It's summer in San Diego

Now that the annual "June gloom" has lifted, summer has begun in earnest here in Southern Cal. That means a stronger sun, even less chance of rain (I believe the last rainfall was mid-April), and a pretty hot apartment.

This, of course, made me start thinking about Seattle -- I'm hoping to go back in a few weeks for a sailing excursion and see some friends. I began noticing some pretty major differences between the two cities. Two of my main sources of summer happiness in Seattle are sailing and escaping to the mountains. Both would most likely be cooler than sticking around a warm house on a hot summer day. Neither of these is really a viable option here. There is sailing, but there aren't really any cool destinations like there are up in Puget Sound, and I'm pretty limited to daysails. There are also mountains, but I've learned that going more than about 5-10 miles inland means the temperatures are going to rise 15-30 degrees (depending on how far you go). That kind of limits me in the eastern and western directions. Going south means Mexico, and while that can be fun I'm sure, I don't know that I'm ready to drive down there or deal with Tijuana just yet. Which means, if I want to escape the heat and the city, I need to go to the beaches here, or go north toward LA. It also means lots of crowds.

I'm also beginning to think that my favorite neighborhood in this city is Pacific Beach, where I work. It's the only area where I can consistently find that bright green grass that I enjoy so much, as well as cool ocean breezes. The problem, of course, is that getting in and out of that area in the summer means having lots of company. I'm clearly not the only one trying to escape the heat!