Tag Archives: Torrey Pines

Whale Sighting at Torrey Pines State Beach


Off the top left about 7-10 seconds in, there is something that leaps up out of the water – this is most likely a gray whale as that is what we usually have cruising along our coast line though I thought this was rather late in the season (clearly I could be wrong about that!)

I first spotted it while turning onto the coast highway from driving into work and immediately I saw a large splash down and knew it was more than a pelican diving or a dolphin playing. When I saw the breach two more times I made the decision to pull over and join the many other drivers who had done the same. I was part of a line of folks holding up our cell phone hoping to capture the action even as a shaky, distant view. The next video the whale is breaching JUST as I started a fresh file (I was trying to keep them under 2 minutes long). So you’ll see it already out right from the start and then splashing down. What amazed me is that the people running/walking along the shore NEVER saw it. I suspect that being right on the surf line meant that even the rather anemic wave action blocked their view. The whale was cruising north from La Jolla towards Del Mar, and once he passed that lifeguard tower he settled down a bit and just came up for air, but stayed on the shallow line there. He wasn’t all that big – as I saw his entire back graze the top of the water he was maybe only 2-3 times the length of a standard dolphin. So I’m guessing it was a juvenile gray coming up from the birthing waters down south along Mexico.

It sure was a fun way to start the morning!

3 Mules at Torrey Pines


This is the tweet/facebook status I posted at 8am today:

“Driving in to work, I passed a man walking along the side of Torrey Pines Rd-leading 3 pack mules! Yes, mules!! What the??”

And this is the link that someone posted as a response:

Three Mules in LA Oct 5 as posted in Root Simple

Three Mules in Los Angeles

Last weekend, Kelly and I were treated to one of the most surreal scenes I’ve ever witnessed in Los Angeles: three pack mules being lead down busy Sunset Boulevard. On the side of one of the packs was a hand painted sign reading, “3mules.com“. As is fitting for a man leading three mules across the US, 3mules.com is just one page, managed by someone else. On that page is the following poetic statement,

3 MULES     To answer the most asked questions:  Who are we?  Where are we from? And where are we going?  We are mules. We are from the outside. We live outside all day , every day. Where are we going? Nowhere, we’re here- the outside, the web of life- the beautiful earth, a place like no other.    We have come to this place-a place of golden sparkling light, a place for anybody and everybody.  Give your faith, hope and  energy to this place at which time you connect to it and receive the magic and endless possibility of infinity.   As you walk in this place with these mules you spread the awareness that this beautiful earth like no other can only be protected by the way we live one day at a time.

I couldn’t stop to take a picture because I was driving up the hill in the opposite direction on my way in to work. There was no safe place to turn around. I was also going by too fast to take note of the website on the side of the suitcase that you can see in the picture above. What I find really fun in all this is the comment section on the Root Simple posting. People have been posting in there essentially tracking the 3 mules as the moved south from LA to Orange County and then in to San Diego. It seems as if he has been wandering through the county here for a little over a month.Looks like he started out in the eastern areas and then turned to the coast within the last week and is now making his way back north.

People who have run into him up close and chatted with him report nothing but positive reactions and conversations. The mules look healthy – the man said he’s had one of them for 27 years. Clearly he has all he needs with him to care for himself and the animals. Yeah, he seems a bit nuts yet is harmless and is bringing people a lot of joy as he passes through their neighborhoods.

During this typically hectic time of the year for many, if the site of the 3 mules makes you take a breath and relax and just look on in wonder as they mosey on by then it is ALL good!