I woke up this morning and thought, “Oh no, another sunny day with blue skies and moderate temperature. I can’t take it any more!” Yeah, right. It’s 63 degrees out as I type this at 8am. Today we’ll see high temperatures in the mid 70s. Pretty hard to take, right?

Yesterday set the template for my retirement. I posted to the blog first thing. Then I bicycled along the bay, through Crown Point to Pacific Beach. It was a beautiful morning and a great ride. I’m so inspired by this place to take up cycling again. I was an avid cyclist most of my life. The last four years in Michigan I didn’t ride much.

Estuary at Crown Point

I rode along Riviera Drive to the boardwalk at Pacific Beach. It seems funny to me that we call it the boardwalk. It’s a concrete walk.

View from Riviera Drive across west Mission Bay toward Mission Beach

View from Riviera Drive across west Mission Bay toward Pacific Beach

I rode slowly up the boardwalk to Felspar Street. i stopped in the bike shop there. I need a new liner for my helmet. They didn’t have the one I need. When I rode back, I followed Pacific Beach Drive. There’s a walking/biking path along the bay that takes you east to Crown Point Shores. I rode along this path.

Pacific Beach boardwalk south in the morning

View north to Crystal Pier from Pacific Beach boardwalk

As I rode under the Ingraham Street overpass, I was reminiscing about old times there. When I was young, we would go there and build bonfires from wooden pallets and party.

After I returned, I showered and took care of a few chores. Donna was working on her book. She has a deadline to meet and wants to get it done this week. I went out on the scooter to tour around.

I stopped at the bank to make deposits. Then I stopped at Surf Taco on Mission Boulevard. I had rolled tacos with guacamole. Yummy.

I rode up to La Jolla Cove. I saw pelicans surfing the swell there. Pelicans take advantage of aerodynamics. They will soar very close to the surface of the water. This creates an aerodynamic phenomenon known as ground effect. The air compresses slightly under their wings, creating lift and reducing drag.

Pelicans take it a step further. As a wave swells and approaches the shore, it pushes a wave of air ahead of it. Pelicans glide along in front of the swell and ride this wave of air. I call it pelican surfing.

I continued on to La Jolla Shores. Much of my mis-spent youth was spent right there, under the lifeguard tower on La Jolla Shores.

View from the La Jolla Shores lifeguard tower south toward La Jolla Cove

View from the La Jolla Shores lifeguard tower north toward Scripps Pier

On the way home, I stopped and bought a wild king salmon filet. I soaked a cedar plank and grilled it. Donna served it with Mediterranean quinoa, green beans and artichokes sauteed with sundried tomatoes.

The only downer of the day was the cable TV at Mission Bay RV Resort. It only has a handful of channels and no ESPN. No ESPN equals no Monday Night Football! Oh well, if Monday was an indication of how the next few months of retirement will be, I’ll gladly suffer it!