Project 365: Day 33

After a HUGE (I mean seriously the most massive I've ever seen) breakfast at the Hash House, we ended up making our way to La Jolla to check out the beach. Unfortunately it wasn't actually warm enough to actually make a day of the beach (it was 15 degrees warmer in Denver than it was in SD!) but La Jolla is a beautiful town with a great bit of coast line.

As Jess and I met up with the boys (who got there 15 minutes before us) they were very excited to point out this one little seal who was swimming out in the ocean. They had been watching him for quite a while and we collectively marveled over the lone seal for a couple more minutes before starting our walk down the beach. Not 2 minutes later, we came upon this:

An entire beach full of momma and baby seals! It was awesome, they were all sunbathing just along the shore and every time a wave would come they would lift their heads and tails to avoid the cold rush - as if they didn't spend their entire lives living in cold ocean water.  The funny thing was, somehow these animals with no arms and legs had to actually move on the dry land to find a resting place.  Watching them try to maneuver over the sand, but basically just plopping around, was awesome.

Around each corner we came across more and more seals - I really had never seen anything like it before. There was one rock that must have had a hundred seals on it all sitting on top of each other. Some of them were literally poking their heads out from underneath a pile of bodies, yelping and barking for their compatriots to get the heck off of them so they could breathe! (well I imagine that is what was happening)

While Nick, Jamie, and Jess marvelled at all of the seals, though, I was completely enamoured with the enormous dinosaur-like birds that were flying all around us - this is my picture of the day

I had seen pelicans before, but I had never seen them in flight just feet from my eyes. It was amazing. It was literally like watching a pterodactyl (who knew that word had a silent 'p'). I couldn't take my eyes off of them.  Every couple of minutes a pelican (or 5) would fly by and I would shout "Guys! LOOK! Pelicans!!" even though after the first couple birds went by no body cared but me. Then we walked around another corner and found an entire cove absolutely covered in them! It was like a wonderland of seals and pelicans! What can I say, it was an amazing afternoon!

P.S. Pelicans are now my favorite birds in the world.