Tag: coast

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Playing in the water

Two little girls play together in the water
Two little girls play together in the water

The kids spend a lot of time playing in the water whenever we are at the beach.  Shade is also great when we have it.  The sand gets really HOT so the feet don’t like to spend a lot of time in it.  The sand doesn’t look very dark, but apparently it is dark enough to soak up some sun.  This makes the sand feel like a fresh-from-the-oven cookie sheet.  Which is actually kind of nice in small doses to warm up from the cold water.  In late summer, the water is almost a perfect temperature for those not expecting tropical temperatures and we played in it for hours.

At Del Mar Beach, the waves are reliable and can have some serious push — and pull– behind them.  The surfers and boogie boarders love this of course, but it is also great for the body boarders. Just bouncing around in the water is great fun while also a nice workout.  Even standing in the waves is some work, although not too hard.  This makes it feel like you did something active even without completing a “real” workout.

Two boogie boarders seek the perfect wave playing in the water.
Two boogie boarders seek the perfect wave playing in the water.
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Santa Margarita River

Prickly pear growing in the grass in front of coast live oak.
Prickly pear growing in the grass in front of coast live oak.
Prickly pear growing in the grass in front of coast live oak.

The Santa Margarita road follows the river, which shows up a rather hidden creek since there is not much water.  Apparently, the dryness isn’t as severe as a few years ago, but much of California is in some level of drought.  Again.  This seems to happen a lot and the state spends quite a bit of effort in managing the water systems to mitigate the rather variable climate, storing and moving water mainly from north to south.  This gives the area a lot of variety in the types of foliage growing naturally which makes for great textures in photography.

Black and white picture of coast live oak with lots of dead branches giving the tree lots of texture.
Coast live oak with lots of dead branches giving the tree lots of texture.

I saw many coast live oak covered in dead branches giving the trees a slightly ghost-like fabulous texture distinctive of wild, unpruned trees.  I don’t think too many folks would tolerate so many dead branches…. Slightly unkempt but the overall effect is slightly ethereal, like a large swirling, diaphanously layered tree.

Black and white picture of burned post laying in a clearing in the middle of coast live oaks.
Burned post laying in a clearing in the middle of coast live oaks.

This burned post was randomly in the middle of the clearing in the oak trees.  Nothing around it was burned, so it must have been dragged there after it was charred.

Black and white picture of a clearing in an oak grove.
Clearing in an oak grove.

This was just beyond the post, looking into the grove and the grouping of oaks with a view of the hills beyond that.  Most of the green under the trees was poison oak, one of the evilest of plants.

Prickly pear growing in grass near the road.
Prickly pear growing in grass near the road.

Looking evil also, the prickly pear cactus mixed with the grass and a variety of mostly spiky plants.  Beware stepping off the road!