Biking the North County Coast

This adventure is similar to my previous post "Coasting the North County Coast" but instead of taking the Coaster train and then walking back from Solana Beach to Encinitas, this time I carried my bike and parked in Encinitas train station and then biked all the way down to Torrey Pines and back. It took less than two hours and the trail was level all the way except between Del Mar and Torrey Pines.

The bike is seen carried on my Honda CRV, and a selfie below shows my bike and I after I arrived to Torrey Pines beach. The distance each way is 7.9 miles taking 55 minutes each way. Most of the path is by the ocean offering wonderful sea breezes and scenery. The third picture shows the beach near Torrey Pines looking back towards Del Mar.

It was a very pleasant experience and I would like to repeat it again and again. I am thinking next time to start from South Carlsbad by parking at the Poinsettia Station and biking from there south to Del Mar and back. This will take longer than two hours both ways but it would be worth the ride because the whole path is on the beach. So for a level ride for about two hours or more this is the perfect route. But for up and down hill rides then you need to go more east towards the mountains. Later on this soon.

Ascending Mount Soledad

Mount Soledad is in La Jolla and means "Solitude" in Spanish. It has the Veteran memorial on its top with a large cross standing there as seen in the inset of the picture that shows the view from up there. You can see 360 degree view of San Diego and up to Escondido in the north and down to Coronado island and Mexico in the south. We parked the car there at Via Capri and descended on foot all the way down to La Jolla Cove, which took about 45 minutes. The way back up took another 45 minutes and was quite a work out. Along the way you see the multi-million dollar homes that have a fantastic view to the ocean.

Coasting the North County Coast

The Coaster is a train that runs between Oceanside and San Diego. We caught it from Encinitas and rode one station down to Solana Beach so that we could walk back along the North County Coast back to Encinitas. The walk took about 1 hour and twenty minutes. Starting the walk from Solana Beach, the first thing you see going north is Cardiff-By-The-Sea, a small affluent town on the ocean with multi-million dollar homes. Then you get into Encinitas which spreads all the way up north to Carlsbad. The picture to the right shows the scene of the beaches that spread along the coast.

The inset to the left shows the Coaster train at the Solana Beach station, the second inset shows Cardiff sign, and the third one shows the Encinitas sign by D street near the Encinitas train station. The second picture to the right shows the path taken during this walk. The San Diego North county starts just north of La Jolla with Del Mar, then up to Solana Beach, then Encinitas (including Cardiff) then Carlsbad then Oceanside. Those are the coastal towns. A little to the east there are extensions to North County such as Carmel Valley east of Del Mar, San Marcos east of Carlsbad, Vista and Escondido. La Jolla is part of San Diego. We will be going to Soledad east of La Jolla shortly and will talk about it in the next posting, God willing.

Touring Torrey Pines

We went to Torrey Pines State Natural Reserve which is just north of La Jolla Cove.

Coming from North County you have to take I-5 south to Gensee Avenue, and then north on Torrey Pines Rd. which is S21. In about half a mile you reach the Reserve and you find the cars parking in the free parking area. Of course there was not a spot empty, so we kept going north and passed Del Mar, then made a U-turn and came back south, and found a pay parking area in Del Mar so we parked there (2 hours for $3, not bad). Then we walked south to the Reserve and entered free (since we had no car to park), and climbed the hill there all the way to the top. The scene from the top is shown in the picture to the right. I used my RunKeeper app to track the path we took, and it showed we made a total of 3.4 miles, that took 1 hour and 12 minutes, average pace 21.09 minutes per mile, total calories burnt 480. The summary of the activity is shown in the second picture to the right.

Notice that the total climb was 494 ft. On the way back we took the Carmel Valley Rd, which took us to I-5 back home. The weather was nice and sunny but the humidity was kind of low (40%) although we were right at the ocean there. The humidity today is 35% in San Marcos, and the temperature this morning at 7 am in 47F which is cold according to San Diego standards. At this time of the year temperature of -15F is normal in other parts of the country, like Cedar Rapids,Iowa. No wonder many people drive from as far as Colorado to come here during the holidays and enjoy the weather of San Diego in the winter. When living here, there is no reason to go any other place, and that is exactly what we are doing, not going to any other place during the holidays.

Making of Sultan Ahmad Watercolor Painting

This article describes how I made this color painting of Sultan Ahmad's mosque, aka The Blue Mosque. I was always fascinated by this mosque. Its grand structure is just imposing, and its six minarets scrape the Istanbul sky like penetrating rockets and its bluish tint, domes and various details just blow me away. First I looked for a good picture of the magnificent building. I found several, and I picked these two to construct my painting. Obviously the pictures needed to be scaled to make a large enough drawing suitable for framing. So I decided to scale the drawing by 4.1:1 and I accomplished this by drawing squares on the original small picture and the corresponding larger squares in my drawing.

