Weather
After the May-Gray and the June-Gloom, July can be a welcome month. May and June are the months with the lowest percentages of sunny days at 58% and 59% (respectively).
We have had ‘No-Sky-July’, even ‘Fogust’, but this was a perfect year with blue skies on July 1st. The ocean water jumped to a near 70F, if this is not Paradise it’s close enough for me!
A beautiful postcard day July 2018.
Leopard Sharks
Each year thousands of Leopard Sharks have been gathering at La Jolla Shores starting early May. However the numbers will continue to increase into September as they mate. With the nice jump in the water temperature July is a good time to enjoy a swim ... with the sharks! Yes the leopard shark is harmless and pretty much ignores the slow moving swimmers
On July (and August) weekends Scripps Aquarium offers naturalist-led Snorkel with the Leopard Sharks opportunities. The sharks can be found as far north as Kellogg Park, but the greatest numbers are from the Marine Room south to the La Jolla Caves.
Earlier this year Scuba Diver Girls put a great 'HowTo' on their blog, follow the link and enjoy.
It’s also popular to kayak, SUP, or boogie board as a means to commune with the sharks.
Del Mar Fair
The San Diego County Fair is held at the Del Mar Fairgrounds, the two weeks before July 4th. We go every couple years, or so. It’s a fair – not that much different than any county fair, but it is the biggest (most crowded) county fair in America.
We last went after my retirement in 2015 which can be found on the blog HERE. Although the exhibits always seem similar, there is usually a unique food item to sample.
Del Mar Races
”Take a plane , take a train, take a car …” to where the Surf Meets the Turf. Opening Day of the Del Mar Racing Season is July 18th, that’s two weeks after the fair has closed. We’ve been a few times – not opening day (Fran doesn’t have a hat nor I a tux!), even tho we have been invited. Our tastes lean more toward the infield, which is fun mid-season, it’s relaxing and no one is in a hurry but the horses.
Co-owner Bing Crosby was a regular at the track, even greeted each guest personally when the track opened in 1937. Bing and other celebrities would fly down to the adjacent Del Mar Airport.
Yes - there was a Del Mar Airport … back-in-the-day – which I mentioned as part of the Crest Canyon hike.
Independence Day Celebrations
San Diego is a military town as are the surrounding cites. Each have their own celebrations, but this year we chose to take the ferry over to watch the Coronado Parade. It seems all the small towns have their own parade and activities. Patch.com puts out what seems to be a fairly complete list of this year’s activities.
Fireworks
Fireworks are part of most 4th of July celebrations.
“The Rockets Red Glare,
The Bombs Bursting in Air …” sorta thing
The Big Bay Boom fireworks show consists of four barges placed around San Diego Bay each setting off the same display synchronized to music from a local radio station.
July 4th as the last day of the San Diego County Fair has its own display, followed by a dance party.
Sand Castles
The weekend after July 4th we were able to make it to Imperial Beach’s annual Sun and Sea Festival. Teams from around the area compete building sand sculptures.
Over The Line
We attended the OTL World Championships last weekend. The courts are still set up this weekend for the Junior Championships … a bit more family themed.
There is an OTL event nearly every weekend during the summer. High school requires 3 Physical Education credits prior to graduation. OTL is offered as one of those credits - not when I was in school!
Comic-con
Our daughter is PAID to attend Comic-con. She’s in the business and always looking for the ‘Next Big Thing’ to turn into a game. I’m certainly supportive, but after attending a couple times it’s not really my thing. But I did get to meet Kevin Bacon! That’s 0-degrees of separation, not 6-degrees of separation from the game. But if you are into Super Heros, fantasy, games, comics, etc., this is the place! and it sells out every year.
Surf with the Dogs
Del Mar and Ocean Beach have dog surfing competitions. However Del Mar has pay parking and we missed the event in OB. So today my plan was to go back to Imperial Beach and watch the Imperial Beach Surf Dog competition.
Kinda sorry I missed it as it is fun to see.
But I have some chores at home to do in the cool of the morning. I finished repairs on the fence on the north and west sides. I even picked up the materials this morning at Home Depot (I call HD ‘3rd Base’ – since I can’t come home without stopping there) to begin the south side, but decided to blog instead
.
There’s No Bad Days in July, but it does mark the start of a couple less desirable events:
1. Fire Season – We cannot expect any rain until October
2. Tourist Season – If they are ‘in season’ why can’t I shoot them? I just take a deep breath and try to realize they spend a lot of money to be here for a week or so, and just want to enjoy what we do.
The link for August events from Patch.com can be found HERE.
In August Fran will be in Ohio, while I'll check out the meteor shower from the Eastern Sierra.
There'll be No Bad Days in August!
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