RV Life on the California Riviera/Thar She Blows

The Farmhouse and Hunter's Moon Farm remain active even though we escaped for the winter holidays to sunny Southern California to visit our children and to soak in the warmth of this climate. 

After spending time in Temecula and Oceanside, we are finishing out trip in San Diego, California, the last in the cities and towns on the California Riviera.  Even though a SoCal native, I never spent more than a day or two in San Diego.  In our month here we've decided it's the nicest kind of city by the bay there could be.  So far the developers haven't overbuilt downtown; thus, the water is always visible and that's what is so wonderful (besides the temperate climate). 

We've been on the Italian Riviera and it was beautiful.  Now I truly see how Southern California mirrors that wonderful place.  Only it's within reach.

We lived in Laguna Beach for 10 years.  Laguna is about 50 miles north of here.  I loved Laguna.  Palms and every specie of Mediterranean plant.  Bougainvilleas grows like weeds on every hillside and rambling fence.  As an artist I revel in all the colors of plants, trees, bushes, vines and, yes, even the architecture. 

So, wouldn't you know it, the one day we had planned to go out whale watching the wind picked up gale force and the rain came down.  Tickets already purchased, Bonnine anti-motion pills already taken, we departed at 9:30 AM from the harbor and headed out to sea.  Not far out into open water we encountered two Navy battleships.  Our captain said the Navy uses heavy weather seas for practice.  And these seas were in the beginning of becoming heavy.

Once out there the Captain said heavy seas made spotting the whale blowing difficult and it did.  He said the sonar each Navy vessel was sending out bothered the migrating whales and it did.

I learned gray whales have no teeth.  They have a "moustache" called baleen.  Baleen are hard filtering devices.  The whales dive and scoop along the mud.  The baleen separates the goodies from the uck.  Sperm whales have teeth.   Gray whales migrate from farthest Alaska down to the Gulf of California to mate.  Between January and March are whale watching times along this coast. 

The sea was gray, the battleships were gray, the Mexican islands in the distance were gray.  I think these elements were perfect examples of the varying shade of battleship gray.  I'm going to post some photos and let you decide.  In one is a splash in all that gray water.  It's the finish of a whale's tail.  And the finish of my tale too, we're heading home in a week so we can see the glory of and East Texas spring begin in our woods