You can see the squares drawn with a pencil in the first picture. Next I started copying each square from the original picture to the drawing paper one by one. I used one of the pictures to do that and the other one helped me look at more details whenever I was in doubt because the second picture was kind of zoomed in and showed more detail. Once I made the drawing in pencil, then it was time to start defining the main features with a thin brush as seen in the next picture. At this point I also erased the pencil traces of the squares. Attention had to be paid for the minaret pointy shapes and the domes because these are the macro features of the imposing structure and are the most important.

Then I started to paint with a wider brush the main body of the building further defining the sides and corners that make up the complete picture. The third picture to the right shows that stage. Now the building is starting to take its shape but there was still a lot of detail that needed to be taken care of to get it to its final form as shown in the fourth and last picture to the right. I had to use different shades of colors to define shades and give that three dimensional look for each nook and cranny. Of course the most important task lies in the details which take the longest part of finishing the painting. One should not rush to finish, but take your time to work on the details because that is the difference between a nice painting and a mediocre one.

I also had to work out the sky and its shades and clouds, as well as the trees and green shrubs that make up the lower part of the picture. I had to use different shades of green for the plants, and different shades of blue, white and red for the sky. The result is as you see in the fourth picture to the right. I found a suitable frame earlier that was not that expensive and I framed the picture as you see. So it is not that difficult. It just requires interest and determination and plenty of patience, but in the end the outcome is rewarding and worth the effort when you see it hanging in your favorite place to look at and admire. Enjoy.

Life is a Beach

Sitting on the beach in Carlsbad in a warm August day soaking the sun and inhaling the fresh sea breeze coming from the ocean couldn't be better, and life is a beach. Watching the sunset is also a nice thing to do by the beach in Carlsbad. You see the sun turn into an orange disk that slowly disappears behind the horizon as if sinking into the sea, leaving behind a fiery red dusk band streaked with purple and cloud white lines that last for an hour or so before night falls and it becomes officially dark with only the moon and stars lighting the sky after that. This is when a bon fire creates a wonderful atmosphere if you have a group of people gathered around it chatting and roasting marshmallows or hotdogs. Watching the fire yellow and orange strands randomly dance creating their magical effect in the dark causes you to reflect and get absorbed in self meditation and you forget all your immediate concerns and delve into a much deeper and far away issues that you normally don't think about except in such atmosphere that takes you away on a magic carpet ride like Steppenwolf says. I know this is a bit dreamy but that is how I feel sitting on the beach in Carlsbad and that is why for me life is a beach.

Walking the Cove

The La Jolla Cove reminds me of Cleopatra's Bath in Marsa Matrouh, Egypt. It has similar rocks and rich organic life in its shores but La Jolla Cove has sea lions and seals scattered all over, and that you don't see in Marsa Matrouh. Walking along the cove is really nice, and the weather is usually cooler along that area than San Diego proper. They say the water also is cooler but I haven't tried it out. We saw kayakers and snorkelers along the beaches and also regular swimmers in spite of the cool water. A walk along the cove takes about one hour and the scenery is marvelous from anywhere you stand. Fresh breeze and clean air brushes your face and body giving you a refreshing feeling as you walk. We saw an artist selling his wonderful paintings of the seagulls and surrounding old buildings. The colors were vividly beautiful and if I had the money I would have loved to buy a few of them to hang them on the wall. I loved looking at them. I am sure you could haggle the price but I was not in the mood. I am sure there are lot of rich people living in that area who can afford paying the price without haggling. I saw nice convertibles and expensive cars all over. No wonder for the houses there are multi-million dollar homes for the rich and exclusive.

February Surfing

Surfing in San Diego area is for any time. In February the temperature is in the seventies (F) and sunny. The water temperature is about 60F. Not that bad. Equipped with a wetsuit one can always surf here without any problem. The waves were in the order of 2-3 ft today in Carlsbad. After surfing it was lunch time at Coyote's. Chipotle chicken tasted great, and the tortilla sauce was superb. After that walking a little in the Carlsbad Village was a nice constitutional after lunch. Finally it was time to go back home. The car was parked in State Ave next to the train station. Driving back home took about 20 minutes.

Up Mission Trails' Kwaay Paay Peak

I visited Mission Trails again, and this time I went to the Kumeyaay Campground area. There I found more trails to climb around. This one is Kwaay Paay peak in the climbers' loop area. Obviously these are all Indian names from the time when Father Junipero went on his mission to that area, thus the name Mission Trails. The climb was mild and relatively easy except near the top when the trail got steeper and rockier. The scene from above is nice as usual and quite rewarding. One thing that is plaguing me these days is this eczema that I developed in some areas of my skin. Welcome to the dry and harsh weather of San Diego. I would have thought the humidity here is not as bad, compared to Phoenix for example, but still it is bad enough, and coupled with my age eczema simply developed. Eczema has no cure, but is theoretically manageable although mine has not been managed to my satisfaction yet. They tell me I have to keep moisturizing my skin all the time especially after baths. I am doing what I can.

