Winter can be a beautiful transition from fall colors with warm days and cool nights to snow and a winter wonderland. Seems like our yearly migrations take us up to Canada in the summer, experience fall foliage as we make our way back south, spend the winters as far south as we can go, then make our way back north every spring. This is our fifth migration in the motorhome. We enjoy experiencing the USA and have put on an incredible number of miles.
San Diego in the Winter
Beaches in San Diego like this one in Leucadia, are a dream come winter. The tourists are gone, storms take away sand creating dramatic rocky beaches, yet there are plenty of warm days to enjoy.
Being California, there are always unique people up to something different, keeping life interesting.
Torrey Pines State Beach lost a lot of its sand. Come spring and summer, the soft sand returns and when lucky, we’ve seen the Grunion Run here before. Thousands of silvery wiggling grunion deposit their eggs in the sand at high tide on either a Full or New Moon.
Seems like most RVers head to the southern states looking for warm snow free days. Florida is extremely popular and we’ve been there a number of times. Seafood, warm clear water, birding, kayaking, alligators, manatees, fishing, sandy beaches, and bars are some of the perks of Florida. But, to keep life interesting and mix things up a bit, we’ve wintered in most of the southern states and enjoyed them all.
Even though there is more than enough to see and do in one location, we have always had that wanderlust. The longer we have been on the road and with more and more people vacationing in the USA because of COVID, we’ve been pushing our comfort levels to see some stunning sites off season including; Yosemite, Yellowstone, Colorado, Utah, Sequoia, Kings Canyon. Even when we’ve tried avoiding bad weather in New Mexico and Texas, we still had snow days.
Home is Where you Park It
Jake is happy no matter where we are. He really enjoys seeing new sites everyday, but also thrives in his daily rituals of walks, food, games, lying in the sun, and loving a huge rawhide.
Sandy enjoys pruning. There is plenty in the yard that needs it, despite having a gardener. I think they appreciate her doing the trimming as they seem to be focused on the basics of mow and blow.
Michael is the cook and tries to vary each meal. Because of COVID, he really misses going to restaurants to get a break from cooking and be inspired.
The backyard provides so many photo opportunities. Coyotes are frequently either heard or seen. Jake behaves as if he wants to play with them, but on numerous occasions, he chases them out of his yard, especially since most are only about half his weight, but some can reach 75 pounds.
Roadrunners are frequent visitors.
Red-shouldered hawk not phased by our presence.
A couple of goldfinches taking a bath together.
The spotted munia is a pet trade bird from Asia. These are probably escaped birds who are thriving in the San Diego climate. They tend to forage in flocks and have a voracious appetite.
Northern Flickers are frequently seen.
We planted some of the hummingbirds favorite flowers in the yard, but they sure love defending the feeder. Black-chinned, Allen’s, and Anna’s hummingbirds are frequent visitors.
It’s February and the rattlesnakes are already out. They seem to be present if the temperatures are between 70-90F.
Sunset over a challenging and picturesque Par 3 on the golf course. Over water, 220 yards and into a coastal breeze just trying to stay dry.
