Great Day in Dana Point!

I mentioned in the last post how nice the weather has been ... well, it just keeps coming. Today was almost 80 degrees at the peak, sunny, and absolutely beautiful. So I grabbed the camera and an insulated Kleen Kanteen full of Stumptown coffee, hopped on the Funqapillar, and headed down to the Dana Point Harbor for a great ride and some nice pics.

Beautiful view at the Ocean Institute with Seagull Fly-By greeting

Surfers were diggin' the higher-than-usual waves

Whoa, dude ... is that a huge rock under the wave ahead of you?

I never learned to surf, myself ... but this sure looks fun

SUP'ers were out in force in the Harbor

The Brig Pilgrim Pirate Ship ... ready to set sail ... take a ride when you visit!

Gotta love the complex sail rigging ...

The Harbor water was absolutely stunning today ... bluer than blue

After a ride around the Harbor, I headed on down the road to Doheny Beach for a slightly different view of the ocean and its visitors of the day:

Another stunning view of blue water, birds, and hazy fog-clouded mountains

Smaller waves here, but the surfers were still enjoying them

More SUP'ers ... I just HAVE to try that sometime ... looks like fun!

I love my copper bell ... hidden in the reflection is me in shorts ... in January!

Lots of people out enjoying the sun today, riding bikes to lunch at the beach

After enjoying some of that Stumptown Coffee (the "Hairbender" blend, with a little vanilla added), I rode back into town, up through the hills in Heritage Park, where I generally get quite tired, since it's fairly steep and always at the end of my ride. Funny today, though, I was about 2/3 of the way up the set of hills when I realized I wasn't breathing as hard as usual, and actually kind of enjoying the climb. Maybe it was the weather ... maybe I'm just getting better at it. In any case, when I finished the set of hills, I decided to continue on to visit one of the many scenic harbor overlooks for a few more photos. I stopped by the Blue Lantern Inn and snapped these:

The story of Dana Point

The Harbor from above ... lots of boats, blue sky, and blue water

When I got home, our smaller dog, Libby, gave me this look:

No, I'm not going to smile ... YOU smile ... and where have you been? I'm hungry!

Non-plussed hungry dogs aside, the day was inspiring. So much so, that I made this little video for you, to document a beautiful day in Dana Point (of course, the blogger video interface has made it into a low-res, grainy-looking thing ... but I was in a hurry and didn't do the YouTube thing ... sorry, but you get the idea) :

Hope the weather's nice where you are ... and that this new year brings you much happiness!!