San Diego flora

After two weeks in wintry Maine, I was somewhat blown away by all the green that greeted me in San Diego! And the trees are, for the most part, so different from what I'm used to seeing...not only different from Maine but from South Texas, too.

They're not as alien-looking as much of what impressed me in Phoenix three springs ago, but they looked pretty strange, especially to eyes used to seeing only shades of white and gray out my window.

Those palm trees, for one thing, like in the shot at the top of the post. We have palm trees here in Texas, but not nearly so many, nor nearly so tall...

...and eucalyptus is a tree I associate totally with the California coast. They are one of my favorite tree species, and they are all over San Diego...

Pine trees, on the other hand, can be seen almost anywhere, but different areas have different species, of course, and different environmental conditions also result in different tree profiles. Some really gorgeous conifers caught my eye ...

...and the great trees of Balboa Park made a handsome backdrop for the St. Patrick's Day parade we were lucky enough to see (more about the parade in a later post):

Padres balloons in the parade

This behemoth was off the parade route, but very impressive. And I had a good angle on it for a photo from the second floor of the Natural History Museum (more about that place later, too). It even has a name, too, as well it should: the Moreton Bay Fig Tree...

Balboa Park has a wonderful variety of trees, and since our hotel was just a block away we ample opportunities to enjoy them...

Of course looking closer at trees always presents great photo opps, too...

cones on a conifer at Point Loma

an amazing old trunk in Balboa Park

interesting trees/shrubs with the Pacific off Point Loma as a backdrop

Trees aren't the only flora that dazzles visitors to San Diego. We saw some yards on Coronado "Island" (it's not really an island, but Wikipedia, as well as a glance at a map can tell you that) that featured some wonderful flowers...

the most spectacular: Bird of Paradise

equally gorgeous hibiscus

these waxy daisies look almost artificial! but they're not

I will have more to show and tell you about "The Nat" (Natural History Museum) in a future post, but one display in their fascinating "Citizen-Scientists" exhibit seemed particularly apt for an homage to trees. This guy actually set about collecting tree samples, not to plant in an orchard or forest, but to display in a book! (Click to enlarge the photo and you can read about him.)

A book of tree samples! It seems there really are total new ideas under the sun. I'd never heard of such a thing, but they were very beautiful objects...

See, Henry? I'm not the only person who's nuts for trees  .

Wordless Wednesday: Mutt & Jeff

Windy winter walk

Yes, we all had to bundle up for our hike around the Gilsland Farm Audubon Center in Falmouth, Maine, last month. The temperatures were mild for early spring in New England, but it was windy! (My recollection was substantiated by a little research with Weather Underground: there were 30-40 mph gusts in Falmouth that day!)

I enjoyed the walk though, perhaps the best pure Maine winter experience of my trip. I'd love to see this place in the summertime (and perhaps I can someday) but there was a kind of stark beauty to the still-winter landscape, too.

In the midst of all this winter dormancy, there were more photogenic plants on display than I was expecting, including this handsome staghorn sumac, whose collection of berries is still hangin' around:

And I couldn't take enough pictures of the lovely reeds and grasses in their subdued winter colors...

The woodlands of the Center give way periodically to views of the wide estuary that marks the meeting of the Presumscot (not the Penobscot!) River with the beginnings of Casco Bay.

And although we were almost the only people we saw hiking this rather raw day, there were other folks enjoying the wetlands refuge that the Center provides...

In addition to its natural wonders, the place offers some photogenic green technology as well...

And, of course, there's a gift shop, where I was able to find the perfect birthday gift for Grampa (I was especially keen to get something nice since I was spending the special day 2,000 miles away). 

Here is his Maine Audubon cap, being expertly modeled:

Point Loma attractions, part 2: Lucky low tide

I wish I could tell you how many times, when traveling, we've just blundered into trip highlights. Taking what we thought was a wrong turn somewhere and ending up in a place we weren't expecting but ended up loving.

Well, it happened again in San Diego. We were finishing up our lighthouse touring up on top of Point Loma, and thought since we were so close we should go down to the waterline and enjoy the ocean for a bit. Not having checked tide tables or anything, because, well, that would have been astute trip planning.

