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.

Happy B-day

Happy 28th birthday to myself. My mom, sister, and all my friends met up for my Bday at my favorite happy hour location at Su Casa. It is also up the street from my house on Playa del Norte. Su Casa has one of the best happy hour deals in town with delicious tacos and devastating margaritas that will knock you on the ground if you have more than two.

La Jolla Spring Sunset

La Jolla is one of the jewels of the California coast. The rocky headland of the point makes for great surf, spectacular vistas, clear water, and vibrant coastal ecology. From my apartment I am a beach cruzer ride away from scenery like this.

Grunion La Jolla Shores

In spring the shoreline along southern California comes alive with one of nature's mass migrations. At the peak spring tides the California grunion ride the crashing waves onto the beach to lay their eggs in the sand. The females bury their butt in the the sand and if they are luck a male will wash up along side and fertilize the eggs. It is a strange sight to see fish washing up on the shore in the thousands.