San Diego
Just back from a quick trip to San Diego. Deb was helping a friend who
is about to start a major kitchen remodel.
Friday, I went walking in the "reserve
extension" part of Torrey Pines (north of Carmel Valley Road).
Interesting comparing the chaparral there
with what lives up here in Ben Lomond.
Saw two kinds of sage; some
prickly pear; laurel sumac; pale, fuzzy-leafed yerba santa; scarlet monkeyflowers;
plenty of yucca plants, some on shaggy stalks over five feet up
before they explode into the shower of sword-like leaves;
and of course those amazing
Torrey Pines, with their 10+ inch long needles.
No cactus in Ben Lomond, less sage, and we get the orange monkeyflowers.
No Torrey Pines; we have a variety of Ponderosa Pines here.
Lots more manzanita here than in Torrey Pines.
The "Reserve Extension" has a few spots with exposed sandstone,
eroded into interesting gullied outcroppings. There are a couple of spots
with nice views out over Torrey Pines beach.
I also stopped briefly at San Elijo lagoon and took part of the nature trail
there. Some pretty vine plant with orange blossoms, and one blooming
agave over 25 feet tall. Lots of shore birds -- pelicans, seagulls, avocets,
sandpipers, one egret hunting in the shallows -- and some
jet fighters (from Miramar?), and helicopters! I must've seen (and heard!)
ten helicopters in the hour or so that I strolled this trail.
Went for a walk in Los Peñasquitos canyon on Saturday -- at one point, I
saw a great blue heron fly by; later, he was sitting on a rock right in the middle
of the stream, 20 yards away. Way cool. Later still, I tried to return via Wagon
Wheel crossing and got my pants wet.
And a friend gave me an interesting tour of MP3.com, some of their server
rooms, and some interesting varied discussions, touching on
eXtreme Programming, software management, web templates, rendering,
Radio UserLand and Frontier, general messaging management software,
Perl, Python ...
Fun trip.
11:56:28 PM
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