By the Sea in Oceanside Harbor

Charlie and I live about 35 miles inland from the ocean. And, even though San Diego County has a temperate climate most of the year, it is not unusual that our inland temperature climb to 100 degrees, hovering there for several days in the Spring and Summer months.

Fueled, daily, by strong ocean breezes, while our valley is hot, it’s not too uncomfortable. But lately, it’s been hot and muggy in San Diego County and if it’s hot and muggy in San Diego, than it’s really hot and muggy at our house!

So, we escape. We get in the car and drive to the sea. We spend lazy weekend afternoons playing tourist in our own backyard. And, we thank our lucky stars that we live in an area teeming with so many different places to explore and things to see. Because not only is the ocean about 35 miles from us, but the mountains are about 35 miles from us, too!

Sometimes I pinch myself because I can’t really believe that I live here.

It’s not that we’ve recently moved here. In fact, I’ve lived in San Diego County for 38 years now. But, even though I’ve lived here that long, I haven’t seen all there is to see in and around San Diego County. You know how it is when you work. You get up in the morning, get ready, leave for work, work all day, stop and run errands on the way home, get home and make dinner and do all the other things in daily life that require attention and fall, exhausted into bed.

Then, you get up the next morning and repeat.

If your toot sweet life is anything like mine, you spend your weekends playing “catch up”. Catch up on grocery shopping and other shopping, catch up on housekeeping and laundry, catch up on projects around the house and yard that need attention, and if you have children, catch up on their needs, activities, home work, birthday parties and on and on and on…

So, when you have a spare moment and can “escape” and end up having a totally awesome experience, those moments linger like bright sun spots in your mind. Did we really have that great of a time or is it only my feeble attempt to brainwash myself into thinking we had that great of a time?

A couple of months ago, Charlie and I ventured out to visit family in Orange County. About an hour and a half drive from our home, factoring in visiting time and traffic, going to Orange County becomes an all-day event. Because you never know what traffic is going to be like on the freeways in Southern California, especially the closer you get to Los Angeles.

We headed west on a local freeway to connect with Interstate 5, a major freeway leading to LA and Orange County. As we merged onto the 5, traffic came to a dead halt. And, we were only in Oceanside! Hadn’t even left San Diego County!

Frustrated because we now knew our remaining normally one-hour drive could turn into a 3 or more hour nightmare, we took the first exit and meandered through Oceanside until we got to Oceanside Harbor. We had a lovely lunch at one of the many restaurants there and then wandered around people-watching, bird-watching and just savoring the moment.

And the moment turned into hours. I had my camera with me and captivated by the sheer buzz of activity and charm of this little harbor, took a few photos (actually, over 1,000 photos! {grin}). Anyway, we never made it to see my family in Orange County that day.

Enchanted by the fact that a perfectly heinous day turned into something magical and unexpected, that day has lingered on my mind – taunting me that maybe a lingering pleasant memory of a special day couldn’t really have been such a great day?

Or was it? Was it really a truly splendid day or had I just made that day special in my mind because we detoured from our intended destination?

Wanting to know if Oceanside Harbor was really a place whose charm provoked lingering memories, we went back again. And, again. Three times in 2 months.

And, yes, Oceanside Harbor is a truly magical place – off the beaten path by the sea…

We drank in the view of the picturesque Oceanside Harbor teeming with boats, restaurants and specialty shops.

The beautiful turquoise boat, Antoinette, with red clapboard buildings behind.

The tip of the lighthouse and the pointed roofs of the clapboard-sided shops…an unusual site in SoCal because most buildings are stucco!

A cute, retro sign on top of the boat rental building…

The rental boats and the moored boats beyond…

A full view of the lighthouse…

A close-up of the Antoinette and a guest dock-side (Great Blue Heron)…

The portholes of the Antoinette…

Antoinette’s “Sorry Charlie” tuna sign…so cute!

The harbor shimmering in the afternoon sun alive with activity…

Colorful boats reflected in the water…

A traffic jam of fun…how many different modes of water transportation do you spot?

Oceanside Harbor Police and Rescue keeping a close, watchful eye…

Man and his best friend passing the Cheyenne with two backward “e’s”…

An orange dinghy or two…

In spite of the sign, no Sea Lion sightings…

Or dolphins…

Or whales!

The Lighthouse Restaurant…

Gorgeous hibiscus in the yard of the Jolly Roger Restaurant…

Pigeons on the roof of a building near the Jolly Roger…

Pelicans on the roof of Joe’s Crab Shack restaurant…

Seagulls are in abundance. Here they are at the edge of a boat slip with graffiti on a pillar…

Seagull on a boat…

Seagull on a roof…

Seagulls on the rocks near the outdoor eating areas watching and waiting for scraps; those beggars!

Another seagull on another boat…

Seagull on a red roof…

Seagull on a rock…

Seagull in flight…

Seagull on the boat Karma, absorbing his dose of good (karma, that is!).

A special treat is the abundance of Great Blue Herons in the area. They’ve taken up residence in the Torrey Pines. Here’s one walking the docks…

A colony of massive Great Blue Heron nests populate trees next to the Jolly Roger. Made from sticks instead of twigs, these nests can measure 4 feet across! The downside of the Great Blue Heron “invasion” is that they are killing the Torrey Pines. The cycle of life…