California Winter Snow

My typical winter vacation involves chasing waves along the west coast. This year I though I would try something new.

I started my adventure driving up the 395 and camping for a night in my car overlooking the crisp, cool, and clear Owens Valley. After exploring for a day around Mammoth hot springs and Hot Creek area I decided to make a trek into the mountains and build myself a snow cave for the night. I was dreadfully unprepared for the excursion but survived and gained some valuable winter experience.

I then met up with my girlfriend in Reno for a few days of snowboarding in Tahoe. The snow conditions were good and I got to further enhance my boarding skills. We then made the short drive to Yosemite Valley where we camped over the new year's holiday. Overall the trip was a success and introduced me to a new type of adventure.

The Shack

The "Shack" is one of the iconic figures in La Jolla and the historical feature that marks Windansea. These are some of my photos from over the past year highlighting the Shack.

Pink Waves - Imperial Beach

Have you ever seen pink waves like these? The water in Imperial Beach is sometimes questionable but usually does not take the form of a pink blob drifting north from Mexico. The true story is not so exotic except if you are a water quality geek like myself. Scripps Institute of Oceanography is conducting a number of ocean current experiments along the coast at Imperial Beach. This particular experiment will be used to model the long-shore or littoral current under different swell conditions. When this information is combined with the offshore current that is already modeled using land based radar, then Imperial Beach will have a very powerful tool that can be used to precisely model northward moving currents or the Tijuana River plume during winter months.

Langosta de La Jolla

Over the past year I have been diving the local reefs around La Jolla. When the surf is small I like to dive the reefs to explore all the holes and ledges so when lobster season comes around I know where to find the best bugs. We picked these bugs off of Big Rock around sunset and then within the hour had them on the BBQ for dinner.

Gaviota Surf Adventure

I headed back to my graduate school stomping grounds for a weekend of ghetto camping and surfing along the exclusive Gaviota coast. The weather was exceptionally windy and the swell was pumping all weekend. With the boat we were able to find some sheltered waves but in the precess of getting there required a sever beating by the elements.

Sequoia and Kings Canyon NP

Julia and I took a road trip to Sequoia and Kings Canyon national park. We did some great hikes around the high elevation alpine lakes among the picturesque treeless granite fields. We backpacked in to a lake for the day where I fished for a delicious dinner of wild trout. I feel most at peace camping when I have a big open sky overhead to ponder on the endless sea of stars. The contrast between the towering granite peaks, open sky, and surrounding wilderness helps me escape the normal fast pace of life and and get back to some primal state of existence where the complications of day-to-day life disappear.

Offshore Fishing for Tuna and Mahi

The fishing has been good this summer and I finally got the chance to make it out on a buddies boat to get in on the action myself and put some blood on the deck. The warm water has brought in the exotics like mahi mahi and thick schools of yellowfin.

Imperial Beach Sancastle Event

Imperial Beach holds the annual US Open Sandcastle building competition. The event draws over 200,000 people into our normally sleepy little beach town. The sandcastles are impressive in both detail and size of the structures. The event includes two days of celebration with a street fair on Saturday followed by the main sandcastle event on Sunday. This year's event marked the 29th consecutive sandcastle day in Imperial Beach.

Clair and Ben's Wedding In Santa Maria

My Bren graduate school friends know how to throw fun weddings. This past weekend my close friend Clair and her hubby Ben got married in Santa Maria. We rented a house in in town where the rowdy Bren crowd were housed for the weekend. It was a super fun three days that included plenty of wine, a Ramones cover band, fireworks, paint ball, and most importantly the wedding. My Bren friends continually set the bar high in life.

Carson-Iceberg Wilderness Overnight

Julia and I went for an overnight backpack up in the Carson Iceberg wilderness area in the Sierras. The weather was drizzly but not enough to soak us through. Our hike was a short 4 mile trek up a drainage to a forested lake that overlooked the valley bellow. We unintentionally set our tent up a boggy area that off gassed decomposed vegetation fumes into our tent all night. By the morning my tent and all our clothes were permeated with the smell of rotten eggs. The weather cleared the following day and treated us to the beautiful Sierra scenery.

BBQ, Kids, and Fun

Joe and the kids came over this weekend to continue my Bday celebration. We had a fun day at the beach bouncing between my apartment and the sand. In the evening I fired up the BBQ and cooked up my famous carne and pollo asada from the mexican markets in Imperial Beach.




My professional job is starting to take a toll my physical activity. The end result is a softer belly.