Peaking the P-Mountain

Today we climbed the P-Mountain, with the letter P on it obviously, which stands for Palomar College. You can see the letter P almost from anywhere in North county of San Diego east to it, including the highways. The climb took about 35 minutes all the way to the top, and was quite steep and rough, but the view from above was quite rewarding. You can see the ocean of Carlsbad quite nicely. One lesson learned is to not come down the same way I went up, because it is very hard coming down with such a steep descent. There is another path to take when returning down which is a little longer but much easier and more gradual, so this is something to take note of next time. The total time for the round trip was a little over an hour. The weather was nice and warm, albeit dry as the Santa Ana conditions are still with us causing skin irritation which reminds of me of Arizona weather. I wouldn't mind hiking there up again, especially that it is close to where we live, but there are much better hiking trails than this. We just wanted to try them all. I am sure there is more to discover.

A Day in the Harbor

The harbor in Oceanside is not far from the famous pier. There people rent boat parking places for $400 a month. I saw different sizes of boats and yachts, and not to mention sailboats and kayaks. I also saw seals. In this picture I am oaring away in a kayak. It was a nice and sunny day, very mild and warm for January, but this is San Diego weather, just marvelous. I also tried a small sailboat. In the beginning it was fun as the mild wind pushed the boat nicely into the open area of the sea, but on my way back, and due to lack of wind in the parking corridor, I found myself stuck between parking boats and I could not get the sailboat to move in the direction I wanted it to move no matter what I did. Turning the rudder would have moved me in the direction of my choice, but without wind that did not work. Finally Amira came to the rescue with a kayak and pulled me out of that snag. So this is it for me as to my sailing experience. I'd rather use oars and push myself along with my muscles rather than be at the mercy of the wind. Like they say: "The wind does not always blow as the ship captain wishes".

Daring Mt. Woodson, Part 3

I climbed to the summit of Mt. Woodson for the second time, and this time I had my picture taken on the Potato Chip rock. The line was not bad this time. I had corrected many mistakes I committed before, like bringing food and more water this time. However, carrying the extra weight was the downside to it. I also brought with me extra shirts to change as I sweat, and one of them was a long sleeve. The weather was nice, but as usual it got colder as the sun started to descend. Overall, the experience this time was better than the last time, although one felt a little bored as the novelty element went away. It is said that you are not a San Diegan if you don't take a picture on top of the Potato Chip rock, so I guess I can consider myself from San Diego now, although I saw tourists from far parts of the world doing the same. You probably see such pictures on the internet as this is a popular place to take pictures, and one of the landmarks of San Diego wilderness.

Daring Mt. Woodson - Part II

As promised before I went again to Poway Lake and dared Mt. Woodson for the second time, and this time I made it all the way to the summit. The hike took about one and half hour, but at the summit one is rewarded with amazing views from the top and ... the potato chips rock, which you see on the picture to the right. By far this was the longest, highest, most difficult, and most fascinating of all hikes I have done in my life so far. I wanted to stand on the ledge and have a picture taken there, but I found a very long line of people waiting to do the same, so after waiting for thirty minutes, I decided to move on again. With the way back the whole hike took me four hours, from 11:25 am to 3:25 pm.

Needless to say that by the end of the hike my whole body was sore and tired. I had water with me which proved to be a life saver, but I did not carry any food, and believe me, after reaching the top I was so hungry and tired in spite of my heavy breakfast which consisted of three eggs, half a French baguette, honey and coconut oil, and a few almonds. O and a coffee with whole milk. Remind me next time to carry food as well as water if the hike will take more than one a half hours. Like I said the scenes along the hike were just out of this world. I can't describe them well enough, so the best thing is to show pictures, although I believe that even the pictures don't do them justice. Look for example at this scene from about half way to the summit looking down. You see the lake below and an infinite series of other mountains all around, with blue sky and scattered white clouds. And the rocks that are strewn all around, different shapes and sizes. The whole trail is just littered with all sorts of rocks, some small and some as big as ten story buildings.

The weather was almost perfect but got a little chilly on the way back probably because of my sweat evaporating with the slight wind. The temperature was between 68 to 72 F during the hike, and it was mostly sunny. The mountains were green because only the day before we had good rain throughout the day, so it couldn't be better conditions for a wonderful hike. The last picture to the left shows the rocks I was talking about, and the far away mountains that appeared as far as your eyesight could reach.

There were many people on the trail, and even though the park closes at 5 pm, I found people were still climbing up as I was coming down near 3 pm. Some asked me how far to the summit, and when I said one a half hour they would say: "You're kidding!" I answer: "No", then they ask: "Do you recommend we continue up knowing that the park closes at 5 pm?" and I answer simply: "No!", followed by laughs and thanks, but they continue on anyway. I remember also on my way down, about half an hour from the summit, I met a Mexican woman and her mother, and she asked me: "How far to the summit?" I said: "half an hour", and she said with great disappointment: "really?". The poor woman thought that after an hour of climbing she was almost at the top already. Her mother asked her in Spanish how far, and she answered her: "treinta!" and I could see the disappointment on the old woman's face. I had to encourage them by saying: "You're almost there!" Well I am glad I made it to the summit and back safely. This was a great hike and it might not be the last time to this summit. It is just too wonderful to try only once.

Ocean view from Double Peak