Non-Whale Watching

Kerry loves sealife, so I wanted to make sure she got to encounter some important California ocean animals. I thought the best way to see these creatures was to take a boat ride. Thankfully, we were only a few minutes away from Dana Point, which is a major boating/ sportfishing/ whale watching center of Southern California.


Despite the gloomy clouds and damp cool air, we boarded a boat out of the harbor in hopes of seeing some late season gray whales. Well, sadly, we never did see any whales but we did see some California Sea Lions and some common dolphins splashing around. I am so glad Kerry got to see some dolphins! Made the trip worth it for me!

Beautiful breakwall of Dana Point (good birding spot!)

California Sea Lions

What a bunch of cuties!

Sunset at San Clemente Pier

After our relaxing afternoon in the sun, we cleaned up at a local hotel and headed to downtown San Clemente for some dinner. What a cute little place! We had fun perusing the boutique shops and art galleries. We finished out dinner at Avila's El Ranchito's, and trekked down to the city pier to watch the sun set. We had fun watching the surfers ride along the pier. I'm so glad Kerry got to experience this great California tradition!

Kerry along Avenida Del Mar

San Clemente Beachtime

BEACHTIME!! Whoo-hoo! I took Kerry to my most favorite California Beach (so far,) San Clemente. I can't say the day was a perfect beach day, as the temps hovered just above 70 degrees and it was windy, but we had just enough sunshine to give us a little burn and keep us warm.









We had fun watching the countless number of surfers riding the waves. We got to be quite the seaside judges, as we found ourselves rating the abilities of surfers. "Oooo...he's good. Oh, he sinks." Bad girls! We've never even been on board before! How would we know? :) It was still fun.

This guy was a fantastic surfer!

Finally, beachtime! Yeah, Kerry!

Hidden Valley Hike

After a little recovery nap in the car after our 4-mile hike (we are getting old, you know!) we wanted Kerry to experience a little rock scrambling. We chose the Hidden Valley trail, because, well, it is just so darn fun! It has a little hiking, a little rock scrambling, lots of rock climber watching, and it is just a beautiful place.

Alicia and Kerry doing some rock scrambling. Girlz Rule...Boyz Drool! :)

Here's Kerry and Greg just chillaxin' in the sun!

We lazily spent time wandering around the loop trail, sometimes climbing up the enormous boulders and other times crawling down into crevasses. We even stopped to take a little sun-nap (a little time relaxing in the warm sunshine.)

Isn't Kerry adorable?!

The spring desert flowers were just starting to bloom at Joshua Tree. I found this little beauty, but I have no idea what it's called!

We found this cute little crevasse in the rock, that made a darn good bed. :)