The brunt of our latest storm hit yesterday and overnight. This morning a few brief showers were passing through downtown.
I walked from Cortez Hill down into canyons of skyscrapers with my umbrella at the ready.
Today is Friday, the day after Thanksgiving, and it appears few people had to work. This morning downtown felt like an early Saturday or Sunday. Few cars and empty sidewalks. Very quiet.
And a little wet!
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I live in downtown San Diego and love to walk around with my camera! You can follow Cool San Diego Sights via Facebook or Twitter!
A few diehards hang out as the North County Corvette Club’s Plastic Fantastic car show comes to an end on a drizzly Sunday afternoon.
San Diego was a wee bit damp today. Light showers off and on. May has been unusually wet this year, not unlike our winter.
Early this afternoon I walked along the Embarcadero with my hood up and my camera protected from water and wind. We residents of San Diego are spoiled by our city’s near perfect weather. When a drop or two falls, many become discombobulated. But others relish the change.
During my walk what did I discover?
Dancing in the rain–or light showers–by the gazebo in Seaport Village.An umbrella is at the ready near the Marriott Marina.One last look at some remaining Corvettes.Cool cars under overcast skies.A few cars remain parked on the grass of Embarcadero Marina Park North.See you next year. Hopefully the weather is sunny.A big puddle awaits a good number of visitors at Seaport Village.But the nearby pier is almost empty.Some fishermen docked at the pier are busy working. A little rain is just a little more water.Someone near the USS Midway has taken shelter under a tarp.A scooter and its reflection in another puddle.The showers have torn purple jacaranda blooms from nearby trees.An interesting pattern in wet wood on the Broadway Pier.The wind was blowing pretty hard, and flags were flapping wildly.Few were walking or running along the wet, chilly Embarcadero.Some tourists take a look at downtown and San Diego Bay from the dry comfort of an Old Town Trolley.The Port of San Diego and Maritime Museum are hosting a big Festival of the Sea this coming Memorial Day weekend. Rain or shine, you can bet I’ll be there!Clouds and wind observed from the passenger deck of the Maritime Museum’s steam ferry Berkeley.My street musician and artist friend Carlos assured me the sun would soon come out . . . and he was right!
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I live in downtown San Diego and love to walk around with my camera! You can follow Cool San Diego Sights via Facebook or Twitter!
If you’ve ever had a bad day, and thought it will never stop raining, there’s a new short story you might enjoy reading. It concerns sadness. It contains a tiny bit of wisdom.
Dan Plante of KUSI News gives the surfing hang loose sign!
I was heading to the Hazard Center trolley station after work when I noticed traffic had been diverted due to the flooding of Mission Center Road by the rain-swollen San Diego River.
I headed down to check things out . . . and here comes smiling KUSI News television reporter, Dan Plante.
A dapper gentleman with an elegant automobile looks at a lady with a bottle.
According to this morning’s weather report, it’s supposed to rain in San Diego for most of the day. We can always use more water in dry Southern California. But rain, and a bit of a sore throat, means I probably won’t go out walking today.
Meanwhile, here’s some fun artwork that I discovered yesterday while walking through North Park. Both works of art were on the sidewalk in the vicinity of El Cajon Boulevard and 30th Street.
Enjoy!
I’m sorry love, the only rubbish I have time for is in this bin.Tile mosaic of a motorcycle and rider. A very cool sight in the sidewalk in front of Belching Beaver Brewery in North Park.
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I live in downtown San Diego and love to walk around with my camera! You can follow Cool San Diego Sights via Facebook or Twitter!
Here are a few photos I captured this morning as I walked downtown through gusts of rain.
Keeping an eye on the direction of the wind and slanting raindrops, holding my camera at the ready under my umbrella, I headed down from Cortez Hill to the Gaslamp trolley station. I wasn’t the only one trying to cope with San Diego’s first real rainstorm of the winter.
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I live in downtown San Diego and love to walk around with my camera! You can follow Cool San Diego Sights via Facebook or Twitter!
Raindrops on leaves at the Japanese Friendship Garden in Balboa Park.
During today’s spring rain, the Japanese Friendship Garden in Balboa Park shined with magic. Every leaf was enchanted. Every part of the garden was blessed with a profound and mysterious beauty.
Rain nourishes life: every life.
A spring storm creates unexpected natural beauty.Wet, very bright green leaves.Budding spheres of red. Like magic they open mysteriously.Water in the grooves of a beautifully marbled stone by the garden path.Droplets shining on a fern, like a curtain of beaded diamonds.Sunlight through dreamy, magical layers of green.Simple beauty at the always wonderful Japanese Friendship Garden.Fragile blooms encrusted with crystal-like rain.Smooth forms of beaded water on a sloping leaf.Another photograph of beauty in a special garden, on a rainy May day in San Diego.
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I live in downtown San Diego and love to walk around with my camera! You can follow Cool San Diego Sights via Facebook or Twitter!
There was no need to alter this photo in the slightest way. Nature’s colors appeared astonishingly rich this morning in the sunlit mountains and hills east of San Diego.
My 9:00 hike this morning turned out to be shorter than expected. That’s because I was the only one to show up for a scheduled nature hike in a beautiful section of the San Diego National Wildlife Refuge. Following directions, I parked a few minutes early at the Par 4 trailhead in Jamul, near the Cottonwood Golf Course. I kept checking my watch, hoping the US Fish & Wildlife Service ranger would arrive. I was looking forward to identifying the spring wildflowers and flowering plants along the trail. But it wasn’t to be. I suppose the event was cancelled due to yesterday’s rain.
I didn’t walk far because I didn’t want to adversely impact the still wet trail. Near the trailhead the footing was packed and firm, and my shoes barely made an impression, but perhaps a quarter mile into my hike there was just too much mud to continue.
As you can see, the hills of San Diego are bright green! This winter has been very rainy. During the summer the green in these photos will vanish as the native grasses, sagebrush and scrubby chaparral dry out in the relentless Southern California sun.
During my short hike, I did capture a few photos of tiny flowers and a bird! I’m sorry to report that I can’t properly identify them. Perhaps you can!
Sign at the Par 4 trailhead includes information for hikers and those on horseback. The trail follows the Sweetwater River in Jamul.The San Diego National Wildlife Refuge Complex includes four areas designed to protect wildlife in Southern California. (Click image to enlarge.)There are various wildlife refuges in San Diego County’s undeveloped areas. This map shows where several managed by the United States Fish and Wildlife Service are located. The Par 4 trailhead is near the top of the bigger green blob.A damp trail leads west over a green landscape. Many birds were seen flying across this open space. The morning’s short hike was made pleasurable by a fresh cool breeze and warm sunlight.Beautiful tiny yellow flowers and lingering raindrops on green leaves. What this plant is, I don’t know. Leave a comment if you do!I spotted this little bird perched on a twig near the hiking trail.I tried to identify this small bird using my California Birds pocket guide, but I couldn’t decide. If you know, leave a comment!I’m no expert, but I did find these tiny jewel-like lavender flowers to be beautiful.Dramatic white clouds in a blue sky. Natural beauty in San Diego’s East County the day after a big storm.
After this very small hike, I drove along Highway 94 to Campo, winding my way through bright green rocky mountains. Then I headed back toward San Diego via Buckman Springs and Pine Valley, without any particular notion of where to stop. Then it occurred to me: Why not hike Cowles Mountain today? So I did, as you’ll see in the next blog post!
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I live in downtown San Diego and love to walk around with my camera! You can follow Cool San Diego Sights via Facebook or Twitter!
Cool San Diego Sights! 