Shamu and the Mountain girl

Went to Sea World today in San Diego and thought I would share some Shamu stuff with you. The first one is of the whale jumping. It is amazing how high such a big animal can go. The trainer even rides up on some of the big jumps and is tossed into the air.
I think you have to be a little crazy to do that since he must be at least 30 feet in the air before he comes down. The second one shows him riding the whale across the pool.
I saw many other animals as well but thought
you might enjoy the whale the most. The funniest thing was the volkswagen painted like a whale in front of the park.
Mountain girl, Paula, logging out and enjoying a few more days of warm weather before coming back to winter.

kayaking in the San Diego Bay

Had some fun kayaking in the San Diego bay with my son Hal today. We got to see a large group of Leopard Sharks, Garibaldi, Sea Lions and numerous small fish. We went on a guided tour of the bay which included going into a cave.
The tide was low and we were only allowed in one cave. The guide took one kayak in at a time. On the second group in a big wave side-swiped them and they took a pretty good beating, but fortunately, the guide controlled the kayak well enough no one got hurt. I went in with pretty much no problems.

You can see the cave in the second picture. The salt water and animal life is a big change from Pennsylvania. It is nice to visit, but my heart is still in the mountains of Pa.

We kayaked about an hour and a half and just as we finished a fog rolled in. It was great planning to be out of the water, since you couldn't see much of anything at that point. Trying to soak up as much sun as possible to make it through a Leetonia winter.
Mountain girl, Paula logging out.

Trip to San Diego

Well, I am in San Diego, but trying to stay in contact with mountains and nature, I took a trip up to Palomar Mountain with my son Hal.
I will have to say the constant Sun in San Diego is good for my rain soaked soul. This summer in Pa has been the rainiest I can remember and it does take its toll on my outlook.
Palomar Mountain is about 5460 ft high at the Observatory, where they have one of the largest telescopes in the world. The lens for it was made a short distance from us in Corning, NY and is
a 200 inch wide lens. The size of the telescope is stunning and the white outline of the observatory looked great against the blue sky.
We also walked a trail in Palomar State Park. We walked through an area of cedars, black oak and many plants I am unfamilar with. A fire had taken a heavy toll on the trees in this area and it was sad to see trees nearly 300 years old blackened and dead on the ground. I am inside one of them in the last picture hollowed out by the fire. These cedars can have a life of up to 500 years and I counted at least 250 rings on one of the downed cut trees. They are trying to log out the downed trees and at least get some use from the disaster.
Tomorrow I will be kayaking in the San Diego bay with seals, a bit different than kayaking down Pine Creek, but I am sure I will adjust. Mountain girl, Paula, logging out, but still thinking of Leetonia.