San Diego
San Diego is an ideal winter destination as it's often sunny and warmer than Northern California with the virtues of being cheap to get to from the Bay Area and having plenty to do. Of course, rain is always possible and the week I was down in San Diego, there was quite a bit of rain. Fortunately, I still got some sunny days to explore. Having been to San Diego previously, I did find one unfortunate new development. The zoo is no longer a good place to take photographs since many of the enclosures now have plexiglass in front the them. I did much better at the Wild Animal Park which has open air enclosures with moats to get the animals and humans apart.
This was first visit to Sea World and I have to say that it's really appealing to children but not that entertaining for adults. My niece loved it. I found it to be a little contrived. The killer whale show with Shamu is now called "Believe" has really sappy narration and music. Even so, killer whales jumping through the air is still an impressive sight.
These pictures are from the Photo Carvan at the San Diego Wild Animal Park which was an awesome experience. My mom and I were fortunate to have the entire caravan to ourselves as we were the only people on it. On the caravan, one gets to the feed the giraffes which are really quite gentle animals. I found out that they have impressively long tongues which they will use to grab leaves right out your hand.
La Jolla means the "The Jewel" in Spanish and a beautiful jewel it is. The La Jolla's beaches are gorgeous and its sunsets are divine.