Then, completely undeservedly, we manage to get to sea level just a bit before low tide, so that there was still space in the parking lot but the tidepools were almost at their most scenic! We couldn't have timed it better!

What an amazing place! It's essentially a couple of acres-worth (very approximate measure) of the kind of plant and animal life that you normally can only get an aquarium's-worth at a science museum touch pool.

Plus, they have very helpful volunteers on duty (presumably only at low tide) to help you know what you're seeing. Which was very helpful for us. For example, as clueless tidepool newbies, we looked at this rock face and just saw what we thought were—oh, I don't know—salt encrustations?

When it turns out, as we learned, even the tiniest little irregularities are intertidal creatures...

(We know our Adorable Granddaughter, aficionado of all things teeny, would love seeing these miniscule Californians.) 

And somethings that we probably thought were rock outcroppings at first, are really these amazing Gooseneck Barnacles...

And we thought, perhaps, we'd just imagined movement when we touched these piles of seashell bits...

....but no! They are sea anemones! 

We have a helpful volunteer to thank for alerting us to the wonders all around us in this fascinating place. In my previous unguided experience with tidepools on the Gulf and Maine coasts, I just looked in the big pools for larger critters and plants. 

no big critters here, but plenty of small ones!

seaweed on a rock at low tide

But once you know the scale at which to look, there are thousands of amazing creatures to observe. You won't be able to tell from this picture, unfortunately, but, trust me, there are dozens of tiny hermit crabs in this little pool!

The Park Service website provides this handy guide to intertidal species, but I couldn't find this amazing specimen on the list. I know our friendly volunteer identified it for us, but for the life of me I can't remember what it's called. It's super-cool anyway, though, isn't it?!

I wished we could have spent more time here. (And, if we had been better planners, we'd have worn more appropriate footwear and could have tromped further afield.) But it still is a highlight of our time in San Diego, where we crammed a lot of great sight-seeing into just a few days. The travel gods were smiling on us!

Wordless Wednesday: Maine fog

Point Loma attractions: part 1

In the last post I showed you some marvelous views of San Diego from the perfect vantage point of Cabrillo National Monument on Point Loma. Now it's time for a closer look at other reasons to visit this gem, in addition to the views.

The lighthouse shown above is the old Point Loma lighthouse. Very picturesque, but as we learned, not as useful as you might expect. Sure the point is a wonderful spit of land perfectly placed at the initial entrance to San Diego bay, but it's actually too high an elevation for a lighthouse! Its light apparently was often obscured by clouds and fogs that [I guess...boy, we sure didn't see any fog!] occasionally settle on the coastline here.

As the handy relief map on the right shows there are now two Point Loma lighthouses (click to enlarge and see the elevation number; the red box highlights the positions of the two lighthouses). And the one that's actually in use is this new one, down closer to the water:

The "new" structure (built in the 1890's; you can learn more about it than you will ever need to know here, at this amazing lighthouse resource) isn't open to the public, but the old one has been made into a museum. It's particularly dedicated to the lighthouse keepers that traditionally minded the life-saving lights all along the California coast (now most are automated). Here's a sample of their exhibits, some vintage cans representing the kind of food the families stationed here might have eaten:

Of course, the most photogenic aspect of any lighthouse is its position on the land. And this one is as picturesque as any I've seen...

The light cupola at the top is especially handsome, don't you think?

Point Loma offers lots more in the scenic line as well. For instance, this military cemetery that has to be in one of the most gorgeous settings of any resting place...

It's not part of the National Monument, but is rather on the Navy base that you traverse to get to Cabrillo. The official name is the Fort Rosecrans National Cemetery.

But the Monument does have evidence of military action: several bunkers that were used as gunnery emplacements during the anxious days of World War II, when the west coast seemed vulnerable to Japanese attack. Here's one from the outside...

...another one had a little museum inside with all kinds of interesting information about the operations that were undertaken here...

As interesting and scenic as all these structures were, here up on top of the Point, we found the most fascinating part of the park to be down at the water's edge. I'll show you what we were lucky enough to see down there next time.