Whale Watching

To begin my adventures in San Diego, I went out with the San Diego Natural History Museum on a 110-ft. whale watching boat. There were three Naturalists and one Scientist from the museum on board. There were only 18 of us Paid Customers so we had plenty of opportunity to ask questions about what we saw along the way.

We traveled out to sea some 16 miles to edge of the California Shelf where the Blue Whales were feeding. They were not hard to find, because when the whales surface while feeding they bring to the surface a lot of what the Sea Gulls and pelicans love to eat. So there are a swarm of birds over the area of the whales. The Blue Whale is the largest known animal on this planet weighing up to 170 tons and they get up to 150 feet long. The ones that we saw were only in the range of 100 to 120 feet long. They do not come out of the water like the Hump Back Whales but just sort of porous along.









One time the whale rolled onto its side so we were able to see both the dorsal fin and half of the fluke. The next picture is the 12-ft long jaw (under water) and the dorsal fin.



Next is the rest of the whale. We were about 500 feet or so from the whale.





After observing the whale for an hour or so, we traveled into Mexican waters and investigated the Coronado Islands. These were where pirates hid out in the 1850s. We heard many pirate stories along with the saga of the Coronado Yacht Club back in Prohibition days.



We only had time to check out two of the smaller islands. The Coronado del Norte island is were we saw hundreds of Sea Lions, Cormorants and Pelicans.

All lined up ready for inspection as we passed.



Our Captain held the bow of the boat just a few feet off the second island so we could get a close look at the Brown Boobys that are found only on that island.



An adult Brown Booby is about 1.5 times the size of an adult Sea Gull.





A young Brown Booby with baby feathers



They let Captain Bob take the boat back into San Diego Bay.



One the way in, we spotted another Blue Whale.

An End to a fantastic adventure!

Hemet Air Show

While spending a month in Hemet, CA, I attended the their Air Show. They had a team of retired Air Force pilots demonstrating formations.

Aerial acrobatics

Lots of Fly-bys with various aircraft



There were NO Blue Angels, but they did have an A-10 Thunderbolt that flew in from Tucson put on an extensive demonstration of the plane's maneuverability.



On the A-10's last fly-by, a P-38 went up to join with the A-10.



The thing that I found most impressive was a 26-year-old lady that put her aerobatic plane thought some tough maneuvers. Not only could she fly her $300,000 plane that had over 600 Hp upside down in a straight line . . .

. . . she took it up several thousand feet and put it in a flat spin while upside down.

After she finished her show, and had landed . . .

I had a conversation with her.

More Bakersfield Area

Well, it is time to continue with my adventures while staying in Bakersfield. One morning, I headed east to the very small town of Caliente, which is located close to the north side of US-58. This use to be an important place for the Southern Pacific Railroad. They would add helper engines to eastbound trains to get up over the Tehachapi Mountains. Today, about the only thing there are several occupied houses and a U. S. Post Office.

Flowing through town is a creek with a good flow of water. I followed it up through the hills for about 20 miles through some very beautiful country side.

Anyway, I thought I would share a few pictures that I took along the way.



The hills were still green from the late spring rains but very few wild flowers were visible. The road traversed several "open ranges" were cattle were wandering around.













I wound up at one of my favorite places, the Tehachapi Loop on the Union Pacific Railroad. The trains cross over themselves with a 77-ft. vertical spacing.

Bakersfield

When I left Las Vegas, I headed for Bakersfield. I set up camp in an orange grove for a month.



In fact, the name of the campground is the Orange Grove RV Park and it is in the middle of an active orange grove. While I was there, it was naval orange season and you could literally open you RV window and reach out and pick an orange off the tree next to your rig and eat it. You can't get them any fresher than that.



Above, is one of the evening activities that had. A group of us would gather around a "fire ring" and enjoy telling stories and sharing laughs. Some of the people stay here for over a year. After a while you get to know most of the people staying here. They have another section where the "weekly" or "overnighters" stay.



One of the interesting places that I visited while in Bakersfield was the Chrystal Palace. This was build by Buck Owens (country/western star). It is a dinner house with live stage western music along with a Buck Owens museum. It is known for its good food. Behind the counter is a full-size, custom built car. I had to wonder how they got it in there?



Another place in town that I found interesting was the Fox Theater. I opened on Christmas of 1930 and functioned until 1977 when it closed. In 1994 a group of business people saved it from the recking ball and restored it. It seats 1500 people and is used for concerts almost weekly.






More Bakersfield Adventures Later