who got to the top).

Then we started building with kapla and she ended up making a tower as tall as herself. She had fun knocking it down, too. She made a quick dolphin out of clay and then, unfortunately, they were closing for the day.

I liked the giant Trojan Horse called a Toy-an Horse.

We stopped by one park to see some seals. I love seals! They look so happy in the water or lying on the rocks. There was a big sea lion perched on the rock when we got there and a bunch of seals all sleeping in a pile.

We drove further along the coast and noticed a crowd, so we stopped. It was the Children’s Beach and it was covered in seals. There were people gathered around watching them.

As I got closer, I passed an information table that explained that this is where the seals come to have their pups. One baby had already been born a few days before and many more were expected!

It was strange to see a maternity ward on the beach. No babies were born while I watched, but maybe we’ll go back. Apparently a seawall was built in 1930 so that the beach would be safer and children could swim there. The seals showed up around 1970 and now it is their preferred local birthing spot.

Ghis and Louise headed off for a last day of sightseeing and Morgane and I headed to the zoo! I got us a pass, so we can go as much as we want, which is a lot.

From the first bird to the last wombat, there wasn’t one exhibit I didn’t have to drag Morgane away from.

I wanted to see the baby panda who is six months old, so I dragged Morgane along in that direction since you can only visit in the morning. Luckily the line was short. On our first pass, he was sleeping in a tree and his mother was sitting eating big branches of bamboo.

On the second pass, he had woken up and was investigating his surroundings and trying to figure out how to get his toy from up high. Then he had a snack of honeysuckle flowers. Too cute!

We also loved seeing all kinds of monkeys – Morgane loved their double-decker treehouses. There were young monkeys driving their parents nuts. We loved the gorillas – there was a baby, too. While we were there, lettuce starting raining down on them, so they all gathered it up and ate it.

What is great about this zoo is that it’s like a park. There are trees everywhere and not much cement. The animal habitats are large and natural looking. As well, they often mix several types of animals together in one habitat.

We rode a tram over top of the zoo from one end to the other. This was a problem because I didn’t feel very good up so high in the air. Morgane loved it, but I closed my eyes most of the way. I wasn’t going to get back on, so we had to walk across the zoo to get back to the children’s zoo again. We did pass elephants and lions and wallabies and lots of other interesting animals on the way.

We finally ended the day at the children’s zoo where Morgane made a little friend. We didn’t see everything, but we’ll be going back soon.

We entered Joshua Tree Park from the south for our second visit. We passed an area filled with a strange type of cacti.

Then we stopped at the campsite and since we were all exhausted, we decided to stay right there. There were only two other couples there, so it was very quiet. There isn’t any water though – and only outhouses – but they are clean.

We walked along a path to see Arch Rock and then Morgane and I followed a little stream of water for awhile before finding our way back.

We ate pasta and the sun went down and it got cool out. The big, round rocks felt friendly and protective, even in the dark. Ghis and I slept in the tent for the first time in a long time. The stars were amazing!

I don’t know why, but I couldn’t sleep anymore so I got up early – it was still dark! I got my camera and the took pictures of the rocks and the moon and our van. The sun started to come up as I snapped photos. I stood and chatted with a man from Wyoming who was also up until going back to the van to warm up.

We stopped at the lookout and this time it was clear and there was snow on the mountains. Beautiful!

In the day, we drove to another spot and did a short walk to a dam and a little pond. On the way, an animal ran across the road. Ghis shouted, “Wolf!”

I looked and looked and finally saw a dog-like animal running between the bushes. No photos though. I said it was a coyote.

Ghis hurt his back, so he didn’t come on the walk with us. While he was sitting in the van, three coyotes came walking right through the parking lot! I was so mad.

We left the park and sped all the way back to San Diego so Louise could spend one day there before going home.

Just before the California border, we stopped in Quartzsite to see the famous swap meets (flea markets). Ghis was not very keen on it, but in the end he likes the assortment of nuts and bolts and other handy items for sale.

I didn’t find anything interesting although I liked looking at the whirligigs.

Everyone loved Carmanah and Morgane was busy answering questions like “Is she a coyote?” and “Is she a wolf?” Someone at a food stand gave her a bone with a lot of meat on it and she loved it but has had the runs ever since!