One great thing about San Diego's location is that you have the ocean, mountains and desert all within an hour or two of each other. Here is an early morning photo taken from a view point in the mountains of Storm Canyon before we descended to the desert.
People have lived in San Diego County for over 10,000 years. Storm Canyon was one of the routes used by Kumeyaay/Diegueño people during their season migrations.
Some Kumeyaay/Diegueño bands lived in the mountains in the summer, then traveled to the desert to spend winter in the warmer climate. Every spring they carried baskets of dried fish, yucca, melons, beans, and other desert foodstuffs up the canyon to their summer mountain retreat.
In 1857, mail bound for San Diego traveled through Storm Canyon. A San Francisco newspaper joked about San Diego’s "Jackass Mail Route” and the name stuck.
Right below this viewing deck is The Pacific Crest Trail which is a 2,650 mile nature route from Mexico to Canada. For more information on the Pacific Crest Trail please click
here.
Star of India was built in 1863 as Euterpe, a full-rigged iron windjammer ship in Ramsey, Isle of Man. After a full career sailing from Great Britain to India then to New Zealand, she became a salmon hauler on the Alaska then to California route.
After retirement in 1926, she was restored between 1962 and 1963 and is now a seaworthy museum ship ported at the San Diego Maritime Museum in San Diego. She is the oldest ship that still sails regularly and the oldest iron hulled merchant ship still floating. The ship is both a California and National Historic Landmark.
The ocotillo (Fouquieria splendens) is a common desert plant found in the SouthWestestern part of the US and Northern Mexico. For much of the year, the plant looks like a bunch of spiny sticks but in the spring, if there has been enough rain, it becomes lush and has a show of orange/red blooms. It's a magnificent plant and looks quite impressive next to this handsome husband of mine ;)
I admire the tile work done by local San Diego artists on these benches downtown. By the looks of it, a few are done in the classic style of finger painting which tells me that the budding artists must be quite young. I'm happy to see local artists displaying their artwork throughout San Diego County no matter what age.
As we were walking along the harbor, it was grey and cold. The only sun that was out was shining on the Hornblower. Lord Hornblower, completely refurbished in 2005, is a re-creation of a turn-of-the-century coastal steamer, known for luxurious interiors and spacious salons. You can rent it out for parties and receptions. My cousin had her wedding reception on this yacht and it was fantastic.
FedEx @ SanDiego International Airport
The wildflowers are in bloom in the Anza-Borrego Desert State Park, 1.5 hours east of San Diego. Jean Louis and I spent the weekend in the desert taking pictures with a friend of ours. What fun! I wish I had a picture of the stars at night. 
Artist: Meilisa Lim 
