Thar she blows!

My rental Tamron 150-600 mm lens had to be returned by 2:00 p.m. today so I had to determine some place to go to get some really good pictures on this last day. Man did I get lucky.

I took off to La Jolla Cove where the wildlife includes squirrels, pigeons, cormorants, pelicans, seals & sea lions and their little ones (pupping season ends May 15), and, sometimes, unleashed dogs.

Once the fog burned off around 9:00 a.m. it became a really really special day. There was a pod of at least seven adults and one baby whale putting on a show for us by swimming up and down the coast, breaching, blowing, and just showing off.

By the time I left at 11:30 a.m., word had spread throughout the area about what was going on at the Cove with this pod.

Following is one of my best whale pictures from this morning. I’m pretty sure this is a California Gray Whale. Generally, whale watching season is mid-December through April but since we have both the Gray Whales and the Blue Whales migrating to and fro, it’s possible to see them mid-December into September.

La Jolla tide pools looking like something from another planet

I taught chess at Birdrock Elementary in La Jolla yesterda. Class ended at 4:10, and I got all my chess sets put away and got back to the car at 4:30.

Instead of sitting in rush hour traffic for 1½ hours to get home, I decided to go to La Jolla Cove for 1½ hours.

I took 214 pictures—sunset, pelicans, cormorants, seagulls, squirrels, seals and sea lions, tide pools, and the gorgeous views.

Here are five pictures of the tide pools, looking like something from another planet:

And one of my favorite pictures from last night’s sunset at the La Jolla Cove:

La Jolla is a great place to visit at any time but the tide pools and beaches are more accessible during low tides.

You can find tide schedules here: La Jolla tides.

The best place to see the tide pools is at Rocky Point, shown on the map below.

Parking throughout La Jolla, especially during Tourist Season (Memorial Day to Labor Day), is scarce so be prepared to drive around for a while looking for a parking spot or park the first place you see a spot and walk to Scripps Park. A walk through downtown La Jolla is a great experience all on its own!

Go to Google Maps

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At least they have new fences….

If you go to the world-famous La Jolla Cove in La Jolla, California (a neighborhood of San Diego), you can stand looking at the ocean and see this:

If you turn and look behind you, this might be what you see:

Those two houses, named Red Roost (top) and Red Rest (bottom), were built in 1894. They are the region’s oldest surviving examples of late-Victorian beach cottage architecture.

They were bought in 1967 by the La Jolla Cove Motel and Hotel Apartments, today known as the La Jolla Cove Suites. On adjacent land sat the La Jolla Bath House, demolished to make way for part of the La Jolla Cove Suites.

The owners intended to demolish the red cottages and build an apartment building. They met with community resistance, although the San Diego City Council withdrew its objection to demolition in 1975. In March 1976, the cottages were placed on the register of the California Office of Historic Preservation, an action that the owners knew nothing about.

That designation, a subsequent designation from the National Register of Historic Places, and the fact that San Diegans passed Proposition D in 1972, setting a height limit of thirty feet on new construction in La Jolla, have prevented the owners from developing the properties.

Since they could not develop the property as they wished, they evicted the tenants in 1977 and began what appears to be intentional and prolonged neglect.

There have been many plans over the years to develop or restore the properties, but none of them have come to fruition.

In 2010, the two properties were put up for sale at $10 million each. I’m sure the land itself in this location is worth $20 million, but the hassle of trying to develop or restore these two houses precludes any logical, sane person from spending that kind of money on them.

Historic structures are required to be kept weatherproofed and free of litter and excess vegetation. I’m not seeing that here and wonder why the City of San Diego doesn’t do something. This is so sad.

Well, at least the houses have new fences around them……..

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